Locally owned restaurant O’Neil’s has closed its doors in the wake of customer loss and pressure from surrounding businesses.
Formerly known as The Jukebox Grill, O’Neil’s, 1017 E. Grand River Ave., sold a variety of breakfast and lunch items, including omelettes, French toast and pancakes.
Owner and operator John Harvey made the call to close the restaurant two weeks ago after three years of operation in the area.
He said this year’s loss of a primarily student customer base, which didn’t return in full force after a summer lull, was a major contribution to the closing.
“For (business) to come back that bad was really surprising,” Harvey said.
“We just didn’t have the funds to keep on going.”
East Lansing Community Development Specialist Heather Pope said in an email the city has not yet been made aware that the business is closing.
She said the economic recession could be a contributing factor.
“East Lansing has a mix of independent and chain restaurants,” she said. “The restaurant industry is very competitive, especially in these economic times.”
Harvey said surrounding chain restaurants, such as the McDonald’s located across the street, could have contributed to the loss of clientele. For him, the competition of an international chain restaurant was too strong to fight.
“It’s hard enough as it is for local businesses to keep going,” Harvey said. “They all struggle, (and) they all fight because they don’t have the money to purchase advertisements.”
Owning a local business is a struggle for many because of the inherent financial competition between local businesses and chain store counterparts selling their product, Wanderer’s Teahouse and Café co-owner Michael Spano said. He said when chain restaurants buy products en masse, it’s difficult for local owners to compete when they’re buying a fraction of the material.
“With a chain, you have this massive marketing machine,” Spano said.
“The buying power is a lot different, but your margins have to be the same.”
Spano said the best way for businesses to stay afloat is to actively be involved in the community and to make themselves available to the consumer.
Political science senior Alyssa Turkstra frequently finds herself inside of local businesses but is oftentimes deterred from buying products because of price differences.
Even so, Turkstra prefers local flavors when given the choice.
“I like local businesses, but I never end up buying a lot because I’m a poor college student,” Turkstra said. “I just don’t find chain businesses as interesting or exciting as local businesses.”
Harvey said the business closure likely would be the end of the O’Neil’s name, and he currently has no plans to move the business elsewhere.
For him, the closure was a sad one, but he said he will remember the experience fondly.
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“It was a great time — I hate that it had to close,” Harvey said.
Staff writer Brooks Laimbeer contributed to this report.
