Five Mile Stone: “We Are Closing For Renovations”

To address the obvious: East Side Feed should have been more clear in the title we chose for our previous writeup about Five Mile Stone. The title was “Five Mile Stone is Closing for Good.” A better title would have been: “Employees, Shocked, Say Five Mile Stone is Closing For Good.” We will of course provide updates regarding what actually ends up happening. Here is the timeline of recent events:

The day after East Side Feed published an article reporting that two Five Mile Stone employees told us the neighborhood favorite would be closing, the bar and restaurant announced in an Instagram post that it is closing “for renovations” beginning on January 20.

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East Side Feed first learned about this discrepancy after posting the story on Instagram, at which point the person who manages the Five Mile Stone account sent us a direct message saying that “as of right now” they are only closing for renovations, estimating that it will take two to three months.

We responded to their message by telling them our information came from their employees. We also asked them if the space was going to come back as something else, and if they could identify themselves as one of the owners of Five Mile Stone. We have not received any replies as of writing.

Our initial visit to Five Mile Stone took place on Sunday. We had an open and friendly conversation with two employees which took place in front of several customers. It was very clear that the long-time staffers–both of whom were happy to go on record with their names–had been made to believe that their employment was being terminated permanently, that the business or space had been taken over by someone new, and that the establishment’s last day of service would be on January 19.

We returned to the restaurant on Monday and spoke with a female employee who identified herself as the person who sent the direct message, though she declined to provide her name. She reiterated that they would be closing for renovations. When asked directly whether “everyone would be fired,” she explained that all employees would be offered their jobs back after renovations, though she added that she didn’t expect many of them to return, as surviving that long—even on unemployment—would be difficult. The unnamed woman also mentioned that she had spoken with the employees we interviewed, claimed they felt misquoted, and suggested that they may have misunderstood the nature of the closure.

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Here’s something interesting: the top of the Five Mile Stone website states “We’re hiring! Call, email or submit an inquiry today to learn more!” While it’s certainly possible that this notice is always up, or that their webmaster forgot to take it down at some point, one of the comments on our Instagram post stated: “So strange! We just got an email from them on Wednesday that they’re hiring.”

When asked if there was a new owner on Monday, we were told no, but that they brought in another owner. None of the owners have been named and tracking them down has proven difficult. The fact remains, Five Mile Stone will close its doors after service on January 19. Whether it reopens as a renovated version of its former self or as a new business remains to be seen.

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