A Wichita bar is closing, a neighboring restaurant is moving after both lose buildings
Longtime Wichita bar and restaurant Penny’s Caravan — known for its wild karaoke nights — will close this weekend.
And its neighbor, Mexican restaurant Tacos Raymundo, will move and merge with another restaurant. It’s already closed to dine-in traffic.
The two businesses are among those whose owners learned earlier this year that they’d have to leave their longtime spaces in Coolidge Village, a four-building development just east of 21st and Amidon.
Now, time is up. The owner of the center sold the buildings, which are set to be demolished to make way for a new Club Carwash.
Sheila Hoskinson, whose mother, Penny Lahar, opened Penny’s Caravan 20 years ago at 2260 N. Coolidge, said a deal she was exploring to move her business to the nearby Sweetbriar shopping center fell through, and she hasn’t been able to find anything else.
Her last day will be Saturday, she said. She’ll serve food through Wednesday.
“I think I’ve just accepted it and am thinking it’s time to move on,” Hoskinson said. “It’s kind of like it’s God’s will that I couldn’t find something. Maybe it’s just not meant to be.”
Meanwhile, Taco’s Raymundo owner Martin Paredes has closed his longtime restaurant at 1716 W. 21st to dine-in customers as he begins to move out, though he’s still selling food to-go to customers who call in this week.
An employee, speaking on behalf of Paredes, said that he plans to consolidate his restaurant with one owned by a relative — Birrieria Raymundo at 124 E. 21st St. He’ll keep the Taco’s Raymundo phone number and will add some of his menu items to the menu at Birrieria Raymundo.
Tricia Holmes, who had her production kitchen for Holmes Made Salsa in one of the Coolidge Village buildings, said she’s found a new space on West Maple and plans to move into it after Memorial Day.
The fourth building set for demolition is the vacant Meritrust Credit Union building.
The owners of the businesses were all informed earlier this year that they’d have to vacate by the end of May. Club Carwash, which is opening several new locations in Wichita, has said it hopes to have the 21st and Amidon location open this fall.
In April, neighbors circulated a flier asking people to contact the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and object to the plan to build the car wash on the lot, citing a fear of traffic backing up and getting in the way of emergency vehicles leaving a nearby fire station and raising concerns about car wash runoff going into the river or causing 21st Street to get icy in the winter.
The commission is set to consider at its June 3 meeting a conditional use permit that would allow the car wash plans to go ahead.
Hoskinson said there’s a chance she could eventually reopen Penny’s if she finds the right spot.
“But I’m going to go ahead and shut it down and see what happens,” she said. “I have two grandkids I’d like to spend time with.”
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 11:24 AM.
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