Earlier this month, it was announced that the Arthur Avenue staple Mugz’s is closing its doors on June 10. Just steps off campus, the bar is a popular spot for the Fordham University sports teams, students and even returning alumni.
On April 1, with what many students thought was an April Fools’ Day prank, the Instagram account @followsuits of Daniel “Suits” Morse, who manages Mugz’s, posted a story that said, “It is official with a heavy heart Mugzs will be shutting down after Jubilee. If you a supporter of Mugz come out any time we are open just wish us a farewell.”
While some students were left confused on if this was a prank or not, Suits confirmed Mugz’s closing the next day with a more in-depth post explaining that Mugz’s and their landlord could not come to a lease agreement.
Students responded almost immediately, sharing their opinions about the news on social media and Fizz. Paolo Liaci, FCRH ’27, jumped to action, creating the Instagram account @savemugz. His “Project Save Mugz” gained immediate traction.
Liaci also thought the original announcement that Mugz’s would be closing its doors was just an April Fools’ joke, but he said once the reality of losing a place so important to the Fordham community set in, he had to take action.
Liaci said he direct-messaged Suits to say, “I just made this Instagram if you guys need any help my friends and I are here for you, we’re all here for you.”
Suits put him in touch with Carolina DiFuccia who owns Mugz’s.
“The next day, she was so willing to do a phone call with me,” said Liaci. “One of the sweetest women I have ever met and spoken with, and I just told her she has the entire support of the Fordham community behind her, alumni and students.”
By that point, Project Save Mugz had gained over 1,000 followers overnight, and Liaci was fielding more than 50 DMs from alumni and Belmont community members asking how they could help.
“I had some TikTokers who were born and raised in the Belmont section of the Bronx emailing us. He emailed us and he had like 300,000 followers and he was like I grew up passing Mugz’s. We can’t let this happen. Let me know what I can do,” said Liaci. “It was just the coolest thing to see everyone care the way they did.”
Carolina DiFuccia has been the owner of Mugz’s since 2002. At 26 years old, Difuccia bought the bar and became a first-time business owner. Her husband managed the bar, and with the business now in her name, she said they built up the place and made it a staple for the Fordham community.
“Mugz’s wasn’t that busy when we first bought it, but we built it up. People really got comfortable, you know, it’s like family. Parents would always come back and thank Suits and thank us for looking out for their kids,” said DiFuccia
This neighborhood means a lot to DiFuccia. She grew up on 183rd and Belmont. She said that the corner of Arthur Ave and 187th has been a bar for almost 60 years. It was called The Perfect Catch before becoming Mugz’s.
“Arthur Avenue people, they still stick together,” she said. “I think this was always a family community. There were always people out. Years ago, you would be able to walk down the street as a kid by yourself. Everyone just knew each other, everyone looked out for somebody, the doors were open.”
DiFuccia believes that small businesses play a big role in creating the familiarity and character of a neighborhood like Belmont.
“Small businesses that are people that are from the neighborhood, they’re the community,” said DiFuccia. “I don’t think these landlords understand what the community is about because they don’t live here.”
She has dealt with her fair share of hardships throughout her time as a business owner. In 2012, her husband passed away from brain cancer, leaving her alone to run the bar and raise two young kids.
“My daughter was nine, my son was three, I had to do everything by myself,” she said.
In 2017, she and her brother sought out a new business venture and bought G & R Deli in Pelham Parkway.
“So, in 2017, a deli came up by my house. They’ve been there for a long time, and me and my brother got offered to buy it,” she said. “And thank god I did because when COVID hit, I had nothing coming in. My husband passed away, I needed another income, I can’t just do it with the bar.”
The deli has also seen more recent success, gaining a substantial following on social media specifically with DiFuccia’s original “Italian Ice Cream Cone” sandwich going viral. However, running both Mugz’s and the deli and caring for her kids kept Difuccia incredibly busy.
“So I was doing two things. I was working the bar at the time plus the deli plus my kids were small. I was running like a lunatic,” she said. “That’s why I kind of slowed down the last couple years. Physically, I just can’t do it, be in the bar all the time at night, every weekend. So, I know it fell down a little bit.”
DiFuccia said she took pride in being a stable presence and a pair of eyes on the street, looking out for Fordham students.
“You know how many times I’d be standing outside when I was there at the bar, and I’d see girls walking by drunk, and I’d be like ‘where are you going? You’re going the wrong way.’ And, I’d grab them, make them sit down, get them some water,” she said. “The neighborhood is not what it used to be like anymore. It’s getting dangerous.”
DiFuccia said having to shut down for almost a year and a half during COVID-19 hit Mugz’s hard.
“I was closed for 16 to 18 months, and my lease was up,” she said. “Yeah, we’re going to renew it, [the landlord would] tell me every few months … He would just play me and play me. You’ve got to fix the floors, I got a leak downstairs. So, I spent like $20-25,000 on the floors alone because I cemented everything. It’s like bulletproof in there. He still didn’t give me a lease.”
“Finally, I said, this is enough,” she said. “He raised my rent from $2,500 to $3,000 to $4,000 to $6,000. Insurance went up from like $5,000 to $17,000. After COVID hit after there were all those rallies and people breaking into stores, insurance companies pulled out. So you’re left with whatever you have.”
According to DiFuccia her rent and insurance nearly tripled. She said it was impossible to keep pouring money into financing the bar.
“You’re talking about over $10,000 a month,” she said.“It’s not worth it.”
The Ram reached out to building owners to confirm these numbers but did not hear back.
DiFuccia hasn’t raised her drink prices since she first took over ownership in 2002, and she never planned to do that in any last ditch effort to save the bar.
“I see what the other bars charge to get in, I think it’s disgusting — some of them charging $30-40. Come on. I would never do that,” DiFuccia said. “I want [students]to come here, have a good time, be safe, and go home — that’s it.”
Still, with the exhaustion setting in as she navigates these ups and downs, the reality of having to close Mugz’s doors is not an easy pill for her to swallow.
“I’m disgusted. It hurts. It really hurts,” she said. “I feel like they’re taking a piece of my husband away from me because that was his baby. I feel like it’s not going to be safe. I feel like that was the end of it — Mugz’s. At least we were there at night, you know, there’s always someone keeping an eye out.”
After 23 years in business, DiFuccia has to close Mugz’s doors.
“It’s definitely very sad to see a bar shut down after like 50 years,” said Colin Mitchell, FCRH ’26, who bartends at Mugz’s. “It’s cool to have a spot like that in the middle of the Fordham area where it’s a close walk from wherever you might be.
But, watching from behind the counter, Mitchell understands that Mugz’s simply can’t stay open with seemingly unending expenses.
“The style of operation, the way Mugz was being run, the cost of everything was going up, and it seemed like in order to keep up with that, the business model wouldn’t work essentially,” said Mitchell. “Ingredients were getting more expensive, the rent was getting more expensive, and you can’t charge $30 for a drink.”
Liaci doesn’t want to give up hope though. With “Project Save Mugz,” he’s still encouraging the Fordham community to support Mugz in any way they can.
“Just support, support, support and don’t stop going,” he said. “If you’re around in the summer, come by in the summer. Just the more that can contribute and help, it’s all appreciated.”
Mitchell isn’t exactly sure what will happen next, but he doesn’t think the corner will be vacant for long.
“It depends on what the landlord wants to do,” he said. “If they want to put housing in, obviously student housing can be lucrative. If they want to put in another corner store, I really don’t know. But, I can’t imagine it’s going to be completely empty, at least not for long. It seems like the landlord probably has a plan for it.”
“I think the future is kind of up to the Fordham students,” said Liaci. “There’s a fine line between supporting your community and gentrifying it. And I think as outsiders coming into the community, we definitely always teeter that by supporting old and new businesses. And, I also know it’s such an attraction to head into the city because you know we’re in New York, but don’t take Arthur Ave for granted — it’s great.”
DiFuccia wants to keep the bar open, but she simply can’t.
“I want to keep [Mugz’s] open for the neighborhood and for the college kids to have somewhere to go,” she said. “I think one door closes, another one will open. I think if you’re good to people and you believe in God, things will happen for you.
Despite the bitter-sweet feelings, DiFuccia said she is still grateful for the opportunity: “Even though my husband passed away and I have two kids and I had to raise them alone, I was still lucky enough to have a business like that and I was lucky enough to open up another business.”
Even if the initiative to “Save Mugz” doesn’t pan out, Liaci said he is glad to be part of something that shows the Fordham-Belmont community connection: “I hope the initiative in general just achieves that highlight of the connection between Fordham and the Belmont community.”
Mugz’s is set to close on June 10.
