Downtown Nashua will lose yet another popular destination later this week, when Unum’s, an upscale restaurant at the corner of East Pearl and Spring streets, shuts its doors for the last time.

Owner Sergio Metes, who bought the business about a year ago after four years as head chef, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Saturday will be Unum’s last day.

“Business is down. Too many people don’t want to come downtown anymore,” Metes said. “They don’t feel safe.”

Unum’s, at 47-49 E. Pearl St., was opened in 2007 by Stephen and Karen Williams and has been hailed by local and out-of-town diners of all tastes since the outset. Metes – first as chef, then as owner – was critically acclaimed for “taking an intelligent and sophisticated approach” to his craft, according to a 2014 Boston Globe restaurant review.

But that expertise, along with the priority all three owners placed on atmosphere, couldn’t overcome what Metes described as a deteriorating section of downtown Nashua – only made worse, he said, by increasing vandalism and vagrancy and decreasing customer traffic.

“A lot of customers tell me, ‘I parked in your lot. Is my car safe there?’?” Metes said, referring to the restaurant’s rectangular parking lot on the east side of the building. “I tell them, ‘It should be. We’ve got lights out there’ … but I don’t know if they’re safe.”

It wasn’t that long ago that downtown Nashua boasted a respectable roster of independently owned restaurants, giving longtime residents and visitors of all ages plenty of options from which to choose.

The shuttering of Unum’s comes at the same time that owners of Silverlight Candle & Gift Shoppe on Main Street announced its closure and just weeks after the Dec. 1 closure of Villa Banca, a downtown staple for nearly two decades.

The latter’s owners, who opened the restaurant in the historic Nashua Trust Company bank, didn’t give many details at the time, but Unum’s Metes doesn’t doubt it had to do with dwindling customers.

“You think if he was getting the numbers, he would have closed?” Metes asked rhetorically. “Look at all the other places that have (closed) lately.”

More than a half-dozen businesses have closed or relocated from downtown within the past three years. Aside from Unum’s and Villa Banca, another upscale eatery, Saffron Bistro, closed in May 2013, while Cooking Matters, the gourmet foods retail store and soup-and-sandwich eatery, shuttered in November 2013.

Two business opened, then closed, inside of two years: Lovin’ Cupcakes and Cannolis and Eric’s Main Street Bakery, which closed in August 2012 and November 2013, respectively.

Baby and child specialty store Bippity Boppity Baby closed in January 2013; Enterprise Bank is now in the space. Studio 99, one of downtown Nashua’s core venues for live music, shuttered in March 2013, followed five months later by McKenzie’s, a Main Street restaurant and lounge that was also a popular venue for local bands.

Aubuchon Hardware, a Main Street landmark for a century, was closed several months ago by its corporate office. And in December, downtown florist Antoinette Drouart retired and closed her store, Ikebana Flower.

Metes puts most of the blame for the closures at the feet of city officials, who in his opinion have paid too much attention to the city’s outskirts – such as the Daniel Webster Highway-Spit Brook Road retail district – while neglecting downtown.

“They’re not paying attention to small-business owners,” he said. “There’s nothing to attract people in their 20s, 30s, from out of town. A lot of people I know who live in Manchester say, ‘No, we don’t go to Nashua anymore’ … they tell me it’s too tricky to get around, for one thing.”

Metes’s concerns are in line with comments made roughly a year ago by Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce CEO Chris Williams, who wrote in the chamber’s monthly newsletter that the psyche of downtown merchants is “at the lowest point I’ve seen it.”

High among the issues causing the low morale, Williams wrote, were the numerous closures of shops and restaurants, followed by parking changes and what he called “the hot debate over the cost and management of sidewalk improvements.”

Metes, meanwhile, questioned city officials’ approval of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter’s recent move from Chestnut Street to the former VFW home at the corner of East Pearl and Quincy streets, saying that incidents of vandalism, vagrancy and “people just hanging out” have increased significantly since the soup kitchen opened.

“Why didn’t they ask around first?” he said of city and soup kitchen officials. “Why not come to us (neighbors) and ask, ‘Are you OK with this?’?”

Metes said he understands that people fall on hard times and need assistance that agencies such as the soup kitchen provide. What he objects to, he said, is soup kitchen clients “hanging around my parking lot, drinking beer” and littering.

“One time, a couple guys walked right in with a couple cans and sat right there,” he said, gesturing toward a table near the front entrance. “I asked them what they were doing. They said they just wanted to ask people for money.”

The decision to close is clearly an emotional issue for Metes, who said one of the most difficult parts for him was informing his staff of seven employees.

“I feel like I’m letting them down,” he said, shaking his head.

Word of the impending closure began to swirl Tuesday morning, when many Unum’s customers and followers saw Metes’s Facebook post indicating that Saturday will be Unum’s last day. But the posts soon disappeared, causing confusion over the eatery’s future.

Metes, who had also text-messaged some regular customers saying he was closing Unum’s, said later Tuesday that he removed the Facebook posts because he was getting inundated with calls.

The Williamses, the original owners, renovated the space extensively ahead of their 2007 opening. The building itself has been owned by a family trust for a number of years. Before Unum’s took over the space, it was occupied by an art gallery and spiritually based shop called Amethyst Wyldfyre and a specialty foods store, The Daily Count.

After the Williamses sold Unum’s to Metes, Stephen Williams and business partner Sharie Webber opened Cava de Vino, a wine and specialty foods shop, on Canal Street.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443, dshalhoup@nashua
telegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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