CLEVELAND — For the first time since the pandemic, the Ohio Restaurant Association reports more restaurants are opening than closing in Cuyahoga County. Now two suburban staples are branching out into downtown Cleveland.
On Prospect Avenue in downtown Cleveland, you might notice an orange "coming soon" sign and another that says “slice window.”
“It's pizza by the slice in its simplest form, but we've got a whole lot of other things going on as well,” said Buckey Spoth, the CEO of Geraci’s Slice Shop.
Geraci’s pizza has been a staple on the east side for 66 years.
“My family is very dedicated to our name and the history that comes with it,” said Spoth.
And now they're bringing that family recipe by the slice to the downtown location where Vincenza’s Pizza used to be.
“This was the staple for 30 years before us when it was Vincenza’s, so there's a lot of excitement when people are walking through the arcade and curiosity,” said Spoth.
Five minutes down the road is another east-side staple coming to downtown, Luna's Bakery and Café.
“Luna Bakery Cafe is a French patisserie that over the years has transformed into a full-service café,” said Erin Seedes, Director of Luna Cafe operations.
They've been open since 2011 with two other locations and finally decided to expand to the city.
“It was just a matter of timing, and we just kind of jumped in, both feet,” said Seedes.
As both of these new locations are getting their storefronts ready, the heart of Cleveland is still trying to come back from the blow of the pandemic, where lots of people worked from home, cutting the foot traffic that brought lots of business.
“About 50% of our office buildings are people are now going back into our downtowns,” said John Barker, the President and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association.
Barker said they are now on the comeback; this year, they have already seen 67 food service places open.
“We're finally opening more restaurants than are closing,’ said Barker.
Though Luna and Geraci’s have faced hurdles opening in the city, between parking and lingering COVID effects like the broken supply chain, they aren’t worried. They believe downtown is only growing, customers will come, and business will be booming.
Geraci's will start serving up pizza slices, meatballs and so much more Friday, May 19, and Luna's Bakery is hoping to open their doors by July.
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