When we recently reported that 177 Ludlow Street, home to the EarthMatters health food café and market, was in contract to be sold, the store’s future looked grim. Indeed, last week an EV Grieve reader heard from employees that EarthMatters would not continue to operate once its founder, Isaac Tapiero, sold the building. Then last weekend EarthMatters confirmed the news on its Facebook page, telling fans, “After 11 years, Earthmatters will be closing. We’d like to thank all our amazing customers for making this last decade so wonderful.”
Tapiero bought the building in the ‘90s before opening the ground level café with his nephew and partner, Marco Megira. The pair expanded their business to include a market stocked with a full selection of healthy foods. A couple of years back, Tapiero told The Lo-Down that Whole Foods’ arrival on the Bowery had cut into his profits, but that his business was seeing a slight resurgence.
Christine Blackburn, who worked on the sale of the property for Corcoran, confirmed the property had indeed been sold. She did not disclose the buyer’s identity, but noted the sale would soon be logged in the public record. So far, the Office of the City Register hasn’t entered the details of the sale in its online database, but we’ll keep you posted when news of the new owner becomes available. In July, Blackburn told us that the building was being sold for at least $6,250,000, the asking price.
