Did I miss this in the local media? I had heard from my father-in-law a couple weeks ago after his weekly Friday trip to Juniper Cafe that they were going to close. We went there on Wednesday before we headed out of town, and confirmed with the long-time staff there: As of May 1st, Juniper Cafe will be no more.
What’s happening to them? From what I was told, the owner of the place was looking to move on and just wanted to sell the place. The buyer wasn’t interested in keeping the place running, but to bulldoze it into a parking lot.
The buyer? The Real Estate office next door. So they’re looking to increase the size of their parking lot (which already seems like it’s fairly good size, but whatever).
Everybody knows my feelings about the Bend real estate market, as well as how all our homestyle dining establishments are shutting down. So after Pilot Butte closed down for dinner and Jake’s Diner is relocating to the worst location for a restaurant in Bend, now Juniper Cafe will be closing.
My brother and father-in-law have gone there weekly for years. I’ve gone there quite a bit, and first started going there with my family when I was little. It’s looked the same since I was a kid, and the folks there (despite going through a couple owners) have always been nice. I will miss it, that’s for sure (just like I still miss the Snow Bunny on the Westside — I went there on their last day — as they had the best damn sausage gravy on the planet).
So where to go now? I haven’t been to Sargent’s for years (but they’re on the other side of the real estate office, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets bought up and bulldozed as well). Palmer Cafe is good, but it’s small and crowded (though the food’s really good).
Juniper Cafe, you will be missed.
Comments
…sometimes I feel, having only lived in Central Oregon for 10 years or so, that God brought me here so I could be a witness to the beginning of the end of everything that made Bend a place that I have been trying to get to since 1980. I actually came here on my honeymoon in 1983 on one of those multiple-day ski/room packages that Mt. Bachelor used to offer. Back then, the Mt. Bachelor Village condo’s were way out of town on Century Drive and the south end of the Main Drag (3rd St.) ended just south of the railroad underpass. I haven’t been to all the old-timey spots in Bend (since “going to town” isn’t a daily occurance), but I’ve been to some, and the ‘big food’ truck stop ambience of Jakes and the small town restaurent feel of the Juniper were some of my favorites. Apparently we’ll have to wait until next week to hear that the Pine Tavern is the location of the new downtown parking garage….
I find your reminiscing and frustration over the loss of a home-style dining establishment interesting after reading the posting about people needing to get over their issues with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart poses the same threat to small (or even medium to large) retail establishments as the real estate company did to Junipers. Near my hometown in California, Wal-Mart opened its doors and systematically shut down smaller businesses in the area. They started with the mattress store by discounting their products to prices below what the smaller store could afford to compete with. Once the competition was out of the way, the mattress prices at Wal-Mart went back up to prices at or above what the smaller store used to charge. Because Wal-Mart is so large, they can take the losses of cutting their prices until they have eliminated the competition (then the prices go back up). As Wal-Mart’s competitors try to stay afloat, they must cut costs, which often leads to wage cuts for their workers and, once the competitors loose the battle, job loss. Wal-Mart is also famous for giving cities financial promises that backfire and create losses instead of gains (Wal-Mart’s profits go back to their home base in Arkansas, not back into the surrounding community like the profits earned and then spent by mom and pops). Wal-Mart also fails to pay their workers a living wage or offer health insurance that can be purchased with what little they make. While Wal-Mart does not pay its workers enough to subsist, they do teach them how to get on welfare. Wal-Mart’s gain from cheap labor is our loss in costs of social services and lowered quality of life. The enticing lower prices at Wal-Mart aren’t really lower when you look at the bigger picture.
i think you should spread the word about the snobby sushi place that simone and i wrote about on our blogs.
Shannon: I’ve seen that place you rant about. Not being a big sushi fan myself, I wasn’t really interested in it, but do notice it being super packed all the time. I’ll let your words speak for themselves, but you shouldn’t be surprised. I do know that I can’t find anywhere on the Oregon Business Registry so I have no idea who actually owns the place and where they’re from.
Jack: My parents are in the same boat. They live in Valhalla Heights, which was the last neighborhood in the city limits on your way to Shevlin Park. Now there are housing developments all the way to the place and beyond. Scary…. (and if they ever do a thing to the Pine Tavern, I’m going to cry).
Felicity: I almost considered not responding to your comment because you appear to be on the mindset that a person can only decide their views one way, and that applies to everything. I understand why you’d be confused, as most people who would have my views about Wal-Mart would feel differently about how I feel about the Juniper, but I’m just not most people 🙂
I decide my views on a per-case basis. I’m not one of those types of folks that is closed off to a view because it is against a certain political view (I consider myself moderate if anything). My views on the Juniper Cafe come from the fact that I’ve been going there since I was a kid, and homestyle dining like theirs is hard to find (and hard to replace).
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, has been established in Bend already, and if they were going to cause businesses to shut down, they would’ve already done so. The business that are still here know how to compete with Wal-Mart: They offer great service at competitive prices. They’re not going to be going down if they keep that up, even if a hundred Wal-Marts open.
I understand business people being concerned about Wal-Mart showing up, but they’d be concerned with any competitor showing up.
To use a few real-world examples, Cascade Office Supply, a long-time office supply store that used to be in downtown Bend, was probably concerned when OfficeMax and/or Staples opened their doors. So what did they do? They adapted: They restructured, focusing more on business supplies, being the one-stop-shop for businesses who need them, as they have nearly every product under the sun in a huge catalog. We order from them quite a bit because they had stuff that the big super stores don’t have.
Another one: The Lumber Yards and Paint Stores around Bend (Parr Lumber, Miller Lumber, Denfields Paint, etc…) that were affected when Home Depot opened. Were they affected? You bet. But I know my dad, who’s been a contracter here for 20+ years, still frequents the smaller places. Why? Because he gets better service.
And as far as I know, Food 4 Less isn’t going anywhere when the Supercenter opens up just a few blocks down the road from them.
The businesses who know how to do business properly with good service and competitive services will survive, whether Wal-Mart is here or not.
The Juniper Cafe case, on the other hand, is completely different, as this isn’t about competition, it’s about expanding a parking lot for a real estate house (already the most overpaid profession out there) and bulldozing a business that’s been in Bend for at least 25 years. The land that the new Wal-Mart is building on is already mostly vacant and the KOA campground has been trying to sell for years (it’s a horrible location for a campground now, though probably wasn’t when it was built).
Jake… very well said!
Sad thing about the Juniper Cafe, Jake. I wonder why those old-style diners don’t seem to survive here in Bend. Maybe because the large influx of out-of-staters favor posh and phony places like the freaking
Kanpai? I tell ya – the restaurant scene seems to be warping into something only too much alike to what happened down in beautiful Sonoma County (Bay Area)… all phony and expensive facades with long-ass waiting lists, and no more warm and inviting places you can spontaneously park yourself for a few hours of fun and relaxation (and good food). Sigh….
I happen to find the funniest things in other peoples writings is that they have no clue what they are talking about, they are the ones that know it all, describe it all and predict it all.. Unfortunatley for them and us they are also the ones that happen to be 100% wrong.