WASHINGTON — Cheers at the Big Chair is closing its doors Friday after a four-year-run in Anacostia.
The owner says the landlord declined to renew their lease.
This comes as Busboys and Poets moves into the neighborhood, right down the street from where owner Dionne Bussey-Reeder will be vacating.
"We wanted to be here for the change...The benefit of Busboys coming to Anacostia is we’ve actually seen an increase in revenue for the first time in four years…and we know that’s because business draws business," said Dionne.
Other business owners, though wary, love seeing new business come to their area, notorious for being a food desert.
“We love all the change and change is great. We love the fact that Busboys is here. We just want to be a part of the change, the people who have been here when nobody wanted to be here want to stay here and enjoy the great things coming to the District of Columbia," said Ronald Moten, who is a partner at Check It Enterprises, down the road from Busboys and Cheers.
That's why Moten is working to buy the building that houses his business and two of his neighbors--so they don't end up in the same position as Dionne.
“That’s all we want is a fair shot. We’re doing the hard work. We’re investing in ourselves. We’re investing in the community, and the community got what it asked for. We’re just trying to stay here and do even more," he said.
Ron and Dionne hope to make sure that their neighbors in Ward 8 don't join the recent statistic released by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that says 40 percent of the District's lower income neighborhoods experienced gentrification between 2000 to 2013.
“At the end of the day, I want amenities east of the Anacostia River…we can no longer have communities to thrive without the benefit of amenities, but how we do that has to be socially responsible…you know we’ve been a staple in this community. We fed after school programs when they couldn’t go nowhere else to get food…but those are things that are going to be missed that really pains me when I think about the fact that we have to go…so I just want this community to grow," said Dionne.
Cheers is hosting a farewell party Friday night from 8 p.m until midnight.