(Image: Refresh)
Let’s just get all of this Capitol Hill food+drink bad news out of the way. One of the quiet summer passings we’ve yet to note is Broadway indie fro-yo shop Refresh Desserts.
Here’s the sweet goodbye letter from “Bobby, Judith, Ricky & Mary” announcing the closure to end July:
Dear Family, Friends, and Community,
We regret to inform you that Refresh Frozen Desserts & Espresso will be closing. Our last day open to serve you is Sunday, July 31st.
We want to send our sincerest gratitude to all of you for your encouragement, support, and love. Throughout this past year, we were able to build a welcoming community space creating new relationships and partnerships, and rekindling old ones.
Refresh Frozen Desserts and Espresso opened in the Hunters Capital-owned Broadway Building next to Blick Art last summer replacing a departed big chain frozen yogurt biz. Refresh was an unusual non-franchise player in the frozen yogurt biz which Broadway’s Menchies owners explained is mostly locked up with few distribution and product options.
Menchies now stands as the only dedicated fro-yo action on Broadway, by the way. The old CrazyCherry will open soon as a second Hill Honor Coffee location directly across from Capitol Hill Station. The Hill’s soft-serve game — though not necessarily fro yo, we admit — is more robust with options including Rachel’s Ginger Beer and the revived Old School Custard one E Pike.
We haven’t checked in on plans for finding a new tenant for the old Refresh space. Hunters Capital had good luck finding a local restaurant owner to take over after Genki Sushi left the building. Yo Zushi is now doing “well, good enough, I suppose” kaiten business in the space.
For now, add Refresh to this list of recent food and drink business obituaries on the Hill. Remember, these projects represented many of the owners’ heart and soul work and best intentions. Condolences.
- Old Sage — The Old Sage closes after owner’s $2.4M bankruptcy filing
- Vostok
- Vivre (events only, for now)
- Zhu Dang — A rare Capitol Hill casualty, Zhu Dang to shutter on E Olive Way
- Bauhaus — Bauhaus closes Capitol Hill cafe, says won’t be returning to Melrose and Pine
- Healeo — Liquidation: Healeo shutters Capitol Hill cafe, lives on in wholesale juice biz
- Culture Club — Stretched too thin? Capitol Hill cheese bar Culture Club to close
- Manhattan — The troubled birth, triumphant revival, and peaceful death of Capitol Hill steakhouse Manhattan
- Meat and Bread — Big in B.C., Meat and Bread closing on Capitol Hill
Samurai Noodle looks like it might be closed too.
Yep, it is. There’s the obligatory “it’s been fun” letter in their door. The ID and U District locations are still open though.
Yeah, I saw them wheeling out their noodle-making machine earlier in the week. ;( At first I thought it was just going out for repairs, but no.
It’s surprising that this place closed so soon – it feels like it was only open for a few months, mostly winter ones. Maybe they had overly-ambitious expectations of how quickly they’d be making a return on investment, because it seems like it should have been a pretty popular place in a perfect spot.
somehow I missed that Vostok had closed. I liked them – but the location wasn’t great, and once Pel Meni opened they probably didn’t have a chance.
Vostok’s location was fine. Marination and some other restaurant are on that same level. Something else must be going on. In their last few months, it was almost never open but yet, they opened a new location in Tacoma. They didn’t provide any information about their Capitol Hill location on their Facebook page until the end.
While my heart goes out to the owners and employees, any time I hear about a brick-and-mortar retail, entertainment or food/drink establishment going out of business in under 24 months I wonder if nobody told them the standard rule that you can’t expect to make any money in the first two years of your business?
I’m also disappointed in any bank loan officer who looks at a business plan which does not account for this and still approves the loan.
I really hope everyone lands on their feet.
I remember when froyo was popular a decade ago. Samurai noodle getting competition from Kukai Ramen put them out I’m sure. They had very mediocre Ramen and after having a good bowl it was impossible to go back.