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Tempe student-friendly café to close


Open Source Project café, an art gallery, music venue and coffee shop near the Tempe campus, will be closing at the end of the month because of financial issues and a lack of customers.

ASU alumnus Michael Witham opened the café on University Drive with two college friends after graduating in December 2010.

The decision to close Open Source Project rather than renew the building’s lease at the end of the month was Witham’s call.

“I think this is just part of what’s been going on,” Witham said. “It hasn’t been a painful process at all but you come to a point where it costs more to stay here when there are better opportunities to go somewhere else.”

Witham said it would be more beneficial to move somewhere else.

“Every industry is different,” Witham said. “As an entrepreneur, it’s about what you get into and when.”

The business model was based around attracting large numbers of ASU students to frequent the eclectic café, he said. Its location is just east of the Tempe campus near Dorsey Lane.

Although the cash flow was supposed to be brought in through coffee sales, the main intention of Open Source Project café was to build a community where artists, musicians and authors could meet, Witham said.

Open Source Project café co-owner Gianni Assam said he is focusing on the positives of the experience rather than its failure.

“Overall it was a good experience for me,” Assam said. “We got a lot of students in here interacting with each other. That was our main goal. It was good while it lasted.”

Open Source Project café initially hosted various alternative music groups for shows open to those less than 21.

Because of music permit issues and noise complaints from businesses nearby, the Open Source Project café stopped hosting such events in early October, Witham said.

Business management senior Eugene Turetsky had been a frequent customer to the café and was disappointed by the news.

“I used to come here almost every day to relax, hear new bands with friends and study,” Turetsky said. “It’s really quite unfortunate to see this place go down. There was definitely a lot of potential here.”

 

Reach the reporter at mjgordo1@asu.edu

 

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