Union Studio’s The Lobby, owned by Sarah Kelley and Mary Beth Bussen and located inside the MADE Maker Space, announced the closing of the store in a social media post on Jan. 1.
“With sadness, we have decided to not reopen The Lobby,” they wrote. “We love the Delmar Maker District and will miss being a part of the neighborhood, but it just doesn’t make sense for us to reopen nor are we able to at this time.”
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At the time of the tornado in May 2025, the shop, which was conceived as both a store and a gathering place for the community, had been open for eight months.
Reached by phone for comment, Kelley further explained that the business is not just recovering from the tornado on May 16, 2025. “We’re recovering from two other big blows to our business before that, having lost our spot at 1605 Tower Grove, and then having gotten the run around on the corner shop that we planned to open. The Lobby was our triumphant sort of comeback, and then it was destroyed by the tornado,” she says.
After completing an extensive clean up of the space after the tornado, the team found itself at a crossroads. Kelley, a new mom, has not spent a lot of time in the area and could not elaborate on the condition of the building. “I’m not quite sure what the operations are at the moment over there,” she says. “I do know that the neighborhood itself, the residences behind [the building] a lot of them are destroyed.”
The Union Studio flagship in Webster Groves will continue to represent the work of 125 artists, on a block that’s filled with independent small businesses. “Having the Webster location through all of these ups and downs has been such a saving grace,” says Kelley.
“I think Mary Beth and I are both hopeful that we will have a good year, and what that hope looks like could manifest in many different ways,” she adds, noting that they are in a “wait and see what happens” scenario.
