03/19/2024
To Cafe Domenico Customers:
By now you may have heard rumors. The rumors are true: after 21 years and 8 months of operation the Domenico family is selling our business. The good news is the buyer, Rebecca Gleason, is known to most of our customers already. We sincerely hope the loyalty to our Cafe will be transferred to her coffeeshop Emerson Ave Coffee, right here at the corner of Emerson and Genesee, which will open in early May.
Becca understands the community value of a coffeeshop just as we do, and can be depended on to carry on that tradition. She is an artist and will continue having art as a fundamental part of her cafe. As well, her youth and enthusiasm will make it possible for her to strengthen the business and ensure it will last as an anchor in the Uptown business district, a complement to the Uptown Theater for the Arts, the Green Onion Pub, Slice Pizza and to The Other Side, which will continue for the foreseeable future as a venue for performing arts, visual art, lectures and other community programs.
Saturday, March 30, is the last day of operation under the Domenico family. The shop will be closed the month of April while the transformation from old to new happens. In anticipation of that final day as “Domenico’s,” we encourage people who want Cafe Domenico mugs or t-shirts to buy now; once they’re gone there will be no more.
Closing our business, for Orin and Kim, is the hardest decision we have ever made. Especially since the pandemic it has become increasingly challenging to take care of all the “auxiliary work” necessary to running a small business, but it still feels heartbreaking. We – the entire family – loved our business, and we loved that it has meant so much to so many people over 21 years.
There is a guestbook at the cafe and online at https://theothersideutica.org/cafe-d-guestbook Signing the guestbook will mean a lot to us, to our children and grandchildren. And, since the Cafe was the product of a Big Dream that’s not just our dream, please keep it going in any ways you can – make art, build community, love peace. Oh, and drink coffee!
We can never thank you enough for your loyalty that has made it possible to keep the business going all these years!
With much gratitude, Orin, Kim, Molly, & Nick
Joshua Levitt wrote on March 18, 2024 at 3:21 pm I could write a dissertation on how important Cafe Domenico was to me growing up. Through high school, college, and eventually studying for the bar exam, Cafe Domenico and its wonderful owners/staff were there for all of it, offering a relaxing, welco...
