Why are so many famous Colorado Springs restaurants closing?

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Several restaurants that were once a staple in the Colorado Springs community are closing their doors for good, if they haven’t already.

Mountain Shadows Restaurant in Old Colorado City just announced it is closing and selling its building.

Cy’s Drive-in on the west side closed in October. The owner said the landlord decided she needed to move out by the end of the year.

Munchies 719 in downtown Colorado Springs will permanently close its doors at the end of the year. The owners told KRDO13 they are seeing fewer people downtown. Figures from the Downtown Business Association support this claim, showing a 1.61% decline in downtown pedestrian traffic since 2023.

Chuck Thomas grew up in downtown Colorado Springs and has been in the grocery business since he was 15 years old. He said he always dreamed of a prime spot on Tejon. Now his wife runs Munchies 719 right on the Tejon, but they have decided to cut their losses and close their doors at the end of the year.

“Small businesses are struggling all over Colorado Springs,” said Chuck Thomas, whose wife owns Munchies 719.

Restaurant owners tell KRDO13 there are a variety of reasons that quickly add up and lead to the decision to close their doors.

“I have sunk everything in the restaurant and I have nothing left to put in it,” shared Kasie Swain, owner of Mountain Shadows.

Mountain Shadows opened in 1992. Swain started working there in 1993 as a waitress. She says it was a Cinderella story as she worked her way up the corporate ladder and eventually took over the management of the company. Now she says it broke her heart to have to close the store.

“I couldn’t have told you this would ever happen. This was supposed to be for my grandchildren,” Swain said.

But given the high prices for goods, employees and rent, it became too much.

“Everything just goes up,” Swain said, “it’s killing us, and every payroll you think I’m going down. I’m sinking very quickly. So just being able to pay your employees and being able to keep the staff here, it’s been kind of a struggle.”

The owner of Cy’s Drive-in echoed a similar message.

“Every time you raise wages or put in a new tax or whatever, it piles up, it’s a huge drop,” said Kathy Micci, owner of Cy’s Drive-in.

She had no plans to close, but the decision was made for her.

“I was hoping to sell it and retire. “But my landlord decided that that was no longer an option,” Micci said.

Now she’s working on selling the leftover equipment from Cy’s Drive-in to recoup some of her investment. Micci says interested customers can search for her and the drive-in’s post on Facebook.

Customers heard that another burger joint would soon be closing: Drifter’s Hamburgers. KRDO13 was unable to contact the owners despite numerous phone calls. When we got there the doors were locked and the passage blocked.

“Go to local support, otherwise there won’t be local,” Thomas said.

A message many owners could agree with, as Munchies 719, Mark Anthony’s Pretzels and FH Beerworks all plan to close by the end of the year.

Swain hopes someone with a good heart who cares about the community buys Mountain Shadows.

Other owners of Cy’s and Munchies 719 say they are leaving the grocery store for good.

While they all had plenty of reasons to blame the closures, all of the restaurants had one thing in common: Not only are they losing their business, they’re also losing their dream.

“It is also very expensive to be an employer. “So we have high wages and high employment costs, which makes it really difficult to find qualified workers who can afford to stay in these positions,” explained Reanna Werner, a small business owner, member of the Pikes Peak Workforce Center Board and Regulator US Small Business Association Fairness Board.