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Memento Zero Proof Lounge, an alcohol-free bar in the Fishers Nickel Plate District, has closed less than six months after its opening, its owners announced Tuesday.
Memento co-owner Max Gavin told IBJ the bar at the First Internet Bank building at 8701 E. 116th St. had to close due to a lease issue. Gavin and Shwa Hall announced the closure in a Facebook post.
“Despite our attempt at negotiations, we regrettably could not reach an agreement with our landlord to reopen,” Gavin and Hall wrote. “We had exciting plans for the summer ahead, including the addition of TV, outdoor seating, several events, and a fresh summer menu, but unfortunately, circumstances intervened.”
In March, Gavin and Hall announced that Memento would temporarily close. They started Memento as a pop-up venture in 2021 before opening last October in Fishers.
The First Internet Bank building opened in late 2021 adjacent to the Nickel Plate Trail. Indianapolis-based ALO Property Group has listed the former Memento location as a “turnkey … 2nd generation coffee shop.”
To open Memento, Gavin and Hall told IBJ last year they spent about $300,000, which they raised through a Kickstarter campaign, events, personal funds and working multiple jobs. Gavin managed a vape shop, while Hall worked as a barista and delivered flowers.
Their drink menu included nonalcoholic beers, wines, cocktails, liquor, absinthe, amaretto and whiskey. They also sold specialty coffees and food, such as paninis and yogurt bowls.
While some area bars and breweries, such as Hotel Indy’s CannonBall Lounge and Sun King Brewing, offer nonalcoholic drinks, Memento was the first fully sober bar to hit the Indianapolis area.
Booze-free bars and nonalcoholic retail bottle shops are found mostly on the coasts, though a handful have taken root in the Midwest. Loren’s AF Beverages with two locations in Carmel and Generation NA in Lafayette are nonalcoholic bottle shops that opened in 2022.
Bendicion Dry Bar and Prazbar, both in Chicago, are also nonalcoholic bottle shops. Inmoxicated in suburban Milwaukee is a sober bar, and Sans Bar STL in St. Louis hosts nonalcoholic, pop-up events.
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Lease issue? As in, couldn’t pay the rent because it’s a silly idea for a business?
Bingo, Marshall!
My question is why write this article and not dig into the actual lease issue? What am I reading, a location is closing, posted on FB, ok, done.
Silly idea? Do your research on how the current movement toward sobriety or reduced alcohol consumption is BIG! Of course, Indiana will be behind the times on this like everything else. Also, IBJ omitted an NA shop right in our backyard – GenerationNa in Lafayette.
Still doesn’t mean it is a business plan that can work. Sounds like not enough biz to pay the freight. Lease issues after 6 months????? What type of half baked lease was signed. Like SB above this is a worthless article for not digging into the “lease issue”