'For Sale' signs could be seen in the windows of Riverwalk Social on Elizabeth Street in Derby on Wednesday.
DERBY—The owners of Riverwalk Social said the restaurant closed this week because it was in dire financial straits caused by ongoing construction in downtown Derby.
“Sunday (June 23) was our last day of business, and the reason is because we just ran out of money,” Robert Mastroni said. He owned the restaurant and the building that housed it at 17 Elizabeth St. next to Derby City Hall. It formerly housed Archie Moore’s.
“This last weekend was probably the worst weekend we ever had. We normally pull in about $10,000 or $12,000 on Friday and Saturday nights, and we’re lucky if we brought in between $800 and $1,200. There’s only so long you can keep hemorrhaging money, when you finally say, ‘I’ve got to pull the plug’,” Mastroni said.
Riverwalk Social is in downtown Derby, close to the intersection of Elizabeth and Main Street.
Main Street is also known as state Route 34. Downtown Derby has been a large construction zone since April 2022, when contractors hired by the state started the long-planned, $18.7 million Main Street/Route 34 widening project. A $6.3 million renovation of the nearby Derby-Shelton bridge started in April 2021 and is still ongoing, too.
There are also various utility projects happening downtown.
Mastroni and his son, Anthony, opened Riverwalk Social in the former Archie Moore’s spot in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Robert Mastroni said the business survived the pandemic, losing about $300,000 in annual revenue, but it was nothing like the financial hit he’s seen since the Route 34 construction got underway.
“I thought if we could survive COVID, we could survive anything. We were doing about $1.8 million annually, and went down to around $1.5 million – but we survived. We couldn’t survive these street closures,” he said.
Mastroni said the business cost him about $20,000 a week to run, between payroll, rent, supplies and other costs. He said he was draining his retirement fund to do the best he could to keep up.
The Main Street widening project’s design resulted in Elizabeth Street becoming one-way in front of RiverWalk Social. The new traffic pattern hurt business, too, Mastroni said.
Customers could park in the Derby Municipal Parking Garage on Thompson Place, but the customers simply stopped coming because of the hassle.
The Valley Indy reached out to state Department of Transportation spokesperson Josh Morgan via email Wednesday afternoon but did not hear back by deadline.
“The construction hurt us a lot,” Anthony Mastroni told The Valley Indy. “You cut people off and give them no place to park. Asking them to walk a quarter of a mile to grab something to eat, they’re going to go somewhere else.”
Anthony Mastroni said the decision he and his father made to close the restaurant wasn’t pleasant.
“Trust me, there’s no one more upset about this than me,” Anthony Mastroni said. “It’s sad to see it come to an end. We loved the community, and we loved everyone who’s ever come around. I just want all of our staff and customers to know we love them and couldn’t be more grateful for them.”
Robert Mastroni acknowledged that the closing surprised the staff. However, the number of employees had decreased from 45 to 13 in four years. Lunch hour was eliminated six weeks ago because of slow business.
The lower portion of Elizabeth Street in front of the restaurant was closed due to construction on Wednesday.
Mastroni said he reached out to both city and state officials several times to see if they could provide any financial help since the road work was having a negative impact.
“I kept calling and emailing the town and the state and they kept promising to get us some grant money, and even when I put Archie Moore’s in there, the town said they’d validate parking in the garage, but they never did.”
Mastroni said he’s looking to sell his downtown properties from 13 – 27 Elizabeth St. and move to Florida.
RiverWalk Social is the second bar-restaurant in the construction zone to close in two months. River Rock Tavern at 5 Main St. closed in April, according to a post on the bar’s Facebook page.
City Hall Reacts
Derby Mayor Joe DiMartino said he spoke with Robert Mastroni about three weeks ago and offered him free parking for patrons in the garage, but said Mastroni did not take the offer.
DiMartino’s Chief of Staff, Linda Fusco, said state Rep. Kara Rochelle inquired about what businesses might have been impacted by the ongoing construction. Fusco said Riverwalk Social was on the list she submitted to Rochelle.
“We did try to help and I did offer him the parking garage to his patrons, for free, so they wouldn’t get ticketed, but he didn’t like that idea,” Mayor DiMartino said. “The construction downtown is a lot, there’s no question about it, but it’s almost done. I feel bad for all the businesses, but the bigger picture is when the construction is done, it’s going to be so much better for everyone.”
Derby Economic Development Director Roger Salway said the project is slated for completion in October. He said signs were put up to alert the public that businesses in the construction zone are open.
“You can put some blame on the disruption, but there was parking available in the parking garage, which the city recently put a new security system in,” Salway said.
The parking garage is in terrible shape and the city has been searching for grant money for years to fix it. Salway said the three-level garage has 200 spaces.
Salway also said restaurant patrons could park at Derby City Hall’s parking lot after hours. Salway said he meets weekly with the contractor for project updates and said they’ve “been really good about giving notice to nearby businesses” when they’d be working right in their area.
However, the Mastronis said they weren’t being regularly apprised of the disruptions with the road closures.
