Reginelli’s Pizza at 124 W. Chimes St. will close this weekend after eight years in business at the location near LSU’s North Gates.
Darryl Reginelli, who owns the New Orleans-based pizza chain, says in 20 years he’s never had to close a restaurant and didn’t want to close this one. But making ends meet in the university-area neighborhood poses a unique set of challenges to merchants and restaurants, despite what one might assume about a location with such proximity to LSU.
“It’s tough,” he says. “I really think the location has potential as a bar that serves food, not a restaurant that serves alcohol. It’s too hard to compete with all the bars that run specials every night. The kids just go in circles from one special to the next.”
As detailed in a Business Report magazine feature from earlier this year, other problems in that neighborhood include lack of parking and the growth of residential and retail developments on the south side of campus.
“They really need to get more residential units on this side because when the students leave it’s dead,” Reginelli says.
Reginelli, who is still locked into a three-year lease for the 3,600-square-foot space, is trying to find a tenant to take his place. Still, given the dynamics of the market he says it made more sense to close the restaurant than stay open. A second Reginelli’s on Jefferson Highway near Government Street in Mid City will remain open and deliver to neighborhoods that have been covered by the Chimes Street restaurant.
“Last summer we closed Chimes Street for a few weeks in the summer and Mid City picked up most of their business,” he says. “That’s when we knew it made sense to close and let the other one really thrive.”
Once Chimes Street closes, Reginelli’s will have nine restaurants in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and, most recently, Houston.
—Stephanie Riegel
