MUNCIE, Ind. — Vera Mae’s Bistro, a downtown Muncie dining landmark for twenty-five years, has closed.
“Vera Mae’s will be closing immediately,” a message posted on the restaurant’s website on Monday, March 2, said.
The staff at Vera Mae’s Bistro is preparing for dinner for the restaurant’s 2021 opening.
“We are deeply grateful for every meal shared, every conversation and every memory made within these walls,” the release said.
“Villame helped lay the foundation for what’s to come – we can’t wait to see how this space continues to serve the community in new ways as we develop a new initiative to provide direct support to local entrepreneurs.”
Vera Mae’s opened in 1999 as a lunch takeout and catering business but has grown to become one of the area’s most popular and acclaimed restaurants.
Over the years it has become known for hosting family celebrations. Owners Kent Shuff and Steve Fennimore renovated 209 South Walnut Street and opened their business there before much of the downtown redevelopment began.
In September 2022, Accutech Systems Corp. announced its acquisition of the downtown restaurant.
“Rather than closing the doors on Villa, we have chosen to sell the business so it may remain a space where people can continue to gather and commemorate important moments in their lives,” Shough and Fennimore wrote at the time.
This article originally appeared in the Muncie Star Press: Muncie’s Vera Mae’s Bistro closing after 25 years
