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Dreamers Coffeehouse to Close

Well here's a big bummer. Long time downtown staple coffee house Dreamers will close Sunday, citing high rent. Jonathan hopes to open someone else. High rent? In this market? Great. In the article, Dreamers owner Jonathan is very nice to his landlord, perhaps too nice in my opinion. $4000 a month seems extraordinarily high for rent anywhere downtown right now, when half of downtown is vacant. So now we'll have another empty vacant space, just in time for La Famiglia to open up across the street.

I am going to miss Dreamers, and its eclectic space filled with art and the smell of coffee in the air. I hope this space doesn't remain empty too long.

I hope the city approaches Jonathan in a proactive way to review their portfolio of available locations (i.e. West Street Market, City Parking Garage, etc) and see if there is a spot that would fit Jonathan's budget. I hope I hope I hope Jonathan doesn't end up setting up shop out in South Reno somewhere....that would be a loooong drive for me.

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Posted by: Steve Watts - 11/10/2009 10:54:17 AM
Love Dreamers, although I often had to go to Starbucks up the street because Dreamers just did not open early enough in the morning, and I feel their charge for internet on the computers is too high. I don't understand how Dreamer's rent could be so high, especially at the Riverside where the resident tenants get such a bargain rate?

Posted by: Anakin-Marc - 11/10/2009 1:30:31 PM
Interesting... Didn't Cavanaugh's close for similar reasons? Wasn't their landlord the Redevelopment Agency, managed by the City Council? Something seems fishy here...

Posted by: Anakin-Marc - 11/10/2009 1:37:59 PM
OK, guess I shoulda read the article first. Still... One would think that when facing yet *another* business with Virginia Street frontage going dark, it would be in the city's best interest to intervene.

Posted by: Pat F - 11/10/2009 2:26:19 PM
What a crying shame! It appeared that the owner had a pretty decent business plan: good coffee reasonably priced, enough large tables for small groups to network while enjoying their beverage and a clean, friendly environment. So who really owns the Riverside artist loft and the first floor commercial sites? I thought the Sierra Arts and the art community revitalized the Riverside Hotel. Dreamers owner Mr. Bascom says the owner is a company out of Minnesota and you tell us Reno Public Works owns it. I don't get it. It seems like some businessmen or city officials would rather make no rent money by keeping the property vacant rather than work with a leasee to keep the business profitable. This looks very similar to the Virginian Hotel/Casino whose out of country owners would rather see it closed that have Cal Neva operate it at a reduced price.

Posted by: Bonus - 11/10/2009 6:49:56 PM
You are usually so good with your facts but the City has not owned the Riverside for years. Some non-profit organization.

Posted by: DowntownMakeoverDude - 11/10/2009 10:23:30 PM
Whoops sorry about that you are right I was looking at the wrong block when looking at the assessor map. It's owned by some non profit called Art Space.

Posted by: Anakin-Marc - 11/10/2009 11:16:31 PM
OK, that makes more sense. Still, it's a shame that this means that there's going to be another business on Virginia Street that's dark. Especially right on the riverwalk.

Posted by: Irv - 11/16/2009 8:28:03 AM
It is tough to make the monthly nut in a retail business where guests linger and take up space, and typically all you may sell them is a low-end item like coffee, a muffin and a newspaper. Unless you are near a big office building where you have a fast walk-in and out trade, it is very difficult. The food biz is hard enough, it requires table turn and higher tabs per customer. When you combine leisure-seating plus small tabs, you are creating more obstacles.

Posted by: Kim - 11/16/2009 10:42:29 AM
It will be a shame to see the space vacant, but Dreamers had some flaws. I think that the food places on California and the second Bibo location might have more to do with this than the owners are letting on.

Posted by: RenoSteve - 11/20/2009 6:56:23 AM
Northern Nevada Business Daily Wild River Grille 11/18/2009 Downtown Reno's Wild River Grille will expand into the 1,770 square feet vacated this week by Dreamer's Coffee House. Restaurant owner Chuck Shapiro says the expansion, scheduled for March completion, doubles the space of Wild River Grille.

Posted by: somehighschoolkid - 12/8/2009 4:48:53 PM
it's a shame to see such a cool place gone now. why is that dreamer's can barely afford to pay rent when java jungle has like three other locations? come on now, is it really necessary? i've talked to both manager's on the same account of trying to sell an ad for the school newspaper (trust me, teens love coffee) and dreamers owner jonathan gave a reasonable explanation of being short on funds. however, java jungle is way out of my schools demographic, when i know plenty of kids that are willing to drive all the way downtown for a latter. greediness never prevails, and i really hope to see dreamers up on it's feet soon.