Comments on: wanna buy a coffee shop/wine bar/book store?

By: River District News » a pretty good 180 days - Richmond, Virginia

River District News » a pretty good 180 days - Richmond, Virginia — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:09:40 +0000

[...] working. In our almost 250 posts, we caught the raid on Velvet and all of that mess, we broke how close Cafe Gutenberg came to closing, helped spread the word on the painting over of Trask’s Princess Diana mural, and offered [...]

By: Anynonomus

Anynonomus — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:07:31 +0000

they are going to stay open, I know the owner, and they found a partner, they are staying open!!!

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:09:39 +0000

I am crossing my fingers too! We don’t get down there as much as we would like but we love Gutenberg and would really hate to see them leave!

By: Magneto

Magneto — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:40:35 +0000

I just stopped by Gutenberg this morning for coffee. It appears that they will be open for about another month and a half. According to the person with whom I spoke, their other potential investor seems pretty convincing, so that is what has motivated them to stay open longer. I’m crossing my fingers really hard that they can make the deal work!

By: TJ

TJ — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:02:11 +0000

It is kind of shitty that these 2 partners out of the country are putting this kind of pressure on the cafe. One of these so-called partners abandoned the cafe in a drunken fog years ago. I wonder what their motivations were in the first place.

By: john m

john m — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:12:13 +0000

GlobeHopper looks like it'll be neat, and there is that Starbucks opening on Cary, too. Folks like their Starbucks. This seems like a good place to lament the passing of 17.5, who never made it back after Gaston.

By: Paul H

Paul H — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:48:08 +0000

So we will be up one coffee/winebar/restaurant (Aurora @ 4th and Grace) and down another (CG). It’s a shame that such a cool area (Shockoe Bottom) is still struggling. The market area doesn’t look much different from when I got here 7 years ago, but the surrounding neighborhood is booming.

By: River District News » Gutenberg after Gaston (2004) - Richmond, Virginia

River District News » Gutenberg after Gaston (2004) - Richmond, Virginia — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:51:12 +0000

[...] see the waterline near the top of the photo. The flood didn’t close the place for long, but a squabble among partners might shut the doors for good this Sunday. Posted by john m at 6:47AM under RVANews-news, history, real estate | Tags: Cafe [...]

By: john m

john m — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:28:59 +0000

RTD 2/21 - Unsinkable cafe may close - Shop that survived floods now threatened by loss of two partners

"... the popular coffee shop, bookstore and wine bar needs to find $300,000 by Sunday or shut the café's doors forever."

By: john m

john m — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:19:54 +0000

This week's issue of stye confirms that Gutenberg is ailing:

Steve Graca, part-owner of the shop, says he’s looking for someone to buy the business or the building. An engineer by day, Graca opened the café with two co-owners but says “the ownership is moving in different directions.” A final timeline is still being discussed, and he can’t say whether it will close its doors before a new ownership arrangement is reached.

By: Dorrie

Dorrie — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:52:54 +0000

It is ashame that Richmond will lose such a unique place. I really like the atmosphere of the cafe. I would frequent the cafe once a week until they changed chefs and the menu changed. That is when I noticed the selections were not as appetizing and the food definitely went downhill.

By: HT

HT — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:33:08 +0000

Wow…It’s such a great place. Good coffee, good food, great books…Hopefully a neighborhood friendly owner will keep it going.

By: john m

john m — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:11:46 +0000

I called: the business is for sale.

By: alicia

alicia — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:00:29 +0000

Sadly, I heard from one of their part-time employees that the cafe will be closing sometime over the next couple of weeks.

By: HT

HT — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:37:33 +0000

From the looks of the sign it seems as if only the building is for sale. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the business is also for sale. Has anyone heard differently?

By: tim

tim — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:53:49 +0000

That’s really disappointing to hear (unless someone picks it up and runs it).

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:20:06 +0000

I have visited Cafe Gutenberg a time or two and have always found the service and the service personnel to be superb.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:30:43 +0000

Their service has always been the pits. I don’t like to kick someone when they’re down but I haven’t been there since I moved here 2 years ago for that reason.

I would have liked to have been a regular customer but they just didn’t give me any incentive.

By: john m

john m — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:20:05 +0000

I believe that the owners of the cafe also own the building.

By: Page

Page — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:46:52 +0000

I wonder what Gutenberg is paying for rent.

The fundamental risk is that if the flood-wall breaks (or alternatively the drainage fails), then you have a giant mold experiment (among other problems)…

By: Kory

Kory — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:30:29 +0000

Wow. Tempting, very tempting. Anyone wanna consider going in w/ me? ;)