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rfmcdonaldMy Facebook feed Wednesday night was filled with the complaints of my old Kingston friends that the Sleepless Goat Café, on 91 Princess Street in the heart of Kingston, was going to be closing this weekend, with a special commemoration to be held at the restaurant itself at 7 o'clock this evening. The sad economics behind the closing were described by the Kingston Whig-Standard's Steph Crosier.
(The Big Dig being referred to is the ongoing reconstruction of Princess Street, being torn up to make way for modern infrastructure.)
The Goat anchors my memories of Kingston. I'd first seen the Goat, and the whole Princess Street stretch, in my first visit to Kingston in spring of 2003, when I was scouting out Queen's University. I liked the Goat: It was a funky independent coffee shop, with good food, great coffee, and an excellent location in the downtown core for students moving east from the Queen's campus. It was one element of what was, at least personally, a very successful year. The last time I blogged about it was in July 2006, when I argued that there was space enough for the Goat to co-exist with a nearby Starbucks, that the two coffee shops would cater to different demographics and there was space enough for both. Apparently, in the end, there was not, or at least not enogh space for the Goat to survive a perfect storm of catastrophe.
I mourn for the Goat. I do hope, as Crozier's article hints, that the Goat could relaunch elsewhere if the right environment could be found, that other people could enjoy the Goat's culture even if their space on Princess Street is no longer available. I would like to enjoy the Goat again. Certainly I haven't in the twelve years since I left Kingston for Toronto, never returning for even a day visit even though Kingston is just a Megabus trip away. Always I had made plans, promising to return to the city where I first lived on my own as an adult where Lake Ontario narrows into the St. Lawrence, one day; one day, I could be sipping coffee at the Goat as I looked over a haul from Wayfarer Books just down the street. That day won't be coming now.
The Sleepless Goat, a downtown Kingston business staple for almost 24 years, will be closing its doors for good.
“Rent is super expensive where we’re at and we’ve fallen behind,” Christina Avery, member of the restaurant’s co-operative, said. “We don’t have the money to keep it up.”
The financial drain accumulated over the past couple of months. A lack of traffic is said to be largely to blame.
“I feel like the [Big] Dig really stops the flow of traffic,” Jessica Sebastiano, member of the restaurant’s co-operative, said. “I haven’t crunched numbers, but it’s something I would imagine that has affected it.”
In addition, The Sleepless Goat couldn’t afford to renew its liquor licence, affecting business, and there were mounting building maintenance costs.
“The weather has actually had a big impact on our business. There’s been lots of days that we weren’t able to be open,” Avery said. “People have been illegally downloading things on our Wi-Fi, so we’ve had to shut it off completely or face really huge fines. That was in the fall, and that certainly cut into our business. A lot of people studied and worked here.”
(The Big Dig being referred to is the ongoing reconstruction of Princess Street, being torn up to make way for modern infrastructure.)
The Goat anchors my memories of Kingston. I'd first seen the Goat, and the whole Princess Street stretch, in my first visit to Kingston in spring of 2003, when I was scouting out Queen's University. I liked the Goat: It was a funky independent coffee shop, with good food, great coffee, and an excellent location in the downtown core for students moving east from the Queen's campus. It was one element of what was, at least personally, a very successful year. The last time I blogged about it was in July 2006, when I argued that there was space enough for the Goat to co-exist with a nearby Starbucks, that the two coffee shops would cater to different demographics and there was space enough for both. Apparently, in the end, there was not, or at least not enogh space for the Goat to survive a perfect storm of catastrophe.
I mourn for the Goat. I do hope, as Crozier's article hints, that the Goat could relaunch elsewhere if the right environment could be found, that other people could enjoy the Goat's culture even if their space on Princess Street is no longer available. I would like to enjoy the Goat again. Certainly I haven't in the twelve years since I left Kingston for Toronto, never returning for even a day visit even though Kingston is just a Megabus trip away. Always I had made plans, promising to return to the city where I first lived on my own as an adult where Lake Ontario narrows into the St. Lawrence, one day; one day, I could be sipping coffee at the Goat as I looked over a haul from Wayfarer Books just down the street. That day won't be coming now.
