Monroe Park Campus is heaven, or hell, for independent restaurants

Hector Miranda-Castro
Contributing Writer

Six independent restaurants near the Monroe Park Campus shut their doors for good in 2014, while three other recently established independent restaurants have conversely found much success at VCU thus far.

Primarily due to stiff competition with nearby fast-food chains, Big’s BBQ, I Heart N.Y. Pizza, Dash Kitchen and Carry, Stuffy’s Subs, The Nile Ethiopian restaurant and Empire have all either moved locations or closed permanently. In contrast, Alchemy Coffee, Christian’s Pizza and Red Eye Cookie Co. have successfully overcome the challenge of establishing themselves.

Dash Kitchen and Carry opened in April 2014 and closed only eight months later in mid-December, despite being relatively popular with students. One Yelp comment stated the venue was quickly becoming a “go-to” place for students.

Business major Shelby Moyer said she had visited Dash only a few months ago and was shocked to learn they were closing.

“It’s a shame they closed, there’s so many franchises, and yet cool places like that have to close,” Moyer said.

Students may have noticed that one of the closest locations to get barbecue and drinks on campus now also sits empty with a “for lease” sign hanging in the window.  In business for just more than a year, Big’s BBQ at 931 W. Grace St. officially closed on New Year’s Eve.

“You have to make a splash when you first open, you can’t just come in and do the same thing as everyone else because then you won’t be recognized or begin to build a good customer base,” said Christian Tamm, the owner of Christian’s Pizza on Harrison Street.

When Christian’s opened on Aug. 8, the venue offered slices of pepperoni or cheese for $1.50 —  including tax —  after 11 p.m. Now those slices are $2 a piece, but most nights, especially weekends, students are lined up into the street for a late-night snack.

Christian’s and I Heart N.Y. Pizza opened within months of one another, and while I Heart N.Y. took a similar marketing approach by offering cheap late-night slices, only Christian’s survived the first semester on campus.

“A (corporate chain) is not going to be able to compare with somebody, or the sole proprietor of a store, where the owner is more ambitious because it is their livelihood — their salary is directly related to their performance in the store,” Tamm said.

Red Eye Cookie Co. and Alchemy Coffee are two other newly established and successful small businesses in the area. Both owners said they make a conscious effort to connect with the VCU and surrounding Richmond community, which they cite as one of the main reasons for their success.

Red Eye Cookie Co. opened in March 2014 and owner Brayden Pleasants said business has been steady since then. In just under a year, Red Eye has opened wholesale accounts, created an app, purchased food trucks that can be found at events and started partnerships with other local businesses throughout Richmond.

“My goal is to be inseparable from the community,” Pleasants said. “If you’re ever going to class you might see us mingling with VCU giving out free samples. If you go to the brewery we might be doing a tasting and if you’re at your local corner store we’re on the counter.”

Campus Cookies, another independent small business located on Grace Street, opened shortly before the fall semester. Pleasants said despite being in competition within their niche market, no hostility exists between Red Eye and Campus Cookies.

Alchemy Coffee began operating out of a mobile trailer stationed on VCU’s Monroe Park campus in 2013 before opening a brick-and-mortar location at 814 W. Broad St. in August. The coffee shop neighbors VCU’s student art gallery and exhibition space, The Depot, and Alchemy features and sells art created by VCU students.

Alchemy owner Eric Spivack holds that the quality and authenticity of his company’s coffee and baked goods is one of the concepts that distinguishes the shop and has gained community support. He said chains on campus like Starbucks and Einstein Bros. Bagels don’t offer the same quality products, so they don’t truly compete with his business.

Spivack also said that some of the restaurants that have moved or closed on campus were vying for student and local support in the same arena that fast food chains were. For example, a customer could go to Stuffy’s Subs, an independent small business, or Jersey Mike’s, a corporate chain, not because their products are equal, but because they remain similar in the consumer’s mind, Spivack said.

Stuffy’s Subs moved to 324 Libbie Ave. this summer, and a Hibachi Box restaurant is set to open soon at Stuffy’s previous location.

Two longtime staples in the campus restaurant scene on the corner of Broad and Laurel streets have also moved on.

Nile Ethiopian restaurant, who formerly hosted open mic events for VCU’s slam poetry team Good Clear Sound (formerly Slam Nahuatl), has relocated to Carytown. The Nile took over the menu at the Portrait House, a popular restaurant downtown, after the businesses merged this summer. The space previously occupied by the Nile has since been renovated and is now home to Moo Burgers, a grass-fed burger restaurant.

The Nile’s former next-door neighbor, Empire, is also undergoing major changes. The owners of Midlothian restaurant Flyin’ Pig are remodeling the space into Asado, which will be a new barbeque venue.

Meanwhile, the highly anticipated opening of Panda Express, which will accept student meal plans from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m. every day of the week, is nearing its completion on the corner of Grace and Shafer streets.