After more than 50 years in business, East Side staple Beans & Barley, 1901 E. North Ave., will close its doors permanently on January 31, 2026. Beans made the announcement on social media Wednesday.
“Since 1973 Beans & Barley has had the honor of serving our community, neighbors, friends, and families,” the announcement reads. “Our time on the Eastside has meant so much to all of us. It is incredibly hard to have to say this, but Beans & Barley will be closing its doors permanently on Jan 31, 2026.”
The reason for the closure? “Our building is being sold and we are not in a position to buy it,” Beans says.
The announcement continues:
We want to send our utmost gratitude to all who have come through this building as customers and employees these last 52 years, they have been truly incredible. The time has come for Beans to be done and our stewardship of this beautiful entity to end. Our building is being sold and we are not in a position to buy it. We hope that these last few months will bring a chance to see all of you here for one last time, and to give this legendary business the send off we think she deserves.
If you are an employer in the hospitality business we strongly urge you to hire someone from our incredible staff, any of you would be lucky to have one of our 70 employees doing the great work for you they have done for us. We hope you can find a way to patronize us again and enjoy our space for the last time. In this invitation we also want to implore you to, should you have the means please, please, frequent and support your local small businesses: restaurants, venues, bars, maker spaces, gift shops, toy shops, vintage stores, artists, book shops, healers, record stores, support your local radio, theatres, performing arts spaces etc. They will not make it without you, they make up your community, they are what makes this city incredible and they need you.
We will miss you all,
Jim, Polly and the Beans & Barley Staff
Opened in 1973, Beans has survived decades of changing tastes, an ever-changing East Side neighborhood, and even a fire that destroyed its original building in 1993. “Started in 1973 as a small neighborhood health-food store with a half-dozen crocks for bulk goods and two coolers,” an official history reads, “Beans added slowly to its list of products as customers requested. In 1979, believing that, just like everyone else, ‘health-food’ shoppers would appreciate quick, hot food in the middle of a busy day, we started serving food. The food was good, people stopped in to shop AND eat.”
And then came the fire. Again, from the official history:
Early in the summer of 1993, we literally became the hottest spot on the East Side, when a spectacular blaze (fireballs and everything!) drove the lunch-hour crowd into the street and left us with just the foundation and one usable wall. Over the next year and a half, we developed our plans, secured financing and by late Fall of 1994, standing in exactly the same spot where the old building had stood, we opened the doors to a brand-new Beans & Barley.
Sigh. R.I.P. Beans & Barley.
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