Epicure is Closing

Let’s get the hard part out of the way first... after 15 years, 9 months, and 2 days Epicure Lounge will be closing indefinitely. Our last day will be June 30th 2022, next Thursday. I say indefinitely because I am still exploring ways to keep it going in some capacity, however, I can't make any promises. Assume this is the end of the Epicure, at the very least, in its current form.

We haven't been able to find our footing since the pandemic. A task that was made especially difficult due to the change in smoking age from 18 to 21 at the beginning of 2020. The long and short of it is, things change and Epicure as we've known it is no longer viable.

It's disappointing and sad, but the Epicure Lounge not being part of our future can't rob us of the memories we made here. Epicure may have provided the backdrop, but without all of you we'd have none of those memories. Hookah may have been the draw (dad pun), but I fell in love with it because of its social nature. For me hookah was always about the conversations, and the people. I hope that that was evident in Epicure's culture. Epicure’s customers were its greatest feature. It is because of that that I can not begin to accurately describe how grateful I am to everyone that has supported Epicure and helped make the vision of a 21 year old dreamer not just a reality, but a success... for 15+ years! Sincerely, thank you.

I am also forever grateful to the amazing people that have worked at Epicure. It should go without saying that it would have never made it this long without you. Throughout, I was always amazed with how fortunate I was with the quality of the people that were willing to help make Epicure the welcoming and amazing place that it has been. In 15 years, I can count on one hand how many times I had any issues... these were people, generally only 18-21 years old, left unsupervised to run the shop and they were rock stars. If any of you are reading this, thank you. If I can ever provide a reference, or if I can help with anything, just ask and I will do so happily.

I'd love to sit and write all of the great memories I've made, but I’m assuming very few of you have read to this point and, no matter how much I would write, I know I could never cover all of the great experiences, conversations, and people. That said, it would mean the world to me if you would share photos, or memories in the comments.

As for me personally, I am looking forward to spending a lot more time with my amazing, supportive wife, Sara, whom I first met at Epicure, and our three awesome boys, Diego (7), George (4), and Augustine (9 mo). I'm also still a dreamer and I hope I am so lucky as to create more things that have even a fraction of the success, longevity, and impact that the Epicure Lounge has. Shameless plug: I have been working on a card game over the last year named Card Sale. You can come try it out in Epicure's remaining days, or follow on Facebook (cardsalegame) or Instagram (@cardsalegame).... I'm hoping to launch it in the next few months, with some help from Charlie Berens, and any and all support would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for everything.
Sincerely,
Dane Schaefer