Another One Bites The Dust..

by KAlden | Business | 2749 Views

Sadly, yet another fine downtown business is closing. MILAGROS restaurant’s last day will be February 13th. This restaurant was really fun to go to; delicious, inexpensive authentic food, great atmosphere, colorful space. Most of all it was a welcome change from the overwhelming amount of pizza and Chinese food places. This is tough town to try to keep a business with reasonable prices afloat. One more big, empty storefront on Main Street. It’s a shame to see them close.

Comments | 13

  • Submitted by PutneyReject on February 8, 2015 at 7:30 am

    Not surprised

    I’ve eaten there and found the food bland and overpriced for what you got. As for the atmosphere, it was full of flies. It’s a shame because I had high hopes for it when they opened.

    • Submitted by KAlden on February 8, 2015 at 1:12 pm

      $3.50 for a taco? $8.00 for a

      $3.50 for a taco? $8.00 for a burrito with rice and beans? How is that overpriced? They had a big assortment of various spicy condiments to put on your food if you like it hotter. I thought their food was good. The only time I ever saw a fly in there was during the warmer weather and it was one fly – not a swarm. I’ve eaten in other more expensive places in town and seen an occasional fly in warm weather. It is almost impossible for a small business with reasonable prices to survive in this town. Brattleboro is not a business friendly town.

  • Submitted by mr.mike on February 8, 2015 at 11:57 am

    Yes it is a Shame....on Montpelier

    I enjoyed it as well. Although I do agree with PR about the flies. Was surprised they were able to get away with that in this day and age.
    Anyways, it is a shame. A shame that Montpelier is sucking the life out of downtown businesses while trying to compete with a tax free state next door. God forbid they reduce or eliminate the sales or meals tax along the Connecticut River. Like I’ve said before. Getting them to lower or eliminate a tax is like trying to remove a toy from the clutch of a 2 yr old.

    • Submitted by Rosa Bonheur on February 8, 2015 at 2:15 pm

      I certainly don't think

      I certainly don’t think there’s much competition from Keene for this type of dining and there isn’t anything any closer that I know of that is similar in NH. What is more likely is that there are more restaurants in town at this price level than is sustainable. Restaurants need to be quite busy to stay afloat and there probably just aren’t enough people who can afford to dine out enough to sustain the number of restaurants we have. Some manage to garner a loyal crowd and stay afloat but I’ll bet if you talked to the owners you’d find that it isn’t easy even for those that have a fairly large group of regulars. I’ve read that the food margins aren’t that high unless you’re talking about really expensive places and that liquor and alcohol are where most smaller restaurants make their profits. At any rate I doubt anyone’s driving to Keene in this weather for tacos at 5pm.

      • Submitted by KAlden on February 8, 2015 at 4:28 pm

        One of the reasons I liked

        One of the reasons I liked Milagros was that it was quite a bit less expensive than most of the downtown restaurants. You could have a full meal with a non alcoholic drink for around ten dollars. In a town where a BLT can cost you $8 I was really happy to have this option for a quick, tasty meal. I think their reasonable prices may have worked against them somewhat because the cost of doing business in this town is so expensive you have to be getting high prices for your food. I hate the idea of another empty storefront on Main Street. So many empty spots is not good to anyone; residents like to be proud of their downtown business area, we like to see storefronts filled with vibrant, diverse, flourishing businesses. And a Main Street full of empty spaces is certainly not good for tourism.

  • Submitted by ecrawf on February 9, 2015 at 10:39 pm

    .

    .

  • Submitted by ecrawf on February 9, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    ...

    I didn’t appreciate the comment on their Facebook page about how they simply need more customers than are available to them in a town this size. That’s a cop out. It’s called marketing and promotion.

    • Submitted by Rosa Bonheur on February 10, 2015 at 5:15 am

      Actually it might be close to

      Actually it might be close to the truth. All the marketing and promotion in the world won’t help a restaurant if it’s in a town that’s overrun with restaurants of the same price range and quality. I think one problem in Brattleboro is that there are too many people opening businesses downtown without any real research into the logistics and logic of doing so. And I’m not just talking about restaurants. There are only so many customers for a mid-range okay quality food place downtown. Marketing and promotion still require an audience with some capital to spend. I’ve watched far too many small business come and go in recent years downtown to believe that it’s just an issue of marketing and promotion. But please people do your research and make your business plans first, before you put all the effort and hard work and sweat into opening the next little shoppe.

    • Submitted by KAlden on February 10, 2015 at 5:55 am

      But, isn't that the prime

      But, isn’t that the prime reason that small businesses close? Not enough customers? Sure, once in awhile one might close because of illness or the owner’s desire to retire or move on to something else. But, generally it comes down to not having enough consistent customers to cover their expenses and still make a profit. I don’t see any of the downtown businesses- except Sam’s- doing much marketing or promotion. As I mentioned before,running a small business in this town is a challenge that goes way beyond marketing.
      I didn’t find anything offensive in their FB explanation. I thought they were being honest.

  • Submitted by Lise on February 10, 2015 at 9:15 am

    Disposable income and other factors

    I’m probably just saying the same thing other people are saying above, but I think a lot of it does come down to disposable income, which apparently fewer people have these days. I read recently that the lower fuel prices we’ve been seeing (and that are now creeping back up…) actually helped the larger economy because it increased people’s disposable income. People bought more stuff that wasn’t fuel and it helped the economy to do better.

    The other thing that sucks the life out of Main Street (in addition to Montpelier’s taxes) are high rents. From what I’ve heard, people are paying a pretty penny to rent space down there, and there is great reluctance to lower rents. Maybe that wasn’t Milagro’s problem, but I know it must be hurting other businesses on Main.

  • Submitted by KAlden on February 10, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    I think you're right, Lise,

    I think you’re right, Lise, about the exorbitant rents charged for downtown retail spaces. Any restaurant either needs a very comfortable financial cushion or a full house every night to survive. Milagros also built that whole,big space out and I’m sure that wasn’t an inexpensive job.I don’t know the exact reasons why they are closing- it’s no doubt a combination of many of the things mentioned in this thread. I do know that when I moved here 8 years ago- coming from owning and running a successful catering business in Boston for 25 years- I flirted with the idea of opening a small restaurant here. Once I started looking into rents, taxes, the difficult parking situation, the economic climate of the town and all the other myriad details that have to work before any such venture I just put my soup pots away and decided it would be too risky at this point in my life. I wish our downtown district could get some help in making it a vibrant, successful area like it was. I feel bad for anyone trying to keep their businesses afloat in Brattleboro.

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