After nine years in business, Argenta’s Starving Artist Cafe closed down recently after struggling through months of poor business. They’ve said that they were unable to find a “buyer or investor” in time and decided it was “time to move on.” The restaurant sold off its iconic yellow chairs last week for $25 each. More from their Facebook page:
Since we’ve had so many people ask, we closed because we simply didn’t have enough business. This is a very fickle business with a very slim profit margin, and just a few slow months can be irreversible. We tried to stick it out, but with business steadily declining over the past year, it all came to a head last week and we had to make the very difficult decision to close (the state had served us notice that they would be closing us this week). It is a very emotional time, as closing affects not only our family but also all of our employees and artists. For some people businesses are just a way to make money, but this was more than just a money-maker for us; our children grew up there with us daily, and we were truly invested in making Argenta and Central Arkansas a better place. We hope that we were able to do that for the 9 years we were open, 3 in Little Rock, 6 in Argenta. Thanks again!
With the restaurant’s closing, the fate of “Tales from the South,” the weekly internationally syndicated and NPR-affiliated storytelling series, has been unclear, but the program announced last night that it would be going mobile for the time being, and has issued a call for any venues interested in hosting the event. On Tuesday June 17, the show will be at Mugs Cafe in Argenta, and on the following Tuesday June 27, it will be at Stickyz. Doors will open and dinner will be served at 5 p.m., there will be live music at 6 p.m. and the show will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. Any other venues interested in hosting the event should contact Paula Martin Morell at talesfromthesouth@gmail.com.