by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Barista Teá Nielsen never imagined Irysh Mac's would close.
"I've had some time to deal with it, but it's hard," she said. "This has been my main source of income for the past six years."
The coffeehouse at 110 Yale Blvd. S.E. opened in January 2000. It will serve its last espresso on Jan. 27 - three days after its seventh
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birthday.
"It was a variety of reasons," Irysh Mac's owner Erin Mowris said. "Probably the biggest is that the landlord and I were unable to come to an agreement. He wanted part of the space, and we couldn't agree on a fair rental fee."
The property is owned by Harvard Mall Partners. Partner Kino James said the building will be available for lease Feb. 1.
"We will try to find whatever makes sense for that property," James said.
James said the partners plan to lease the property to a private business owner.
"Most of the businesses that are in the Bricklight District are locally owned," he said. "We would like to see something like that go back in there."
Mowris said she will open a coffeehouse on Osuna Road but would like to open another near the University.
"I would love to come back to the area, but after things settle down," she said.
Mowris said more than a few regulars will be disappointed with the coffeehouse's closure.
"I tried to count one time, and I figure I know at least a couple hundred regulars," she said. "Plus, each employee has their regulars."
Charles Dillaway has been an Irysh Mac's regular for four years and is dissapointed it is closing.
"All we have now are Satellites and nightmares moving in," he said. "At Irysh Mac's, they have gay meetings, meetings for lesbians with horses - they have every kind of meeting here. It is a meeting house. It is a real coffeehouse. It's not just trying to make money. It's not a corporate entity."
Nielsen said people from Alcoholics Anonymous are grateful that Mowris allowed them to meet there.
"I always told Erin (Mowris), 'Whenever things start looking bad, look at all the lives you have changed because of your coffeeshop,'" Nielsen said. "The fact that Erin has provided a place for people like that is incredible. It's incredible to see all the people who have come here and changed over the years."
Mowris bought a journal for
customers to write letters and leave their e-mail addresses so she can let them know when the new coffeehouse will open. She said one of her favorite letters is from a couple who met at Irysh Mac's.
"They started hanging out here as friends," she said. "Then, they started dating. They would come on coffee dates, and we would catch them kissing in the parking lot. Then they got married, and now they had their first baby."
Mowris said she will miss the interesting situations at Irysh Mac's, such as a man who wanted to buy coffee with crystals.
"He was saving crystals because he wanted to buy a UFO," she said. "He wanted to buy a spaceship so he could go to Mexico. He seemed perfectly normal until he said that."
Mowris said her coffeehouse will open next month, but she will not name it Irysh Mac's.
"It's not going to be the same," she said. "That's why I feel weird about calling it Irysh Mac's. This is Irysh Mac's."
Although she will miss the house, Mowris said she is ready for a change.
"Mostly the customers are sad to see me go, and I'm sad," she said. "I've been dealing with this since Thanksgiving, and I remember the day that I mentally made the decision to close this and open a new one. I told somebody in my family, 'I just killed a coffeehouse today.' It was crushing."
