By Michael Charboneau
On a Thursday night in Octo- ber, the heavy steel security doors rolled up on a long-shuttered Fordham Road storefront. Behind those doors, a transformation took place: The Blend Cafe, the coffee shop that closed suddenly in May 2013, is once again open for business, this time as a full-fledged bar.
Prior to the closure, The Blend, owned by Fordham alumni Bill and Suzann Fleming, had been a popular hangout for Fordham students, who stopped in for its fresh coffee and comfortable couches. It hosted many concerts and fundraisers as well, and from the outside at least, it seemed to fulfill the role of student gather- ing space that the Flemings envisioned.
“I loved it,” said Gaby Gutier- rez, FCRH ’15. “It was a really cool space because it served so many different purposes.”
Behind the counter, however, things were not so rosy. Bill Fleming explains that stores like Dunkin’ Donuts and 7-Eleven began to draw away customers, and the competition became fierce. Fleming looked to create another source of income by refashioning the cafe as a nightlife establishment, and soon The Blend started serving alcohol.
“It was basically a money issue,” Fleming said.
However, with the new hours and offerings came new problems. The cafe’s capacity was limited to 74 people, and on weekends it would quickly become overfilled with students. In addition, the cafe needed a cabaret license in order to allow people to dance. “We were happy that it was working well, but it needed to be upgraded,” Fleming said. “The way it was going was that it was illegal.” After the NYPD issued a ticket for license violations, the Flemings decided to bring The Blend into line with the law. They closed the cafe in the spring of 2013 and began the long application process for the license, along with the remodeling it required.
The Blend that opened this fall is the fruit of that labor. Anyone who remembers the quaint cof- fee shop will notice that the new Blend looks totally different: the coffee machines and display cases for food are gone, along with the entire wall that separated the front of the cafe from the lounge in the back. It now has a completely open floor plan, with a long bar commanding the room from one side, and even an outdoor patio. With its new cabaret license, The Blend has reinvented itself as Fordham’s newest bar, and is now open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
“So instead of 74 people gather- ing to have cocktails and discuss, we now can have 376 people come in, drink and dance,” Fleming said.
If The Blend’s transformation is surprising, the mystery surrounding its closure and unpublicized reopening is even more so. Jeff Coltin, FCRH ’15, columnist for The Ram, visited the bar on the first night it reopened, but found out about it only by chance.
“I just heard from a friend,” he said. “I was shocked.”
He says he was especially sur- prised since he had asked The Blend on Facebook and Twitter if they would reopen, but they avoid- ed his question in their responses.
“They were being very dodgy on social media,” said Coltin.
Fleming says the mystery was intentional. He and his wife closed the cafe suddenly in order to avoid more fines from the police, and they thought a secretive reopening would allow them to reestablish their business more easily.
Now that word has spread, The Blend has begun to draw crowds regularly. Looking ahead, Fleming
plans to market the bar as a TriBar alternative, and hopefully attract students who are dissatisfied with the small size of those more well- known establishments. To do so, he says he wants to make The Blend into a space for concerts, fundraisers and other student events, much like it was in its first incarnation.
“We want to add to the night- life,” he said. “Now if you want to use the space, we’re able to have you come in, you can use the space as you want.”
For now, though, Fleming is mainly concerned with building up the bar’s reputation as a nightlife spot. The struggles of the past few years have shown him that running a successful business is no easy feat, but this latest reinvention of The Blend may prove to be a winning formula. As for the students who miss The Blend’s old book-friendly atmosphere, he has one piece of advice: “Go to the library.”
