Grind, the burger restaurant at Seventh Street and Grand Avenue in Glenwood Springs, has closed after 15 years. Co-owners Mike Mercatoris and Chris Heinz announced the closure in a June 26, 2026, Facebook post, according to the Post Independent. Mercatoris told the newspaper they had tried to sell the business over the winter and felt ready to leave restaurant work. He also described relocating Grind several times as a poor business strategy.
Three Glenwood Springs addresses
Grind opened in 2011 in a small walk-up building on Seventh Street. It later moved to an upstairs space in the King Mall, then to 701 Grand Avenue, completing those moves within about three years, according to Post Independent reporting. At the Grand Avenue location, the restaurant emphasized fresh-ground proteins and locally sourced ingredients. The owners said the prospective buyers seemed a good fit to take over; the closure announcement did not specify when or whether the restaurant would reopen under new ownership.
A changing downtown backdrop
Grind’s years downtown coincided with several changes to streets and public space, though those developments do not establish what affected the restaurant’s business. The Grand Avenue Bridge replacement brought a roughly 95-day bridge closure beginning Aug. 14, 2017, the Colorado Department of Transportation said. During separate bridge work in March 2018, CDOT announced two-week closures on sections of 8th Street and said business and pedestrian access would remain open.
Outdoor dining also shifted during the pandemic and afterward. The Aspen Times reported that diners used a new outdoor area at Grind in Bethel Plaza in 2020. In July 2021, Glenwood Springs City Council returned outdoor-dining requirements and fees to 2019 levels while allowing expanded dining areas near the bridge to remain, the Post Independent reported. These records place Grind’s closure at the end of a long run through a changing downtown, but do not connect those changes to the owners’ decision.
