In addition to our normal news coverage, What Now Atlanta is tracking ways Atlanta’s businesses are adapting to the novel coronavirus and the challenges it brings to brick-and-mortars.

Mother Bar and Kitchen has permanently closed its Sweet Auburn doors after eight years in business, the company announced Tuesday on its Facebook page.

“It is with great reluctance that we announce that we will be closing Mother for good,” according to the social media post.

“Like many other bars, restaurants, and clubs, we’ve been waiting patiently the last few months and have been weighing our options for how and when to reopen. Considering the multi-use nature of Mother, we knew there would be many logistical issues of how to make things work financially while keeping our customers and our staff safe and healthy. The bottom line though is that our business really needs a large group of people in a tight space to be profitable, and even a scaled-back operation would still be very difficult and potentially dangerous given our narrow space. While we’re optimistic that this pandemic will end in the coming year (fingers crossed!), unfortunately, we just don’t have that much time or resources to wait.”

The venue, at 447 Edgewood Ave SE, as with other Atlanta businesses, has been closed since mid-March to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Mother joins an ever-growing list of restaurants and retailers to permanently close citing financial hardships brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Here’s the Mother’s announcement in its entirety:

It is with great reluctance that we announce that we will be closing Mother for good.

Like many other bars, restaurants, and clubs, we’ve been waiting patiently for the last few months and have been weighing our options for how and when to reopen. Considering the multi-use nature of Mother, we knew there would be many logistical issues of how to make things work financially while keeping our customers and our staff safe and healthy. The bottom line though is that our business really needs a large group of people in a tight space to be profitable, and even a scaled-back operation would still be very difficult and potentially dangerous given our narrow space. While we’re optimistic that this pandemic will end in the coming year (fingers crossed!), unfortunately, we just don’t have that much time or resources to wait.

For the past eight years, we’ve been very proud and privileged to operate our bar and restaurant on Edgewood Avenue. We have never felt more connected to our city and it’s cultural and historic roots as we have while operating Mother. We’ve worked with hundreds of staff members from DJs to bartenders to cooks to security and even the worst ones have a special place in our hearts (the good ones even more so!) These people have put in a lot of time at 447 Edgewood and have collectively set the mood of what Mother was all about. Our bar is surrounded by a number of amazing businesses owned by some of our best friends. They’ve all been very supportive and helpful over the years and we hope that all of y’all continue to frequent the Edgewood Corridor and its businesses. We’ve also worked with a ton of local breweries, non-profits, performers, musicians, artists, etc all of whom have made us immensely proud to have hosted their talents. Lastly, we’ve met a lot of great people who’ve patronized our bar, from the 5 pm teleworkers to the Tuesday night karaoke junkies to the “too cool for the line” weekend warriors. People often share hazy stories about good times they’ve had at Mother in all kinds of nights and scenarios and it always makes us proud. We’d like to again thank all of our awesome employees and of course all of you who’ve walked through our doors and patronized our establishment these past eight years. We literally could not have done it without you and it has been an immense pleasure.

Thanks.

Best, Mother

[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]