Downtown Albuquerque restaurant plans to close

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Another downtown Albuquerque business is planning to close its doors after a series of issues plagued it following the pandemic.

Erin Wade, the owner of Vinaigrette, wrote a candid newsletter to customers saying the restaurant will be closing down on Nov. 5th – either for good or at least temporarily.

She noted a number of issues including staffing concerns, inflation, and changing consumer habits as the reasons behind this decision.

“It was the biggest disruption in momentum that we’d ever seen, kind of in our entire history,” she said of the pandemic. 

But leaders with the New Mexico Restaurant Association (NMRA) say there’s another obvious reason why so many businesses downtown have run into trouble.

“Somebody needs to say it for them – is that we’ve got to get the crime under control or, you know, we’re gonna continue to lose businesses,” said NMRA CEO Carol Wight.

The latest data from Colliers via Albuquerque Business First shows downtown Albuquerque is facing an 18-percent vacancy rate for retail spaces.  That’s compared to just a 0.7-percent rate in the uptown neighborhood.

“It was always a little gritty.  That was kind of what I liked about it.  But there was vibrancy at the same time,” said Wade speaking about downtown.

Wade says that vibrancy has left downtown Albuquerque presenting unique challenges that her restaurants in Santa Fe and Austin aren’t facing, which is why those Vinaigrette locations will remain open.

“It feels like a ghost town on Central at night. It is wildly creepy,” said Wade.

Many loyal customers flocked to the Albuquerque location Thursday, looking to grab their favorite meal one last time, if Wade indeed chooses to shut down for good.

“So, when I found out earlier this week that they were closing, I told my husband and my two kids, and my daughter started crying. She was so sad they were closing,” said Meredith Barlow.

Vinaigrette, which offers salads, soups, sandwiches, and more, opened in Albuquerque in 2012.  Wade moved the business a couple blocks away to a new building on Central Ave. in 2024, but it hasn’t panned out the way she hoped.

She admitted there have been difficult stretches over the years when it comes to crime.  In particular, there was a remarkably challenging period between 2017 and 2018 in which Wade says there was at least one break-in for seven consecutive months.

While Wade will still continue to serve New Mexicans and Vinaigrette fans at the Santa Fe location, others say they’ve had enough.

“I’m moving to Arizona, by the way.  And part of it is the crime and homeless problem. I’m tired of seeing it.  I’m tired of dealing with it. I’m tired of feeling afraid in my own city,” said Wight.

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