What might they become? These restaurant, cafe spaces sit empty around Tacoma
There’s plenty of excitement in the Tacoma food and drink scene this year, but there are still plenty of vacancies.
In curating our list of restaurants, bars and bakeries set to open in 2026, we were left wondering about the ones that recently closed and the spaces that seem to be in some sort of constant turmoil.
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Vacant restaurant spaces on Sixth Ave
Next door to the incoming Katsu Burger, Locust Cider shuttered in 2024 — among the first of a downsizing strategy for the Gig Harbor-based company. (The Gig Harbor taproom remains open and also serves food.) This space, with a separate entrance at 2805 6th Ave., was rumored to be eyed by a bagel shop, but at the moment, it lacks a commercial kitchen, so it would require some financial and structural investment to accommodate even a singular baking operation. It remains empty for now.
Across the street at 2612 6th Ave., Gather Juice suddenly closed late last year. Just last fall, the owners had added a second shop in downtown Puyallup, an expansion journey that quickly ended. In Tacoma, neighbor Field Bar and Bottle Shop is connected to the old Gather unit via a back hallway and bathrooms. It’s unclear what will shake out inside the breezy brick-walled space formerly used for juice, smoothies and toasts.
Vacant restaurant spaces in Stadium District
Several food and drink businesses have called it quits in the Stadium District in recent years. They include a former Starbucks at 640 N. 1st St., which has sat empty since 2022 and Cookie Dough Delight at 634 N. 1st St., which closed at the end of last year.
Across the street, Sandwich Starr shuttered after about a year of sub-leasing 705 N. 1st St. Anthem Coffee, which operated on and off in this space from 2018-2022 and again in 2023-2024, still holds the lease and might try to woo small food businesses into some sort of shared-kitchen concept. Time will tell if that is practical or feasible, or if something else entirely becomes of it.
Gilman House Room 428, which had launched originally at the copper-door entrance to 12 N. Tacoma Ave. in 2020, tried a more intimate space in the same building from 2024-2025. The smaller version shared some kitchen space with The Powder Room Champagne Bar. Might another concept be able to secure a similar arrangement?
Art House Cafe also said goodbye to 111 N. Tacoma Ave. last year.
Perhaps the biggest empty shell in Stadium is the late Poquitos/Stadium Golf (originally Rhein Haus) at 649 Division Ave. Several attempts by the Seattle-based owners to reinvigorate the vast, 13,000-square-foot restaurant sputtered, and they gave up in two stages from 2024 to 2025. The Yes! Parade group also closed its Poquitos in Bothell last year. (The original in Capitol Hill remains open.)
Vacant spaces in downtown Tacoma
The 15-year home of Hello, Cupcake at 1740 Pacific Ave. has been empty since the bakery closed in 2023.
The space at 1948 Pacific Ave. has been vacant since Senergo, a juice shop, closed in 2020.
The Rock Wood Fired Pizza, a regional chain that began as a single restaurant in the early 1990s, closed its Tacoma restaurant at 1920 Jefferson Ave. last October. The Puyallup pizzeria also closed.
APIZZA Little Italy shut the doors last fall, just shy of a three-year run. With soaring ceilings and a big, open kitchen with a custom clay, gas-powered oven and a private party room, it could be appealing to the right concept. The owner Marshall Jett had hoped to sell the business.
In the iconic building at 1904 Jefferson Ave., The Swiss was among the first major Tacoma restaurant closures during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The almost 14,000-square-foot space is owned by the University of Washington Tacoma, which is exploring ideas to incorporate the space into campus life. It might or might not include a restaurant.