More names added to the list of departed Roosevelt stores
Photos By: Lilah Lee
The landscape of businesses in the Roosevelt area looks a little different now than just a couple of months ago. With nearby businesses like Bryant Corner Cafe and Bartell Drugs closing, the community will be impacted by their absences. The reason for these closures? It comes down to money.
The Bryant Corner Cafe closed its doors on Oct. 30. According to a Facebook post by co-owner Chris Mosher, with the “rise in food cost, labor, utilities, rent, etc., it became impossible to run the day to day.” Mosher wrote that “staffing shortages, product shortages, and keeping up with a busy restaurant” created a strain. Filip Petrovic ’24 worked at the Bryant Corner Cafe and valued his experience and the time spent with his fellow staff members, “It was a great community of workers. It was a nice split between a lot of Roosevelt students and a lot of people in their twenties. It was always a joyful time to work there.” Petrovic said that at the cafe, he would instantly get along with workers he had never met, and that he’d miss people like Lalo, the dishwasher, his “favorite guy in the world.”
Petrovic said he’ll miss the cafe, as will the regular customers and families, but that they will adapt and find other spots to frequent. There is a possibility the Bryant Corner Cafe will be bought and reopened, but it’s unclear how likely that is.
The Bryant Corner Cafe was originally a neighborhood drugstore that the eventual cafe co-owners, Sara Swanson and Chris Mosher, would visit often. It became the Sunflour Cafe in the late 90s, before undergoing a name change in 2013. It’s more than just a place for food and drinks; it will also be remembered also as a spot where local artists could perform at open mics and have their art displayed.
Bartell Drugs also recently shut its doors due to financial issues, although their problems differed significantly from Bryant Corner’s. Bartell’s is owned by Rite Aid Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy in October. It’s one of at least 16 closures since Rite Aid purchased Bartell Drugs in 2020.
While the absence of one store out of a city-wide chain is far different from the closure of a long-standing local cafe, its impact will still be felt by the community. Alice Einhorn ’25 and Theo Kapur ’24 expressed their frustration and worries about Bartell and other businesses shutting down around the area. Kapur brought up other recent closures, “We lost Starbucks, we lost Daiso, we lost Bartell’s, what’s next?”
Kapur continued, “I used to go to [Bartell Drugs] outside of school, like on the weekends, or in the summer, and my parents used to shop there, and now a whole community can’t shop there.”
Einhorn too, mentioned, “I used to get stuff there that I needed, but now I’m not gonna be able to.” Kapur pointed out as well that the loss of the pharmacy will have an effect on people who could easily pick up prescriptions at their local store.
While people will find alternatives to recently closed local businesses, the losses are still felt by many, and the practical and sentimental value of long-standing, local businesses cannot easily be replaced.
