The popular breakfast, brunch and lunch spot Sugar Magnolias is open in a new Main Street location but it won’t be long before the restaurant moves again.
“Sugar Mags,” as it’s commonly called, opened the doors to its new, temporary location at 64 Main St. on April 9.
Owner Melissa Sallah said the transition through the first few weeks of opening has been going great.
“We’ve been super busy and we have a whole new staff in the front and back (of the restaurant) but we’re trying to find our groove,” Sallah said.
The 24-year-old café had been without a Main Street location since February 2023 when a pipe burst on the second floor of its former location at 112 Main St. during a cold snap, flooding the restaurant.
Sallah said the restaurant’s patrons can expect all the same offerings as before but the new location is significantly bigger, seating 75 people or 25 more than it previously served.
“It’s a little tough to manage so we’re just trying to be able to seat all the tables and right now we’re trying to keep three tables out of rotation just to keep the flow a little better,” she said. “Everyone’s working really hard and trying to get it back to exactly what it was.”
While the new location does have another 25 to 30 seats outside, Sallah said that area will likely be used for people to sit and eat takeout orders.
But this location is only temporary, she said. Sallah purchased what was The House of Mitch bar at 18 Rogers St. nearly three years ago and is in the process of transforming it into the next permanent location for Sugar Magnolias.
Sallah said the restaurant will be at the 64 Main St. location through September of next year before moving to Rogers Street. At that time another business will move into 64 Main St., she said.
The original plan for the 18 Rogers St. location was to renovate the infamous bar. But because the work exceeded 50% of the building’s value, the bar was located in a Floodplain Overlay District and FEMA changed the flood maps around the same time Sallah bought the property, the plan changed to demolishing the building and constructing a new one.
“It added a lot of extra money and a lot of extra work to the project so it’s taken a while,” she said.
Staff Writer Bobby Grady may be contacted at 978-675-2714 or bgrady@gloucestertimes.com.