Well, that didn’t last long.
It looks like “taps” for Tapville, and some sort of wallop for Dollop.
About 18 months after opening, Tapville Social, on Grove Street, has tapped out. The “TAPVILLE” sign above the door now says “__APVIL_E.” Inside, the 48 self-pour taps, which once dispensed beer, wine, cider, and sangria, sit silently.
With self-pour as part of a restaurant, Tapville called itself “the future of dining.”
But that future is apparently not in Evanston.
The Naperville-based company has eleven bar/restaurant combinations around the nation listed on its website, but the Evanston location is gone.
Just around the corner and down the block on Sherman, Dollop General Store and Cafe, which opened less than a year ago, has had brown paper covering its windows at least since April.
But at least here, there seems to be hope.
Signs on the paper say the cafe has closed temporarily to “refresh our concept.”
“See you soon,” it adds.
Dollop is a Chicago-based chain of 14 coffee shops in the metropolitan area.
Evanston was the company’s first “General Store,” with everything ranging, as Evanston Now once noted, from craft beer to Kraft macaroni and cheese, groceries, and board games. Plus, of course, there was coffee.
At the opening last July, owner Dan Weiss said “there’s nothing quite like it in Evanston,” which is certainly the case right now.
Unlike Tapville, however, the Evanston Dollop General Store is still on the company website, noting the location is “Temporarily Closed.”
The possibility of change was apparently in management’s minds when the Evanston site opened.
At that time, Weiss told Evanston Now that “I really want to listen to what everybody wants. In six months, it could be completely different.”
It’s been more than six months, but whatever “completely different’ may turn out to be, at least it’s supposed to happen.
Changing a format can be risky, but it can also be successful.
For example, the downtown Farmhouse restaurant closed for several months to rebrand itself as the more upscale Thomas and Dutch, which now appears to be doing quite well.
Evanston Now has tried contacting both Tapville and Dollop corporate ownership to find out what happened and what may happen next, but we have not heard back.
I hope Dollop reopens. The cafe had good atmosphere and wasn’t crowded. Then again maybe that was the problem.
Completely different might include an open and welcoming area for people with dogs (the administration’s special signage and licensing make it somewhat difficult for restaurants to take advantage of the council’s dropping the “no dogs” rule), free parking with (free for the restaurants) validation and perhaps even closing off portions of the street (like Arlington Heights) for the restaurant.
Based off a google search, it sounds like the Tapville location might be rebranding to Flights & Bites? That’s the new name for it on google reviews and other websites.