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With plans to focus new operations in Nora and a northern suburb, Rise’n Roll Bakery is closing its downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple locations, the company announced Thursday.
Saturday will be the final day doughnuts are served by Rise’n Roll at 107 E. New York St., a downtown retail spot that opened in 2021 in the Ardmore building.
In a written statement, Rise’n Roll cited a decrease in downtown office workers as a factor in the decision to exit the Ardmore.
Franchisee Casey McGaughey said Rise’n Roll will close its Broad Ripple shop, 6311 E. Westfield Blvd., in October to coincide with the opening of a Nora location at 1115 E. 86th St.
McGaughey said she wants to open a Rise’n Roll in Carmel or Westfield in the near future.
“The moves are tactical,” said McGaughey, president of MCL Inc. which owns MCL Cafeteria & Bakery. “By transitioning downtown to Nora and considering Broad Ripple’s closeness to the new location, it makes sense to consolidate and set our sights on the north for our next store.”
The future Nora location is a 1,300-square-foot space in the Nora Shoppes retail center that also includes a Verizon store.
Rise’n Roll Bakery opened its Broad Ripple location in 2020 in the mixed-use River House development.
Middlebury, Indiana-based Rise’n Roll, founded in 2004, presently has more than 15 stores, including in Fishers, Greenwood and Avon. In May, the “Underground Donut Tour” named Rise’n Roll’s cinnamon caramel doughnut as the overall fan favorite through online voting.
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Another data point for those who want to minimize the impact of panhandling and criminal activity in Indianapolis/Broad Ripple. This business is closing those locations and opening in suburbs where panhandling and criminal activity are not handled in the same manner as Indianapolis handles those issues. The problems don’t have to directly impact business. If they impact customers, or customers believe that they MIGHT be affected, and then those customers and/or potential customers choose not to patronize business in those areas out of a desire to avoid dealing with panhandling and criminal activity, then the businesses suffer. So the customers and ultimately the businesses vote “with their feet”.
Sweetgreen right next door seems to be doing fine
The Broad Ripple location can be a bit of a mess to get in and out of though, so I would expect this is more about believing the Nora location will attract more customers because it’s less of a hassle to access.
L D. – absolutely true on all points!
Very common-sense explanation.
In fairness, the opened at a very troubling time, and it’s hard to imagine “decrease in downtown office workers” given that it was even worse when they opened.
But we all know that businesses who actually state the truth are terrified they will get the John Schnatter treatment. Even small ones like this.
Get ready for the rationalizations in some of the other comments.
I’m sorry, but that is dumb. This store is located at the “beginning” of Mass Ave, within blocks of thousands of downtown residents, a myriad of successful restaurants and retail businesses. This is several blocks from the central core, or main business district, of downtown, where one would expect panhandling might be more of an issue. I live right across the street, panhandling isn’t an issue. And there is another doughnut shop, even more centrally located, that has been in business at its current location for several years longer than Rise and n’ Roll. If the lack of traditional office worker customers was such a factor, perhaps they should have reconsidered their decision to be closed on Sundays (again, thousands of apartments within blocks). Mass Ave is NOT suffering. It is typically very active most evenings and every weekend and new places continue to open regularly. Stop inventing issues that don’t exist.
I will have to say closing on Sunday seemed strange for one of the 10’s of thousands of people that live downtown.
Get ready for the unfounded, sensationalized, negative opinions on downtown, from a bunch of people who don’t live here and likely rarely visit, in some of the other comments.
Annnnnd….the rationalizations begin.
You don’t have to be downtown 24/7 to know what the problems are.
Lauren and Keith showed up just in time lol.
Gate keeping at its finest. Of course, here comes good ole Wes in time for the old reach around.
Wesley H.
Ditto
Lauren don’t you know that Marshall and Wes know how to operate businesses downtown better than true business people. They are experts on everything related to downtown even though Wes lives in california.
I live and work downtown and I’m tired of the crazy bums that have taken over.
Say what you want, but it’s bad.
Bernard L.
+ 1
Bernard, not sure how long you’ve lived downtown, but I’ve lived downtown most of my life. When you say “taken over”, to what period of time are you comparing the current state of affairs?
Have lived downtown for 10 years. I have said this before many times on here. When moved here, the downtown as a whole was essentially mile square. There was nothing else! Maybe two blocks up mass ave were fair and hit or miss in fountain square? Since moving here (and immediately thinking to self “once I graduate med school I am out” due to the “nap” sorta feel in naptown), downtown has consistently developed from this nothingness. Fletcher place, fountain square, mass ave, Kennedy king/north monon, Herron Morton, stutz, 16 tech, bottle works, Windsor park, etc. I have stayed and continue to practice here because of the urban improvements in this city!
The one net negative of downtown has been mile square thanks to historically relying on office workers to commute in and crowds from events/conferences. Covid with the structural changes killed this. Homelessness is higher in the core of city as well with the only two shelters being open for 2 years during pandemic are located in good news and wheeler. Homelessness very much exists in these other areas but there are no services in donut counties, no pun intended, thus they are happily relocated to these shelters or general vicinity. These are real nuanced issues that exist. On one hand Homelessness numbers increased while also foot traffic from office workers less thus Homelessness perceived to higher degree. All in all, not much pan handling, loitering is not a major issue at this particular spot of downtown. May businesses surrounding do more than well. The type of business (opening early, relying largely on locals, office workers, closing early) does have some effect on business potential. In addition, the donuts are good though do not generate much buzz to area or downtown residents.
In essence, my takeaway is these fears are histrionic in nature. If the downtown was as it was 10 years ago, my family would be assuredly living in and I’d be practicing in another city. On that note, farewell downtown and b-rip rise n roll.
Sorry Marshall P. but downtown has many more vagrants than ever before. Its a national issue. While I agree with you Mass Ave seems safer than some places, I personally witnessed a mugging of a drunk person at lunchtime about a month ago. As I was getting in my car in front of Bru, I noticed the guy stumbling around. Once I got into my car, I watched as another person walked up to him, pushed him down and calmly took everything from his pockets.
Fingers – and toes – are crossed that Rise N Roll will open their next store in WESTFIELD!! Their donuts are great, but cookies are even better!
Knock on wood… they don’t close the Greenwood location.
They should maybe consider being closed another day of the week besides Sunday.
As soon as I saw the downtown store was one of the two that were closing, I somehow knew there would be numerous commenters blaming it on the surrounding area. Some may find this hard to believe, but businesses relocate or close all the time without it being a statement about the neighborhood they were in (other than the fact that they didn’t achieve their objective there). Given the success of numerous businesses nearby (including in the same strip), and the amount of further development planned, the point is ridiculous. Do businesses never close or relocate in Avon, Greenwood, Fishers, Carmel, etc.?
Be careful, Greg, your logic will be attacked by the outsiders…
If businesses closed as comprehensively in Avon, Greenwood, etc as they have downtown, then yes, I’d say there’s a problem.
But there was much lower support for lockdowns in those areas, and they ended rather quickly, while Boss Hogsett continued them for months beyond the rest of the state.
They also had no riots. There was an attempt. The brainwashed thugs threatened to come down and set fire to the Greenwood Park Mall, but Greenwood police promised to greet them with a bit less empathy than the IPD.
To this day, the overall tolerance for homeless depravity in those areas is extremely low.
So if they experience a 30%+ drop in retail occupancy, we’d try to find what conditions might explain it. But since the three factors listed above are marginal to non-existent in the suburbs, all I see is mental gymnastics passing as “logic”, trying to defend the unquestionably deteriorated conditions of downtown.
More people do remote work now, thus less office occupancy, leading to less foot traffic and retail to serve those needs at present. You might call that “mental gymnastics” but, to me, it’s not that difficult to comprehend. It’s also not necessarily permanent, as the focus shifts to more people residing downtown.
A doughnut store is closing. Meanwhile, if you’re at all familiar with the area (and I know you read the IBJ), you’ll know there’s a planned 30+ stories going up the next block east. Developers were bidding for the chance to do that because there’s a lack of people who want to live (or work, or visit) downtown. So call it “unquestionably deteriorated” if you want, but to try and put that label on all of downtown (or make sweeping generalizations because a city has…gasp…homeless people in its center), is just being hysterical.
Lauren, you’ve ALWAYS been a critic of downtown, well before the “riots”. You throw out all these points but don’t back them up with ANY real data. They’re opinions. BTW, you should know that there is more development (and planned development) occurring right now downtown than at any nearly point in the past 2 decades. Every time you post, you expose your weird, obsessive disdain for downtown without offering any ideas for solutions to what you perceive the problems to be. And those areas had no riots because their participants came downtown, too. Also, where the heck did you pull the “30% drop in retail” stat from? I’ll give you Circle Centre, but that’s more reflective of a long term and national trend than an indictment of the state of downtown Indy. Sure, there have been the occasional closings, but announcement of new openings (which you either ignore or are simply unaware of) come more frequently. That Starbucks that closed several months back, which you and others like to hold up as “proof” of the downfall of downtown? Already being replaced with a new, LOCAL coffee shop (something I’d rather see ANY day over a Starbucks on every corner).
Marshall P. +1
Sure Marshall. You’d reject any data I provide because you’re a walking example of confirmation bias. Every single one of your responses here is aggressive mental gymnastics to try to pep-talk yourself into thinking that downtown is still doing A-OK.
I’ll confess that my 30% drop in retail is based on observation. But I didn’t even think of Circle Centre, since it was already pretty much a dead mall before COVID. I did consider City Market, which was doing better than it had been in half-a-century up until COVID. And if we take storefronts along Delaware, Pennsylvania, Market, Ohio, Washington, I’d say I’m being conservative if I said one-third have closed.
But you have me there. That is not a stat I can verify. On the other hand, here’s a legacy news source that shows how poorly downtown Indy has recovered from the pandemic: https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2023/08/21/downtown-activity-pandemic
The reality: downtown is wonderful and has such great potential, and it was really an amazing place in the 2010s. But the social conditions that cause decay aren’t improving one bit.
So I was pretty down on that new “LOCAL coffee shop” as well. Not because I want them to fail but because all the social factors that caused Starbucks to leave are still present. (Including Starbucks’ insane policy that caters to junkies shooting up in their bathrooms.)
Until the announcements of openings outpace the closings, this trajectory will continue. Let’s see how long the Rise’n Roll space stays vacant. If a new tenant pops up in 4 months, I’ll eat my words.
Marshall P.
No one wants downtown Indianapolis and our overall metro to grow and prosper more than me.
But to think that the homelessness and panhandling haven’t taken a toll
on retail and overall quality of life downtown is delusional.
Yes! There is a new coffee shop going where the Starbucks was located.
But how long will it last if the same social conditions are still prevalent.
-Inside Mile Square-
The vacant store front situation in downtown is horrible. The store fronts look
run down and most are empty. Many establishments that are still open are
barley hanging on.
Hopefully, this situation will turn around. I think it can if think outside the box
and are aggressive. But thing for sure, it won’t happen as long as the junkies
and panhandlers are allowed to loiter.
There’s currently more development within 11 blocks of 16/capital than all donut counties combined….
Easy data point that can’t be refuted 🙂
+1 Marshall
I don’t think a lot of folks are considering the impact of the new criminal justice center. That’s caused numerous businesses to close and it’s going to take time for that area to transition. Heck, I think that’s had a much larger impact on the City Market than COVID or the riots.
Greg, Lauren will not acknowledge any of the current or planned development because that would blow up her narrative. Companies and people don’t open new restaurants, clubs, theatres, apartment buildings, high rises, entertainment venues, hotels and hospitals in downtowns that are falling to ruin. They just don’t. They open them in havens like… Avon. And Greenwood. LOL
Marshall, I guess someone forgot to remind those stupid developers with their hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in those projects about the “lockdowns” and “brainwashed thugs” (of 2020) and the “empathetic” IMPD. Or, call me naïve, maybe they just see an opportunity to make money while improving the area (rather than just griping about it constantly)?
Imagine putting “riots” in quotes. What were they? Indianapolis was the largest city in the country with a sizable minority population to never have had race riots. Now, under Hogsett, that claim has ended.
I’ll admit I haven’t been downtown since late June, so maybe things have improved. But back then 114 N. Delaware looked the exact same as it did since the leftie riots.
Downtowns need to feel clean and safe. Indianapolis felt like both as recently as five years ago. Now it feels like neither. Granted, most other downtowns in comparable cities are much worse, but let’s not kid ourselves: Carmel would be more than happy to build a convention center. They already took one of Indy’s primary theaters (Civic).
Lauren, every major city in the US had demonstrations. Some got out of hand. It wasn’t some local phenomenon that occurred because of Hogsett or that he could have prevented. If you need to be reminded of the reason for them then that explains a lot. But go ahead and think of it as a “lefty” thing (since that seems to be your thing).
Is every part of downtown clean? Of course not. That’s completely unrealistic. If you spend any time here, though, you’d notice more of an emphasis on clean-up than what you’re assuming. Is it safe? Talk with downtown district IMPD officials (I have) and they’ll tell you the rates of violent crime are some of the lowest in the city.
As for holding up Carmel as some kind of example, come on. It’s a suburb that has certainly benefited from the large city it borders. I doubt most people there are interested in running Indy down (other than you, perhaps). It’s apples/oranges.
Greg M.
Lol…..You won’t even the riots what they were. THEY WERE RIOTS by Lefties
that were conducting themselves like THUGS. Their reasons were rediculious.
They rioted over a situation that happened 800 miles away.
Second, most of the protestors/rioters are ignorant to their leftwing core.
If you don’t think that didn’t have a negative impact on our downtown then, I
don’t know what to tell you.
Riots can have a very negative impact on an area for decades.
Keith B. – I don’t even know where to start with this. Just keep thinking of everything in terms of right/left, I guess. If that’s the prism you view everything through, then anything I try to point out is clearly going to be too nuanced to matter to you.
Have a great night!
They were riots, Greg. The only reason you’re calling them “demonstrations” is because you like the politics they stand for. But then, most riots are leftist. Pretending this needs “nuance” is just equivocating and rationalizing the hundreds of thousands of dollars (probably millions) of damaged caused in downtown Indy alone that weekend. Not to mention two murders.
If you want to pretend you’re not being partisan, go right ahead. Jan 6 was riots too. I’ll concede that. So was all the crap that happened from leftist agitators throughout the “summer of love” 2020.
Thousands of demonstrations happen every year that don’t involve window smashing or setting fire to the interior of Ram Restaurant or destroy all the equipment Cento Shoes.
These. Were. Riots. And Boss Hogsett encouraged them.
Sad to see Rise ‘n Roll go. But for those complaining that they didn’t open Sundays, keep in mind it’s an Amish-affiliated company. The Amish don’t typically operate businesses on the Sabbath. That’s their call. If it killed their business downtown, that’s up to them, but businesses do usually find a time for operating hours that ensures profitability.
How can you blame a reduction in downtown office workers when you didn’t even open until 2021? It’s a BS excuse for poor business decisions. All other businesses in that area are thriving. It’s kind of like Starbucks claiming crime as a reason to close on Monument Circle. Command Coffee (local) is now taking the space.
I am glad Rise N Roll is coming closer to me in Nora. However, I would note that the redeveloped strip mall they are moving in to on the south side of 86th street has terrible ingress/egress. May not gain much in that regard from the difficult space they were in on Westfield. Of course, if their baked goods are good enough, people will suffer through the traffic issues.