Writes Marni in Brooklyn: “We tried this restaurant back when they first opened. The food was pretty bad, it took forever to arrive, and I believe our waitress quit or was fired (either way, there was some yelling) during our meal. Many gimmicks involving morning coffee were attempted, but the signage made the food look really unappealing, the type of cuisine was unclear, and there are so many restaurants in Park Slope that if you can’t stand out for good reasons, you’re just not going to succeed. Trying to make the neighborhood feel guilty about it ain’t gonna work.” But that doesn’t mean they won’t try!
Another small business CLOSED FOR GOOD, as spotted by the ulterior epicure in Lawrence, Kansas:
And by Erich in London, Ontario:
And in Tyler, Texas:
related: top five musical crimes perpetrated by record store customers in the 90s and 2000s
152 responses so far ↓
#1
Huh?
I’m very curious about what kind of store the first one is. The name sounds like a food shop, but the picture portrays a forlorn boxer.
Aug 30, 2009 at 3:49 pm rating: +4
#2
oi
the smiley O in the third note, makes me kinda happy that it’s closed.
That smiley says customers were not patronizing the store but store was patronizing them by mere existence.
I wouldn’t want to buy anything from that smiley face.
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:04 pm rating: +11
#3
BlackMarketBeagle
That second note scares me. “The cheese loved me more than I loved it,” and “Sweet dreams”? What is that supposed to mean? Am I going to fall asleep one day and some cheese monster is going to shove itself down my throat nd suffocate me?
Yikes.
I’m sorry baby, I love you I do I really do. Forget everything I said before, I was drunk, confused, and I just, I just, I just got scared of how much I really love you…
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:27 pm rating: +27
#4
TheOldSchool
I wanted to love the cheese, but the cheese just wanted to be friends.
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:29 pm rating: +26
#5
TheOldSchool
Advice to soon-to-be-former-employees of failed big box retailers:
Never blame the shopers for your own mistakes.
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:39 pm rating: +17
#6
Geek Goddess
The Cheese Remember Shoppe is that the now over. Cheese loved Closed for you more than good. you loved it.
Sweet Dreams
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:43 pm rating: +21
#7
Car RamRod
No one shopped at circuit shitty cause that store sucked. Besides, for a national chain that is collapsing to blame the consumer base around one branch is kind of ridiculous…
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:47 pm rating: +15
#8
Car RamRod
Shouldn’t it be ’some of you will be really sad, as we…’? And why capitalize ‘Us’ is this supposed to imply some sort of divine involvement?
Aug 30, 2009 at 4:49 pm rating: +10
#9
Watchtower
The Circuit City sign is missing a ‘p’ in shopping. Maybe the ‘p’ was left on the floor and that’s one of many reasons why people didn’t shop there.
Aug 30, 2009 at 5:17 pm rating: +5
#10
woahhhface
I thought that the circuit city employee shirt logo on the sign added a little.. je ne sais quoi. It was a nice passive aggressive touch.
Aug 30, 2009 at 5:19 pm rating: +6
#11
Chicken Underwear
Delicious on the Slope had no business opening on a residential block. I don’t even think they were zoned correctly. I love it that they blame their non costumers for their closing.
Aug 30, 2009 at 5:44 pm rating: +3
#12
mamason
“…because you put your heart in this place and some happy because you predicted the failure and didn’t do anything to help God bless you all! ”
What?
Did they have the ko’ed boxer write this shortly after being revived?
Aug 30, 2009 at 5:46 pm rating: +7
#13
KatieMB
It’s sad they waited until they closed to serve some whine with their cheese.
Aug 30, 2009 at 5:48 pm rating: +38
#14
mamason
Who names these places? I can just imagine the meeting… *cue dream sequence*
“What do we want people to know about our restaurant? What do we want to say?”
“Um… that the food is delicious?”
“Good! Good! Now let’s build on that. What else would we like our name to convey?”
“Um… like, where we are?”
“Beautiful! Perfect! I think we have a name!”
Aug 30, 2009 at 6:03 pm rating: +13
#15
Kristen
The cheese shop is going to be sadly missed here in Lawrence, KS…as will their tuna bacon cheddar. Someone beat me to posting this.
Aug 30, 2009 at 6:22 pm rating: +3
#16
kate
Here’s how Delicious on the Slope describes their “Ice Cream Sunday” (sic)
“2 Ice Cream Scoops, Whipped Cream and some Candy sprinkles $5.95″
The whole menu is just a sack of sad. I especially like the heading “BREAKFAST AT ANYTIME”. Be prepared! Breakfast may arrive unannounced AT ANYTIME!
Aug 30, 2009 at 6:34 pm rating: +20
#17
Laura
If customers can predict a store’s failure, how can they do anything to help? The owner seems like the kind of a-hole that wouldn’t take constructive criticism.
Aug 30, 2009 at 6:41 pm rating: +4
#18
T imo®
We are sorry, all of your customers have now been outsourced.
Aug 30, 2009 at 6:42 pm rating: +17
#19
Canthz_B
We all did a good job knocking out Circuit City.
Those going out of business deals were phenomenal.
I say we go after Best Buy next…we’ve already got Target on the ropes!
Aug 30, 2009 at 7:14 pm rating: +7
#20
Kelly
I left a similar note on my bedroom door last time I ran away from home.
Aug 30, 2009 at 7:45 pm rating: +9
#21
Canthz_B
Let that be a lesson to you, Circuit City.
A 15% discount on a 300% mark-up does not a great deal make.
Aug 30, 2009 at 8:12 pm rating: +21
#22
BrookeDiz
Customers’ fault? Egad. None of these business owners seems to know there is an economic crisis. They should be whining for bailout money instead.
Aug 30, 2009 at 8:26 pm rating: +6
#23
Tyler
Emily, the girl who wrote the Cheese Shoppe sign, would write the BEST notes! The downstairs freezer had one on it that said, “Close the damn door, child! Once your fudgecicles melt, mama ain’t buyin’ you no mo’!”
Aug 30, 2009 at 8:31 pm rating: +11
#24
Wade
Thank you for closing, Circuit City, and sparing me the temptation of another excruciating, customer unfriendly shopping experience.
Aug 30, 2009 at 8:36 pm rating: +13
#25
aaa
I like how the first sign uses the Royal We (well, Royal Second Person, anyway). A pathetic attempt at making themselves feel more important than they really are or just crappily awkward English?
Aug 30, 2009 at 9:02 pm rating: +2
#26
aaa
Good. I’m glad that Circuit City closed. They always have a crappy and weird selection of stuff with unfriendly employees in a weirdly dark and cramped building.
Aug 30, 2009 at 9:04 pm rating: +2
#27
aaa
Any place that spells its business name in the Ye Olde Englishe Styleeeee deserves to close. Fuck you, Cheese Shoppe.
Aug 30, 2009 at 9:06 pm rating: +5
#28
j.d.
Ha ha, after reading the first two notes I remembered a sign in my own city like these and thought about hunting it down for a picture, only scroll down and see it as #3! Oh, London — urban sprawl is right. (That’s London, ONTARIO, not England, fyi).
Aug 30, 2009 at 9:47 pm rating: +4
#29
Sally
When a local shop in my hometown closed they put a sign up in the window that said “MOVED TO AGRESTIC TO OPEN A BAKERY!”
Aug 30, 2009 at 10:02 pm rating: +8
#30
TP
The “forlorn boxer” does kill me, however I am surprised that this establishment closed. On their website, they claim something no other restaurant has claimed thusfar to my knowledge: “Welcome to Delcious on the Slope, home of delicious seafood, steaks, salads, and the best deserts in Park Slope. ”
How many restaurants that you know of serve deserts? I’ll have a Gobi with raspberry coulee please, and my wife will have the Sahara Brulee.
Aug 30, 2009 at 10:50 pm rating: +11
#31
Silhouette
You ain’t been loved ’til you been loved by the cheese.
Aug 30, 2009 at 10:55 pm rating: +3
#32
Jack
Oh wow, “Delicious in the Slope”. Quite possibly one of the worst places/ideas I have ever seen in my life in NYC… and I grew up here!
First, they were near the middle of a residential block. And one block away from amazing food that was CHEAPER in all directions. Why would anyone pay $12.95 for a burger outside of Manhattan tourist traps. Heck, the most famous burger in NYC at the Shake Shack is about 1/2 the price and tons better.
They also at one point tried to sell falafel for $8.95 a pop or some ridiculous price like that. Guess what? You can walk a few blocks and get real falafel for $4.25 from places that have been around for years.
Oh and that whole coffee/breakfast thing. Genius move having that with hyped up prices 1 block away from the biggest bagel shop that is open 24/7 in that part of Brooklyn.
The funny thing is I actually walked by this place this weekend and saw it closed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Aug 30, 2009 at 11:19 pm rating: +8
#33
Spike Nesmith
Aw. *I* shoped at Circuit City.
Aug 30, 2009 at 11:46 pm rating: +3
#34
GhostWriter
This reminds me so much of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Everybody thought the cheese shop was gone forever as well, but Kirk had the good sense to shoot it into a planet terraformed by Genesis, and voila! suddenly the cheese shop is back, in “The Search for Cheese“.
Aug 31, 2009 at 9:56 am rating: +4
#35
Woman on the Verge
Delicious on the Slope might have been more successful if their cook hadn’t been wearing just his undershorts and boxing gloves when cooking…
Aug 31, 2009 at 9:57 am rating: +10
#36
skelebone
The Cheese Shoppe note may come off as a little p-a, but their bitterness and ire was not that they closed from lack of customer traffic, but rather their parent store, Round Corner Drug, closed and took them along with it, with one week’s notice to employees that anything was amiss.
Aug 31, 2009 at 10:06 am rating: +1
#37
anonymous
STEPHEN ROOT IS A KLINGON!
Aug 31, 2009 at 10:31 am rating: +1
#38
MAMARILLA2
Let’s see now, they had lousy food, long wait times and rotten service….How does Denny’s stay in business then.
Aug 31, 2009 at 11:11 am rating: +4
#39
agirlie
http://www.cherokeesirloinroom.com/
They seem to have stolen the logo/design, so I am so glad they closed
Aug 31, 2009 at 3:14 pm rating: +1
#40
Joe 2
Failure is God’s way of telling you:
1. Your service/product sucked.
2. Your business plan sucked.
3. Your prices were outrageous.
4. Your staff was incompetent.
5. The area couldn’t support your type of business.
6. The economy’s in the toilet.
Aug 31, 2009 at 3:37 pm rating: +4
#41
mamason
Perhaps they should have called the restaurant, “Fucking Delicious on the Slope”.
Aug 31, 2009 at 9:42 pm rating: 0
#42
Phil McAvity
On the front page of their website they have a review from “NY Food Examiner” – is that the Health Dept?
Aug 31, 2009 at 11:03 pm rating: +2
#43
Brendan Hubbs
I used to eat at the Cheese Shoppe before it closed. I liked it a lot and since I worked close by I often tried get a sandwich from them for dinner. HOWEVER, they clearly didn’t love me as much as I loved them because I would get there 45-mins to half an hour before they close to get something to eat and they had already turned off the grill and wouldn’t even make me a cold sandwich. SO MAYBE THEY WENT OUT OF BUSINESS BECAUSE THEY SUCKED AT RUNNING ONE. NICE ONE YOU LAZY COLLEGE STONERS.
Sep 1, 2009 at 6:00 pm rating: +2
#44
adri
i would like the cheese shop to know that i loved it enough to go there every morning (when i worked a block away from it). please tell it if you see it. from what i hear, it went out of business not due to lack of volume but because the owners of the adjacent pharmacy decided to close. it made me sad – they had the best damn reubens on the planet… also, i am totally bitter.
Sep 1, 2009 at 6:07 pm rating: +1
#45
Karen
My favorite “We’re out of business” sign ever was posted on the door of a donut shop I used to frequent with co-workers:
“Guess we could have used more customers like YOU when we were open.”
Sep 2, 2009 at 4:11 pm rating: 0
#46
Rocky Raccoon
The Cheese Shoppe will be dearly missed…it was definitely a Lawrence landmark…along with Round Corner Drug, the pharmacy it was housed in. Round Corner was the oldest drugstore west of the Mississippi.
Sep 2, 2009 at 11:11 pm rating: 0
#47
madurbanplanner
as an urban planner who hates urban sprawl, the urban sprawl was the best. SIGN. EVER!!! WIN
Sep 3, 2009 at 1:08 pm rating: 0
#48
??????
“Хорошо пишешь”
Sep 3, 2009 at 2:07 pm rating: 0
#49
????? ?????
“Спасибо за статью”
Sep 3, 2009 at 6:10 pm rating: 0
#50
studentur
Класс! Афтару респект!
Sep 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm rating: 0
#51
T imo®
В советской России сыра возрасти вам!
Sep 4, 2009 at 12:35 pm rating: +1
#52
MAMARILLA2
это весь грек к мне так или иначе
Sep 4, 2009 at 12:46 pm rating: 0
#53
TheTick
To Circuit City: You are welcome.
Sep 8, 2009 at 12:51 pm rating: 0
#54
jimmy
$12 for a turkey sandwich & fries, or $12 for a grilled cheese sandwich & fries, $13 for bacon & BAKED eggs, $13 for a burger & fries, & $8 mac n cheese-
obviously it was the owners who typed up that message on the door, because their business plan, restaurant name, prices, & O.O.B. sign really shows how stupid the owners really are.
who the F wants to pay $30 for 4 pieces of bread & 4 pieces of cheese that probably came from F’in aldi’s…
Oct 29, 2009 at 7:46 am rating: 0
#55
pbj
I was so surprised (not) that it was a place in Park Slope. Park Slope has a history of surly shopkeepers who leave nasty notes of farewell. Winston Sonoma (something like that) store anyone? That woman left a long and bitter note trashing the people in the neighborhood! I had to laugh because I thought she was a weird little person who wanted to sell you an ashtray for $240.
Nov 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm rating: 0
#56
Goff
Is this a Cheese Shoppe inspired by the Monty Python sketch where the guy tries to buy cheese at a cheese shoppe only to be lied to about whether or not there is any cheese in said shoppe?
Nov 3, 2009 at 1:41 am rating: 0
Leave a Comment