Kary Lockwood, owner of Bobo Noodle House, announced via Facebook on Tuesday evening that the award-winning restaurant has closed its doors for good. Bobo is the latest casualty in a spate of closures in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. (HopCat and STL Sunrise Cafe closed earlier this week.)
Before city and county officials announced that dine-in service in local restaurants will be temporarily suspended starting at midnight on Thursday, Washington University temporarily closed its campus to students and visitors in response to the coronavirus. According to Lockwood, it signaled a near-total loss of student diners, which hit Bobo “very hard and very quickly.” Lockwood told SLM that Wash U’s students, faculty, and staff were responsible for nearly 80% of Bobo’s business.
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Lockwood said in the Facebook post announcing the closure that a contributing factor was the blockage of already-limited neighborhood parking by ongoing construction projects. A neighboring restaurant, ‘ZZA Pizza + Salad, closed early last month. (Owner Chris Sommers told SLM that erratic sales and limited parking factored into its closure as well.)
Zoe Robinson opened Bobo Noodle House in 2007. Lockwood, a longtime friend and former employee of Robinson’s, bought the restaurant in late 2015.
