Closings Hit Campus

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people on the street. Joe’s [Sub Shop] is gone, the place around the corner next to White’s Market [Rio Wraps] is gone.” And they were. Phones for both were disconnected, and the owners couldn’t be reached.

Of course it’s not just food places that are hurting: on North University, Beanie June, the girly but hip mother-daughter-owned women’s clothing boutique, closed recently. It was the third State Street area clothing store to fall this school year—Ana Banana went down last fall, followed by Steve & Barry’s.

But even with “the economy,” some hardy souls are still betting on the campus district. Two closed businesses are being revived under new ownership: local maize-and-blue specialist the M-Den is taking Steve & Barry’s two-story space on State, and the Jamaican Jerk Pit reopened in April next door to Panera.

While the Jerk Pit looks the same—it’s mainly a subterranean spot, with a haphazard, orange-and-green paint job and a reggae soundtrack—the menu has jumped a couple of rungs upmarket. New owner Robert Campbell grew up in Jamaica and owns the Irie Caribbean Kitchen in Canton. Pit employees Glendon Dixon and Della Styles say the new menu is a slightly streamlined version of Irie’s offerings. Full plates of goat curry or escovitch tilapia with sides of rice, peas, and vegetables aren’t exceedingly expensive at $10 to $12, but the fare is more elaborate than the snacky street-food menu of the old Pit. Wraps and fritters are on it too, in the $6–$7 range.