Early Bird Cafe closes

Interior, Early Bird Cafe (from their website)

The Early Bird Cafe, a favorite of customers since 2011, ceased operations at the close of business Friday. Owner Brooke "Top Chickadee" Fitzgerald announced on their Facebook page February 11:

Over the last year or so I have been removed somewhat from day to day operations in order to transition and pursue my commercial real estate career with Skogman. The universe once again, has put something in front of me as a vehicle to accomplish more with my life on this earth. In the time of reflection that I have had stepping away, I have realized my time with the Early Bird is complete. I’ve reached the full potential of what I alone am able to do with it. This chapter of my life is coming to an end in order to start a new chapter.... The last day for the Early Bird will be Friday, March 6th. We will be closing our doors at close of business that day and flying the nest. Onto the next chapter of life starlings, my best wishes for your success and abundance, Top Chickadee with gratitude, signing off.

The first Early Bird location was in the Town Centre Building at 316 2nd Street SE, downstairs from Shive-Hattery Architecture. It took me awhile to warm up to it, as my initial impression of coffee places tends to depend on whether they have baked goods bigger than my head. So, I sniffed in the survey of local coffee I did on Facebook that year, the cupcakes from the Wright Touch were "small and twee."

The Early Bird's Town Centre location, May 2013

In time, though, the treats got bigger and my mind got broader. In particular I liked the artsy energy that infused the place, possibly due to visits by performers from the Paramount Theater across the street, or maybe the whimsical decor brilliantly done by Fitzgerald's brother Aaron Murphy. In the spring of 2013 I was spending a lot of time downtown and it had become my favorite downtown coffee shop: "The managers are good-humored, even goofy," I wrote in an early post on this blog, "and the atmosphere is the most pleasant and relaxed." It felt like a place to hang out more than a shop for downtown workers to rush through.

So I held my breath in fall 2016 when the Early Bird moved into the Smulekoff Furniture building on the river side of 1st Street.

Approaching the Early Bird, last day of business, March 2020

I need not have worried. The new layout was open and inviting, a refuge from whatever business brought you downtown as well as a place to run into people you know. (This is a common element of locally-owned coffeehouses of my acquaintance, while chains tend to put people into private inaccessible booths.)

View as you enter

Approaching the counter

So I'll miss the Early Bird. There are other fine coffee places downtown, but I'll miss its many quirks. I'll miss holding downtown open coffee meetups there. I'll miss the delicious coffee, I'll miss the $1 refills which got me through any morning, I'll miss the scones which would have been big enough even to satisfy 2011 me, I'll miss the yogurt parfaits which were made fresh on the spot. I'll miss Stacey Walker or Brad Hart or Bill Michaeel or Emily Meyer coming through while I was there. I'll even miss this giraffe, which seemed pleased at my attending to my hydration and caffeination needs.

I hope the Smulekoff building gets another tenant soon--for that matter, I hope the Town Centre does, too. There's a lot going on in downtown Cedar Rapids, which has proven it can support a decent variety of establishments. The variety will only improve if the residential population attains the critical mass necessary to support a 24-hour downtown.

But the combination of business acumen and artsy sensibility needed to support a truly distinctive shop is rare indeed. Hats off to you, Brooke Fitzgerald, and best wishes in your future endeavors. Since those endeavors seem oriented to commercial real estate--she is employed at Skogman Realty--I hope she will promote the sort of development that supports locally-owned businesses with their own memorable quirks.

Timely advice. But always good advice.

SEE ALSO: Ben Kaplan, "Downtown Cedar Rapids' Coffee Shops Ranked," Corridor Urbanism, 3 February 2019. (Spoiler alert: Early Bird was tied for 1st.)