blend Closes: Support Our Local Businesses
This week, the owners of the contemporary restaurant, blend, located at 221 2nd Avenue SE, announced their decision to close this Thursday, after a slow year and budget woes.
Before the rise and fall of the flood waters, through rebuilding efforts, downtown programming, and development plans, this locally owned restaurant has offered delicious and metropolitan dishes to hungry customers for more than four and a half years. blend's co-owners Vic Kuper, Mark Young and Andy Deutmeyer, announced their closure is due to a combination of new debts taken on to restore their restaurant after the flood, and this year's terribly slow local economy. Their decision was finalized on December 23, and their staff of 20 learned of the news on Saturday.
After the announcement, Downtown District President, Doug Neumann said, "People need to continue to support flood-affected businesses. Many of them are local, family owned businesses, providing unique and wonderful products and services. But many of them are struggling under new debt they took on to rebuild from the flood."
The Downtown District has been so pleased by our relationship with blend over the past years. As one of 34 restaurants in the greater downtown, we've partnered on progressive dinners, Taste of Downtown and other programming events, which have greatly helped to revive our downtown community. While we're sadden by blend's closure, we look forward to the progress downtown will make over the next few months. The University of Iowa's Cedar Rapids Center will open above Zins (227 2nd Avenue SE) next week, just in time for Spring session classes to begin, and Theatre Cedar Rapids plans to reopen as scheduled in February.
Wondering what you can do to help our locally owned establishments prosper? Neumann answers, "People wonder what they can do to help flood affected businesses, yet they don't visit downtown coffee shops, didn't buy their snowblower from the Sled Shed, skipped Smulekoff's when they remodeled their living room and prefer chain restaurants to the incredible experience offered at blend or Zins. There's no magic government program at work here, folks. . . if you want to help flood-affected and locally-owned businesses, please do business with them."
For more information on blend, visit www.blendcr.com. For a list of restaurants and bars in Downtown Cedar Rapids, click here.