Simon’s Coffee Shop served its final customers at at 1736 Massachusetts Ave. on Monday, but that doesn’t mean the business is gone while its building is torn down and rebuilt with 71 homes overhead.
It’s just that owner Simon Yu isn’t able to spell out the plan, even as the coffee shop hosted an evening goodbye party with invitations to its regulars over the past 23 years.
A Walgreens closed July 9 before the razing of the single-story-and-basement building. The third tenant, the Keezer’s secondhand clothes shop and tailor, reopened this week just steps away at 1730 Massachusetts Ave., previously offices for a Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. The original Keezer’s location was in Cambridgeport near Central Square, but the owners were forced to relocate after 122 years when their building was sold in 2017. Now Keezer’s has moved again after a nine-year stretch and will face the question eventually of whether to come back to a new building in 2028.
The structure at 1740 Massachusetts Ave. at Linnaean Street is on track for demolition within two to three weeks, Yu said after discussion with Adam Siegel of Old North Development and SGL Development. Then comes 18 to 20 months of construction for a 64,330-square-foot, six-story building with apartments (13 of them affordable), bicycle parking and ground-floor and basement commercial spaces.
“I expressed my desire to come back, and Adam asked me to come back. He told me that he will try his best to to accommodate Simon’s as a good amenity for the apartment and for the community,” Yu said.
In preparation for teardown, the building’s gas is already off and the electric goes some time this week, Yu said.
Will Simon’s keep serving? As to what Yu might tell the longtime customers coming to the party and eager for good news: “I think it will happen. But we haven’t signed the final agreement,” Yu said Monday. As a result, he can’t speak explicitly about his plans and hopes.
The goodbye(?) party
People packed Simon’s on Monday, spilling out onto the sidewalk to sing, reminisce and wish Yu and his staff the best. In addition to customers, the party drew former baristas such as Melissa Duncan, who worked at the shop “officially” for a couple of years starting in January 2010. “Then I covered shifts for years after that on weekends, whenever Simon needed help and whenever I needed a few extra bucks,” said Duncan, a Somerville resident then and now living near Cambridge Common.
Some of her favorite memories from working at Simon’s were of “dance parties with colleagues, playing music while we were getting ready in the morning right before opening, or when we’re closing … the sense of community and and fun that everyone had working here. I made some really good, true friendships,” Duncan said.
The place isn’t much different now, she said – maybe a few more items on the menu.
“It’s changed a little bit, but not in spirit,” Duncan said. “That comes from Simon, a lot of it. He’s really good at hiring people who will be great members of the community. Obviously, they make great coffee here, but every time I come in and visit, it still feels like home.”
Hint at a “new space”
If a late cup of tea, decaf coffee and biscotti and chance to say temporary goodbyes weren’t enough of a draw, as well as to write names on walls and take away a part of the shop, a flyer advertising the party offered people a chance to commit to help move to a new space and a clue: “Come get a coupon to use at a new space across the street.”
There are a handful of empty storefronts nearby, including some across the street from Simon’s. At the former Dear Annie wine bar and restaurant, which is moving to a model for curated parties and private events, owner Lauren Friel said she would be “happy to chat with you as soon as we have a signed agreement with Simon’s; until then, I’m not at liberty to discuss anything.”
A deal could be a win-win, with the community keeping Simon’s and Simon’s staying in business – and an existing storefront set up for a kitchen and seating drawing rent during a time it is hasn’t taken customers.
Dear Annie, which opened in late 2021 near Porter Square in Cambridge, said July 8 that the wine bar and restaurant will close July 31, reopening in September for “bespoke events (including private events) devoted to the beauty and craft of exceptional wine and hospitality.” The next business at 1741 Massachusetts Ave. is Sisyphus Happy – a reference to a Camus essay and a TikTok meme that alludes to it, based on a questionnaire assessing who’s waitlist-worthy.
