BUFFALO, N.Y. — Thin Man Brewery, a popular spot on Elmwood Avenue, has kept the neighborhood going for years. But now, the locks are changing after owners announce they're closing the location for good.
"My husband and I would go there after we closed the business on days all the time," says one loyal customer.
A social media post about its closing caught many people's attention. Yvon Paul Pasquarello, Sales and Marketing Director for Thin Man, says it's because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"After COVID-19, the market shifted dramatically for mostly restaurants and bars. We never really recovered back to our pre-pandemic numbers," Pasquarello says.
The federal government did award Thin Man Brewery with an $87,000 PPP Loan in 2020.
But in a statement, Thin Man said it had to reposition its financial obligations due to increased demand for its distribution footprint. The announcement comes as a shock to many customers and employees. One worker tells me she found out in a group message a few hours before it was posted on social media. Now Thin Man's Chandler location will remain open, and so will the 15-barrel system on Elmwood Avenue.
"We remolded over the winter time. We've done a lot of events here, and it just hasn't panned out for us. Which is unfortunate, but we're still going strong. Our business as a whole remains strong," says Pasquarello.