"We had a few dozen places that were interested, and we decided Blank Street was the best fit for that location." Harrison Dulgarian, senior vice president of Dulgarian Properties, said that to The Brown Daily Herald in early October. He was explaining who would take 218 Thayer St., the corner Starbucks left after it closed abruptly last year. His reason was plain. The Brooklyn-born chain, he said, has "a strong standing financially."

That sentence explains this fall on the East Side better than any opening announcement. Several of the neighborhood's best-known food storefronts have changed hands or are about to. Who gets each space depends on which street it's on. On Thayer, the closings came from rent and foot traffic, and the replacement is a chain with more than 100 shops behind it. On Hope Street, the newcomers are local restaurant people with track records. In Fox Point, the space went to a Rhode Island café company that is growing fast. All three streets run on the same economics, and the results look very different.

Thayer Lost Four Cafés Between May and July

The Brown Daily Herald counted the summer's losses in mid-September. Kung Fu Tea, Tiger Sugar, Aroma Joe's and Bagel Gourmet Ole had all closed since May. These were the cheap, quick stops along College Hill's main drag, and the reasons were mostly about money.

• Kung Fu Tea, 110 Waterman St., closed May 14. The business pointed to building redevelopment. The property manager told the Herald the space had never recovered from the pandemic, and the shop struggled even after a rent reduction.
• Aroma Joe's posted a notice saying its local owner was ready for "their next adventure," with May 31, 2026 as the final day.
• Bagel Gourmet Ole closed its Thayer Street store at the end of June. Its manager said the rent had become too expensive.
• Tiger Sugar closed July 4 and gave no reason.

Before that came Spectrum India, which closed after 59 years. Businesses on the street have told the Herald they've dealt with rising rents and uneven foot traffic since COVID-19.

Interest in Thayer hasn't dried up. Dulgarian said a few dozen interested tenants had looked at 218 Thayer, an Italian restaurant is set to move into the old Spectrum India space, and he has received "over a dozen letters of intent" for the former Andrea's. Demand is there. The filter is what a tenant can afford once the lease starts, and that is how a corner Thayer café ended up with a company founded in Brooklyn in 2020 that now runs more than 100 shops in the United States and the United Kingdom.

No opening date is set. Dulgarian said construction would start "very soon," guessed two to three months to open, and described an extensive buildout with new electrical, heating, plumbing and barista equipment. Counting from early October, his estimate points to about the turn of the year. That is a landlord's guess, not a commitment from Blank Street, which declined to comment "for now."

On Hope Street, the Replacements Came From Down the Block

Farther north, the turnover runs the other way. The arrivals were already part of Providence's restaurant scene. Walking north, three addresses sit within a few dozen street numbers of each other.

1. Little Sister, 737a Hope St., at the corner of Rochambeau. The Puerto Rican café and bakery is closing at the end of the year, Rhode Island Monthly reported Oct. 7. Owner Milena Pagán announced the closing in July. She called the decision "purely lifestyle driven" and said the final day would be announced later. One change matters for weekends now. According to WPRI, brunch reservations ended this summer and Little Sister is now first come, first served. Pagán was a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Northeast in 2023.

2. La Fe Taqueria, 748 Hope St. It took over the former Blue Cottage space and was open by early October. Blue Cottage closed last year after a quarter-century. The Boston Globe named the new co-owners as Jason Vargas, Melisa Sanchez and Thang Huynh, a co-owner of Lotus Pepper. It described a fast-casual Mexican menu of tacos, burritos, bowls, tortas, slow-cooked meats, house-made salsas and aguas frescas. Before opening, GoLocalProv listed planned dishes including al pastor, a peppers-and-onion taco, vegan and vegetarian options, and signature macha wings. La Fe hasn't published its hours in any coverage so far.

3. Ciao Ciao, 771 Hope St. This Italian spot from Adam Stabile was open by late July, according to a GoLocalProv item from July 24. An earlier GoLocalProv profile framed it as a Providence restaurant veteran moving from Federal Hill to Hope Street. The restaurant's website promises hand-rolled pasta, cocktails and rotating dishes. It's open 3 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. The kitchen closes at 10 p.m. on weeknights.

So within a few months on one stretch of Hope Street, a long-running neighborhood restaurant became a taqueria from people who already run a Providence restaurant, and an Italian spot opened under a chef with Federal Hill experience. Both came from operators already rooted in the city. When Little Sister closes in December, 737a Hope St. will be the next storefront to watch. No successor had been reported as of early October.

Thayer's most visible empty corner went to a multinational chain through a landlord's selection process. Hope Street's drew operators who were already cooking a few miles away.

Fox Point Split the Difference at 134 Ives St.

Fox Point's turnover started earlier and lands somewhere in between. Glou, the bar on Ives Street, served its last drinks on Feb. 28, 2026, after opening in 2022. Co-owner Emory Harkins told the Brown Daily Herald he was relocating to New York and couldn't oversee the bar's future. The owners hoped a buyer would keep it going as a bar. That didn't happen.

Nitro Bar took the space instead. The Providence Journal reported Oct. 2 that it had opened at 134 Ives St. that week, calling it the company's biggest café yet. It's Nitro Bar's fourth Rhode Island location, its second in Providence alongside two in Newport, and it's owned by Audrey Finocchiaro and Sam Lancaster. The Journal described two indoor benches, metal tables and stools plus wooden benches outside, and a full kitchen. The menu covers nitro cold brew, espresso and matcha drinks, seasonal lattes, tea, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, pizza bagels and toast. Before it opened, the Herald put the space at roughly 700 square feet.

Ives Street got a multi-location operator, but one that grew up in Rhode Island. It's a different kind of tenant from both Blank Street and the Hope Street newcomers, and it shows how much the outcome depends on who already has the capital and the following to sign a lease.

Brown Bee Is Trying a Smaller Footprint

Brown Bee Coffee opened on Benefit Street in 2024 and is planning a second café at the corner of Waterman and Brook streets, on the first floor of The Carlyle apartment building. Manager Anjolina Huang told the Brown Daily Herald the new spot will be smaller than the original and have a takeout window. It will serve the same drinks, with a shorter pastry list to start. She said the Benefit Street café is "quite a trek" for Brown students, and that the expansion had been in the works for at least a year and a half. There's no official date yet. Huang hopes to open by early 2027 at the latest.

A local café that wants to be closer to the Thayer crowd is choosing a smaller, cozier space with a takeout window. It is not bidding for a big Thayer corner. In a season when rent is the reason given for half the street's summer closings, that is how an independent gets onto College Hill.

Where Things Stand on the East Side This Fall

Open now

• Nitro Bar, 134 Ives St., Fox Point
• La Fe Taqueria, 748 Hope St.
• Ciao Ciao, 771 Hope St.

Last weeks

• Little Sister, 737a Hope St., closing at year-end, brunch first come, first served, final date not yet announced

Coming

• Blank Street, 218 Thayer St., landlord's estimate of two to three months from early October
• An Italian restaurant in the former Spectrum India space on Thayer, name not yet reported
• Brown Bee Coffee at Waterman and Brook, targeting early 2027

The next storefronts to watch are 737a Hope St. after December and the former Andrea's on Thayer, where Dulgarian is weighing more than a dozen letters of intent. If you're weighing how changes like these affect the value of a home a few blocks away, Amy Doorley-Lucas is glad to talk it through. Request a complimentary home valuation or schedule a private consultation.