SAN DIEGO — The restaurant business continues to struggle nationwide and right here in San Diego.
Karen Barnett, the owner of Small Bar, recently announced on social media after more than a decade in business, she must close.
"It was pretty hard," she said "I've run this business for 11 years. This is my heart and soul. To have it happen this way, it's pretty sad."
She said the University Heights bar and restaurant was a second home for a lot of people in the neighborhood. There were daily specials posted on a sign inside the restaurant that the regulars came here for weekly.
Barnett said since the pandemic hit, business has been down 75 percent. Wednesday evening, she'll be locking the doors for good.
Small Bar now joins the growing list of local bars and restaurants that have closed in 2020. According to the website SanDiegoVille.com, more than 100 have shut down so far this year. Restaurants in all different neighborhoods have closed, including downtown, La Jolla and Encinitas.
The website notes that some of the establishments may reopen if restrictions drastically change and/or if public funds become available.
"My heart breaks for them," said Barnett.
A recent report by Yelp states as of August 31, nationwide more than 32,000 restaurants have closed, the majority of them have shut down for good.
"If you love that business, you truly do need to show up and show your support. Or more of us will just continue to close," said Barnett.
Tuesday she found a chalk message outside the doors that read: "Thank you for everything. University Heights loves you."
She said the memories here are incredible.
"There's been a lot of friendships made, people have met fallen in love and got married, had their receptions here. They bring their new babies in and show me their babies that they probably created from being a patron," she laughed.
She's hopeful some day she'll be able to open another bar and restaurant. But for now this chapter is over.