Everything has to come to an end, those are words we are all very familiar with. Unfortunately, in the restaurant world that means closed spaces. In turn that leaves communities with fewer choices on where to spend time.
In Vancouver, WA, recently several places have closed. If you look for information on who, what, and why, it’s not always that easy to find.
Welcome to that list. This is the Vancouver, WA list of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and more that have closed down. Some places are chains, and others are local places that decided it was time to try something else.
The aim is to provide a somewhat comprehensive list of places that left the downtown Vancouver location. The hope is to expand the list to all o Vancouver when information can be found.
The Vancouver location of Big Town Hero closed at some point in February. On their location page, currently, it says they are temporarily closed while moving to a new location. The sandwich shop which is an Oregon-based chain was in an area that got decent traffic, but over the years has run into issues with continuing that success.
It was February 14, 2023, when IV Tea Company closed its doors in the space that housed Black Rock Coffee. This location provided a nice space for excellent tea blends, tea cocktails, tasty pastries, plus good lunch options. Even though they shuddered their brick-and-mortar location, IV Tea still lives online. You can purchase tea, plus other items there.
Interestingly enough, IV Tea and Big Town Hero were both in the same building and both are no longer there.
Woody’s originally opened in downtown Vancouver before moving out to Mill Plain and The Mill shopping center. They returned to downtown Vancouver in the former space that housed Low Bar, unfortunately, the location didn’t last and at the end of 2022, the location closed. No actual date is known as nothing was ever put up on their Facebook page or other social media postings. They do have their main location on Mill Plain which is open every day of the week.
The location which did have some very good affordably priced food was plagued by staffing issues it appears. Not to mention a really bad plumbing issue that happened when they first opened. Not clear which of these issues caused the closure, if not a combination of both.
Out of the location that was the Old Ivy, Mav’s opened up with an excellent idea. One spot would be your traditional bar while the other building right across the way would be a game room, with pinball machines, plus other arcade games, plus more. It was something for all ages. Sadly, on March 31, 2023, it all came to an end. The owner posted on their Facebook page that they were closing down so that they could spend more time with family.
Even though it is a sad day for all those that enjoy playing games, sitting on the patio, or just going for a nice variety of beers. The new tenant at this point is supposed to be Brothers Cascadia. No date has been announced, so who knows if and when something will happen with that space.
That is the list for now. If you know of anywhere that has closed, let me know. The idea is to provide information, so you aren’t left wondering about a place.
On the other end, we’ll be making a list of places that will be coming soon, or newly opened as well. Change is inevitable, especially in the food service industry. The best thing to do is to embrace the change and prepare for more.
Jacob Thomas 