Why we moved.....
Why did we move? Good question.
There's been lots of speculation about why we moved. And some people think we closed for good. (Never!) The truth is not that exciting. We moved because the rent was too high!
Our landlord at our old location raised the rent to the point where it simply didn't make sense to stay in the building. If you visit our old spot at 386 Main St., you'll be greeted by empty storefronts of other businesses that also left the indoor mall, which is all owned by the same person. You'll also see a big "CLOSED" sign on our old doors. Many of you have suggested we change that to "MOVED," and we thank you for your thoughtfulness, but the old landlord unfortunately won't remove or let us modify the sign he put up. Nor have we been able to reclaim our wonderful ION sign from the back porch :(
Although the rent was the catalyst for our move, we discovered so many other great reasons in the process. We're excited to be back in the North End, where our original location was started more than 30 years ago. We love being close to the excitement this side of Main Street offers, and to be near great neighbors. Eli Cannon's and NORA have welcomed us with open arms. The nearby Buttonwood Tree attracts the creative, fun people we love to meet, and we now sit across the street from the It's Only Natural Market. We're not sure if this eliminates or adds to the confusion regarding two very similarly named businesses on the same street, but we think it helps. And we like being close to this wonderful grocery store. A big thank to Don and Anne Marie for all you do.
Our new restaurant itself has been a labor of love. We turned the old Masters Supply space into a beautiful new restaurant. Drop ceiling and crumbling tiles were removed to reveal exposed steel beams and beautiful brick walls. We installed a polished concrete floor, a new kitchen, and energy efficient lighting that illuminates the storefront at night. And our amazing furniture was created with love by Ted Esselstyn of City Bench and decorated with beautiful art from Stefanie Lantz of Kindspin. We can't possibly say thank you enough. Seriously, it is physically impossible to express our gratitude these days.
There are some things about the old location we'll miss. The outdoor patio (don't worry - we'll have an outdoor space in our new location soon enough!), the back room, and most importantly, the memories. Luckily we get to take those with us and create many more in our new location at 606 Main St. in Middletown. Thank you for being a part of our story and supporting us in our next chapter. Please drop by and check out our new spot if you haven't seen it already. And if you have, how about leaving us a Yelp review to let them know we're still open, because they keep listing us as closed. Clearly they don't know us very well, because we're here for the long haul.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support!
Old ION:
New ION:
