Superior Merchandise cafe closes in Troy after 8 years
Superior Merchandise Co., a Troy coffee shop and boutique founded eight years ago by owners who continued to work other full-time jobs, will close as a bricks-and-mortar operation April 2 but continue as an ecommerce business.
Owners Felicity Jones and Mike Romig announced last week that, after nearly a decade of running Superior Merchandise without taking salaries, working elsewhere and launching a coffee-roasting company, they were taking a step back to improve their quality of life.
“Having two businesses and working full-time is too much for anyone who wants to have a healthy life,” Jones said in an interview.
In their farewell note, she and Romig wrote, “The restaurant/ cafe business has always been a hard one, with razor-thin margins at best, and we need to take a breath and reevaluate what kind of business we want to be/should be running.”
Superior Merchandise will continue to sell coffee, pantry items, home goods and ephemera — everything from tinned fish to socks, soap and shortbread cookies — on its website. Coffee from their roastery, called Touchy Coffee and located on River Street in Troy, albeit with no storefront, will be available on the Superior Merchandise site and on Touchy Coffee’s website.
“Even with minimal attention, Touchy Coffee has taken off with wholesale accounts,” Jones said. It also recently introduced a monthly coffee subscription service. She said, “We just want to focus on that and give the business the attention it deserves.” Jones envisions a “coffee showroom” for Touchy Coffee at some point but not a full cafe as at Superior Merchandise.
Superior Merchandise is located at 147 Fourth St. Through April 2, it will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Buena Comida tacos closes
Buena Comida, a taqueria in a former pizza shop at 1810 Western Ave. in Guilderland for the past two years, is closed, effective
immediately. Owner Gabe Rodriguez said in an interview last week that he intended to close at the end of this week, but he announced Tuesday morning that the business is closed. No reason was given for the accelerated timeline.
The taco shop was an outgrowth of Rodriguez’s 5-year-old
taco trailer of the same name. It will continue to operate as a mobile business.
“I will be out and about on the truck for some pop-ups at local brew pubs for the remainder of winter,” Rodriguez wrote on Facebook. “Then comes Spring and Summer and we’re booking quickly.” The truck’s events will be listed on its Facebook page.
Rodriguez said in the interview that rising costs — for food, takeout containers, labor and more — made it impossible to continue to run the shop.
“It just wasn’t financially viable,” he said.
Chili Bowl returns Saturday
The 10th Chili Bowl, a fundraiser for the Saratoga Clay Arts Center, will be held 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Saratoga City Center. Participating chefs will include Jonathan Quinn of Osteria Danny, Pat Brown of The Brook Tavern, Sam Squires of Druthers, Jasper Alexander of Hattie’s and Rob Cardona of Cardona’s Market. Attendees pay $25 for a bowl handmade for the occasion.
Advance tickets are required and are available with admission on the hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A ticket link is at saratogaclayarts.org.