An elegy for Eljay’s?

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Last Saturday was the last day of business for one of the sweetest little coffee houses in the city: Eljay’s River Market Coffeehouse at 412 Delaware. Owned and operated by mother-daughter team Joy and Leah Koesten, the duo sent out an e-mail announcement last week stating “we gave it our best shot, but sales continued to fall short of our expectations for this great place in in light of the difficult economy, it doesn’t look to improve in the near term.”

I’ll say it again: if you’re particularly in love with a small, independently-owned cafe, bistro, restaurant or coffeehouse — this is the time to support them. Too often these small business owners are hearing something to this effect: “You’re closing? But I love this place! I meant to come in last week, but you know how things are.”

Yes, they know.