I learned today that the cool little coffee shop on Round Rock’s main drag is no more. Saradora’s has closed up shop. Based on the article in the paper, it sounds as if there weren’t enough people in Round Rock who were interested in drinking coffee in an eclectic local hangout. That isn’t surprising. The many chains on I-35 leave very little in Round Rock that’s independent. Except BBQ, of course.
Admittedly, I was not a regular at Saradora’s since there are cool little coffee joints much closer to home, but I liked knowing it was there, and when I lived closer I sometimes went. It always seemed like a mark of progress for Round Rock to have an indy coffee shop considering that there was really nothing but fast food there in 1988 when my New England eyes first beheld Austin’s northern neighbor.
Location might have been a factor. It’s a few miles from the interstate in Round Rock’s historic downtown near where Sam Bass was gunned down in 1878. The downtown area is a scant few blocks long and while charming and well-maintained, there isn’t much there. I guess people mainly went to Saradora’s if they were going to Saradora’s as opposed to stopping off on the way to or from somewhere else.
I realize that I hadn’t been there for quite some time, but the last time I was there, I did memorialize the event. A few years ago, when I discovered BookCrossing, I left a copy of my book with a bookcrossing ID number inside at Saradora’s to see where it would go. It’s in Houston now, in the possession of attackedbynones who seemed to enjoy it.
We lost Zephyr to cancer a month ago today, and that’s kind of what’s on my mind. The house is quieter as our cat and other dog don’t make nearly as much noise since they don’t tend to follow anyone around the way Zephyr did.