Bistro Market in downtown Springfield closes

Show Caption Hide Caption Bistro Market in downtown Springfield closes The Bistro Market, located at 401 South Avenue in downtown Springfield, has closed. It opened in 2010. A Starbucks on site remains open.

The Bistro Market in downtown Springfield closed without advance notice on Monday.

Handwritten signs posted on entrances to the store at 401 South Ave. notified customers of the change. A Starbucks inside the location remains open.

Contacted by the News-Leader, Pyramid Foods — the Rogersville-based company that operated the Bistro — issued a statement from CEO Erick Taylor. The statement acknowledged the change without giving a reason for it.

Taylor characterized the move as the Bistro's grocery and liquor store being "consolidated" into the Price Cutter at 1260 E. St. Louis St.

Pyramid operates a number of local grocery stores under several brand names, including Price Cutter, King Cash Saver and Ruby's Market.

Morris Dock, who owns the building at 401 South Ave., said Pyramid's lease on the approximately 11,000-square-foot market runs through May 2020.

Taylor said in the statement that Pyramid is "committed to keeping this space filled in downtown Springfield."

"We have recently been approached by food service vendors and researched launching out own food service concept in this space," Taylor said. "We'd like to thank all of our Bistro Market patrons and local neighboring business for all your support!"

When the Bistro Market opened in August 2010, it was seen by community leaders at the time as a major boost to downtown.

Taylor said that month that "the community has been good to Price Cutter, and we feel like downtown Springfield needs a grocery store."

"More people are moving to downtown, and we'd like to be part of it, and bring downtown to the next level," Taylor said in August 2010.

At inception, in addition to the Starbucks, the Bistro Market offered a wide range of grocery options, as well as a small bar and a cafe area offering made-to-order food and a hot and cold food bar.

In early 2013, Pyramid CEO Erick Taylor floated the possibility that the Bistro could close, as he spoke publicly against a plan to allow a Walmart Neighborhood Market a mile away.

That Walmart, at the intersection of Campbell Avenue and Grand Street, ultimately opened in March 2016. By then, the Bistro had taken on more of a liquor store feel, having been stripped of the cafe area and most of its grocery staples.

At the time, Taylor attributed the change to his company’s recent purchase of four Springfield grocery stores previously operated by Dillons. That transaction included one store on East St. Louis Street, about a mile away from the Bistro.

Downtown Springfield Association executive director Rusty Worley told the News-Leader on Tuesday that the Bistro's grocery options "fulfilled an important need for our urban lofters" for a time, but "it's changed dramatically since it opened."

"It's been obvious for a while that they've been looking for the right mix of products and services," Worley said.

Worley said he was unsure exactly why the Bistro closed, but he noted the grocery industry "is in a state of flux right now," citing the rise of online ordering and Amazon's recent deal to acquire Whole Foods.

Worley said the number of people living in the core downtown area has only increased since the Bistro opened, and that there is still interest among residents "in having a downtown grocery store that is closer to what the Bistro Market resembled when it first opened."