Thayer Street Had a Summer of Closures. So Where Did Everyone's Morning Coffee Go?

"Never dead." That's how Pedro Umana, a shift supervisor at Ten One Tea House, described Thayer Street to The Brown Daily Herald in September. At the time, the street had just lost four places to eat and drink in about four months. His shop had a good summer. Since the other boba shops closed, he said, Ten One has been "busier," and it hired "bobaristas" who used to work at them.

From the sidewalk, Thayer Street this fall looks like brown paper on windows. Behind that paper, the customers haven't left College Hill. They've moved to the shops still open nearby, and the biggest empty storefronts already have tenants signed.

What Closed Between May and July

The Herald counted four food-and-drink closures in the Thayer area since May. A fifth closure, on the retail side, ended a much longer run.

Kung Fu Tea's building at 110 Waterman has been torn down. Tracy Kelleher, the property manager for owner Walter Bronhard Realty, told the Herald the site will become mixed-use, apartment-style housing. When the Herald photographed the lot on September 17, it was a construction site with an excavator and piles of dirt. No construction or move-in timeline has been published.

Spectrum India's closing marked the end of 59 years in the old College Hill Bookstore building at 252 Thayer, as Ocean State Media reported in April. Bagel Gourmet's Thayer shop had been open more than 20 years. Its manager, Guillermina Perez, told the Herald it closed somewhat suddenly once the rent was more than the business could afford.

Rent came up in other coverage too. When students returned in September, WJAR reported local concerns about rising rents and uneven foot traffic. Kelleher described another pressure. She told the Herald that Thayer's commercial spaces "didn't seem to rebound since COVID," and that even a rent cut wasn't enough for Kung Fu Tea's space.

Where the Coffee, Boba and Bagel Orders Went

Shops that stayed open describe it as a quieter street where the remaining places split the same demand.

• Boba moved to two shops. Now that Kung Fu Tea and Tiger Sugar are gone, Vivi Bubble Tea and Ten One Tea House are the only boba shops on Thayer. Ten One reports more business and has hired staff from the shops that closed.
• Coffee customers went partly to Caffe Nero. Store manager Michelle McCarthy told the Herald that after Aroma Joe's closed, business "was a little more steady" during summer months that are usually slow.
• Bagels moved to Meeting Street. Bagel Gourmet still runs its Meeting Street shop and a downtown location. Perez said Meeting Street has seen "more business," so the company's total in the College Hill area is "pretty much the same" as before. She called closing the Thayer shop a "good decision."

The Bagel Gourmet case explains the whole summer. The business didn't lose its College Hill customers. It moved them out of one rented storefront and into a bigger one it already ran nearby. Perez told the Herald the Meeting Street location is "exactly the same" as the Thayer shop except for its larger space. Your usual order is still available, just at the Meeting Street counter.

Coffee is less tidy. Aroma Joe's was a fast, grab-and-go shop, and Caffe Nero is a place people sit and work, so some former regulars may simply have dropped the stop. The coffee gap that matters most, though, is the corner Starbucks left more than a year ago, and that space is the one getting filled.

The Big Corners Are Already Spoken For

The fall's openings and announcements share a pattern. The new tenants are moving into the street's most visible storefronts, and in two cases the landlord chose them from a list of applicants.

218 Thayer, the former Starbucks. The Thayer Street Starbucks had closed by September 28, 2025, as the Herald reported at the time. On October 5, the Herald reported that Blank Street will open its first Rhode Island location in the space. Blank Street is a coffee and matcha chain that started as a cart in a Williamsburg garden in 2020 and now has more than 100 shops in the United States and the United Kingdom.

"We had a few dozen places that were interested, and we decided Blank Street was the best fit for that location."

That's Harrison Dulgarian, senior vice president of Dulgarian Properties, which leases the space, speaking to the Herald. A few dozen applicants for one Thayer corner doesn't sound like a street with no demand. Dulgarian said the build-out will be extensive, with new electrical, heating, plumbing and barista equipment. His own guess from experience was two to three months to open, and he gave no firm date. Counting from early October, that guess points to late this year at the soonest. For now, expect brown paper.

252 Thayer, the former Spectrum India and College Hill Bookstore. On October 15, GoLocalProv reported that Georges on Thayer, a deli concept, will open in the space. The owner is Georges Makhlouf, who owns Nara on Atwells Avenue. Harry Dulgarian of Dulgarian Properties confirmed the tenant. He pointed out that Makhlouf was an East Side tenant before, with East Side Bagel on Elmgrove Avenue for several years, and said the owners are "working very quickly." State records show the business was incorporated in August. No opening date has been announced.

Two places that opened earlier this year fit the same pattern of long-held storefronts changing hands:

1. Maven's Jr., 231 Thayer St. Jason Sugarman's Jewish deli opened in April in the former J Life Mart at the corner of Thayer and Angell. The Herald reported it opened the Wednesday before its April 13 story.
2. Rodney's Bookstore, Thayer at Meeting. It opened August 28 in the storefront that used to be Berk's Shoes & Clothing.

Once Georges opens, Thayer will have two delis within a short walk of each other: Maven's Jr. at Angell and Georges at 252. A used bookstore also came back to the street this year, a few months after the old College Hill Bookstore space at 252 lost its last tenant.

The Storefronts Still Waiting

Some vacancies don't have tenants yet. No successor has been reported for the former Aroma Joe's, Tiger Sugar or Bagel Gourmet storefronts. The 110 Waterman lot is the slowest change, since it's turning from a boba shop into housing, which takes longer than a café build-out.

Help for the street as a whole is funded but not scheduled. On July 27, Rhode Island Commerce gave the Thayer Street District Management Authority $200,000 for lights, murals and nighttime safety measures meant to support foot traffic. The announcement didn't include a completion date, and the district's improvements page still lists earlier projects. The district's event calendar shows the College Hill historic walking tour and no dated fall or winter events. The street's biggest annual event was in spring. The district's fifth Taste of Thayer was set for April 16, 2026, with the street closed to traffic between Bowen and Angell.

A Late-October Loop for the Street as It Is

Here's how the regular stops line up now, for a weekend morning before the new tenants open:

1. Bagels at Bagel Gourmet on Meeting Street, which now takes the orders the Thayer shop used to.
2. Up to Thayer and Meeting for a look through Rodney's Bookstore.
3. Coffee at Caffe Nero if you plan to sit, or boba at Ten One Tea House or Vivi Bubble Tea if you don't.
4. Over to Thayer and Angell for a deli lunch at Maven's Jr.
5. On the way back, check the paper on the windows at 218 and 252 Thayer for any opening date posted ahead of the news.

Blank Street and Georges on Thayer are the two signed tenants on the street, and neither has announced an opening date as of this writing.

If you're an East Side owner thinking about how Thayer's changes fit into your plans, whether you're watching the corner openings, the Waterman redevelopment, or what it all means for the blocks nearby, James Hall follows College Hill closely and is happy to talk it through. Schedule a free consultation, and we'll start with what's opening on your corner.