With the recent announcement Stolp Island Social restaurant was shuttering its doors permanently, two questions have to be raised: What went wrong and what does this bode for downtown Aurora’s redevelopment landscape?
This restaurant came into Aurora with all sorts of fanfare and high hopes.
Located in the 1920s art deco building at the corner of Galena Boulevard and Stolp Avenue that also houses the Aurora Arts Center, it enjoyed a prime location and unique synergy with the wildly successful Paramount Theatre, which is governed by the owner of that building, the Aurora Civic Center Authority.
And it got plenty of support from City Hall, which showered the new business with accolades and $440,000 in financial incentives.
Its owner, the daughter of legendary The Steakhouse founder Arnold Morton, had multiple Evanston restaurants, and was certainly no neophyte in the restaurant business.
Amy Morton even chose what I considered the perfect name for her venture, one that tied itself to the uniqueness of Stolp Island while alluding to the sort of place where everybody knows your name and are always glad you came.
“I want everyone to feel as if they belong,” Morton told me leading up to the opening in late 2019.
It all seemed to be such a perfect fit, until a perfect storm formed around it.
The biggest hit came a mere three months after the grand opening, with a worldwide pandemic that plunged a huge knife into the gut of the hospitality industry, most especially restaurants and certainly those that had barely gotten their feet under them.
Making a bad situation more dire, Morton was juggling multiple establishments a long commute from Aurora while trying to keep afloat in unprecedented times.
It didn’t help that as things began opening up again, there was a shortage of workers, which made it hard for the North Shore owner to find and keep employees, especially at her newest restaurant in the heart of downtown Aurora.
There was also a notable absence of another critical element – patrons.
Some people I spoke with felt Morton went into the deal relying too heavily on the Paramount link, when more attention should have been given to those times when the marquee was not lit up, particularly during the summer.
In the meantime, as a recent Beacon-News story pointed out, even with hundreds of thousands of dollars in city help, the restaurant was unable to always pay rent.
Which begs another question: Why did more Aurora residents not venture downtown to enjoy this new restaurant, especially when there was no Paramount activity going on?
A few of the half-dozen or so Aurora stakeholders I talked to about this closing wondered if this blue-collar town is really ready to support those white tablecloth establishments, despite all those surveys over the years showing residents wanted more high-end options.
The food and ambiance at Stolp Island Social were certainly good. But in trying to be something for everyone, which Morton told me was one of her goals, did the restaurant fail to find that identity that would make it stand out?
Plus, as one city leader pointed out, changing the menu and raising prices didn’t help bring Aurorans through its doors.
But it’s hard to build clientele when you are continually cutting back hours you are open, an obvious fact pointed out by many, including those on social media and by a resident who spoke at a City Council meeting.
As recently as June, Morton announced the restaurant was taking a summer hiatus and would reopen when the Paramount began its first new show of this season’s Broadway Series in August. That prompted discussions with the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which led to what the city called an amicable decision by all parties to close the struggling restaurant.
I reached out to Morton for this column but did not get a response. In earlier interviews, however, she pointed to COVID’s impact on her new restaurant’s failure to launch. And more than a few agreed that, had it not been for the pandemic, the restaurant would be doing just fine.
Still, how do you explain the fact other downtown restaurants not only managed to survive COVID – yes, also with some city help – but have plans to expand?
Altiro Latin Fusion is working to open Amore Mio, an Italian restaurant, in the former Gillerson’s Grubbery on New York Street, and La Quinta de los Reyes is turning its patio seating into indoor dining.
Also, by all accounts, Craft Urban, which opened last summer, is doing very well.
The closing of Stolp Island Social is at best a huge disappointment to those who believe so strongly in downtown’s economic redevelopment. After all, if a restaurant with a great family name and a great location and plenty of financial incentives can’t make it, then who can?
How about someone with both feet planted firmly in the city.
Opening a new restaurant is not for the faint of heart. Kudos to Morton who certainly could not foresee a pandemic and from the very beginning believed so strongly in the magic of the Paramount.
But the general consensus is that, whoever takes over this turnkey and prime location should have strong Aurora ties and be both visible and accessible.
Someone who not only buys into the business but also the community.
dcrosby@tribpub.com
