This story originally appeared in the Saturday morning print edition of the Daily Post. To get all the important local news first, pick up the Post every morning at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
The owners of Steins Beer Garden in downtown Mountain View announced Friday that they are closing, putting the city’s annual Oktoberfest in doubt.
Managing Partner Ted Kim said his business took a significant hit during the pandemic and never fully recovered.
A decrease in traffic was coupled with increasing wages and surging expenses that made the business unsustainable, Kim said.
Steins will close at the end of March after nearly 12 years in business at 895 Villa St.
“This decision comes with profound sadness and a deep sense of gratitude for all the cherished memories we’ve had over the years,” Kim said.
Steins started Mountain View Oktoberfest in 2013. Kim said he’s hoping the city and others can carry on the tradition.
“We plan on leaving the way we came, with much fanfare and good times,” Kim said. “Look out for many promotions and giveaways as we push through the remainder of our inventory and say farewell.”
Kim’s announcement on social media was met with sadness and appreciation by regulars and past employees.
“I’ve declared this ‘my spot’ for such a long time,” downtown resident Samantha Blewis said. “Thanks for everything — what a gift it has been to be able to go to Steins. I’m sorry for this heartbreaking news.” Regular Yanu Grob said he came alone to the United States and met a lot of friends at Steins.
“The staff become family. Amazing food and awesome drink menu. Made the whole ‘new beginning’ a lot easier,” Grob said.
The Mountain View minimum wage is $19.20 a hour, which makes it impossible for small businesses or restaurants to survive. It just went up on January 1, thanks to the city council. Wouldn’t be surprised if other places fold.
You’re right, workers don’t deserve a living wage. Outrageous!
Good there’s way too many restaurants around, half of them should close.
MZ, this isn’t a surprise. Nobody on council has any experience running a small business or even working in one, with the exception of John McAlister. But council ignores him, probably because he makes too much sense. With the exception of McAlister, the rest of the council members were privileged children who went to college, learned all about socialism, and now they’re pushing that on the rest of the community. Take from the rich (or people you mistakenly think are rich) and give to the poor. The only problem with that is — what do you do when you run out of rich people?
BTW, we haven’t heard anything lately about Ellen Kamei getting caught abusing her power on council by ordering the arrest of a tow truck driver, who towed her car. Kamei should be criminally charged for doing this. She’s emblematic of the mentality on city council and the city manager’s office.
When I saw the headline about Stein’s, I shouted with joy.
These guys suck.
$40 for a hamburger not better than In-and-Out, and a beer is not reasonable. I belong to a club which meets monthly at Stein’s. I came only late to the realization that many in my club also belong to the “Eat dinner before going to Stein’s, and then have a (one) beer or only water” club.
Despite strong and overwhelming evidence that younger people are drinking (a lot) less alcohol than previous generations, Steins has only 1 non-alcoholic beer on the menu. I belong to a different ‘El Cheapo’ (volunteer) club which has 4 non-alcoholic beers. These guys are way, way, WAY behind the rest of the industry.
When it is not cold outside, the tables are filled with groups of drunks making so much noise I can’t hear the person sitting next to me.
And this is not a high end place, only the prices are high end. At many other places in the Bay Area, the servers are willing to make individual bills for groups of people, including expensive places in San Francisco tourist areas (Chestnut street). I’m not talking about splitting the bill equally amongst the diners (which Stein’s also does not have), but individual bills that depend on what YOU ate or drank.
Steins is gone. Good riddance !!
re: MV; the raise in min wage is (perhaps) arguably cause *and* (definitely) effect of the broader rise in prices. Just look at the rents around in this city – can you live *and* work here on something even CLOSE to that minimum wage? 20 dollars a week, say 8hrs * 5days * 55 weeks = ~40k. that’s before tax. is that the problem?
re: MV resident; do better than rehearsing generic talking points about ‘socialism’ that you might have heard second hand elsewhere, seriously. The problems concerning Stein’s and Castro Street are much more complex than simply people ‘giving’ to the poor, whatever that means. For what it’s worth, as a member of this ‘poor’ class you’re speaking of, I have absolutely no clue where this socialism is going; if it is going to poor people, it ain’t going to people like me.
Read the article: “this business took a significant hit during the pandemic and never fully recovered. … A decrease in traffic was coupled with increasing wages and surging expenses that made the business unsustainable”
Here’s my outsider view: first, there’s profound demographic shifts within the area that are making it harder, in my view, for places like Stein’s to thrive. It’s generally upper-middle class (by Bay Area standards) families, many immigrants (that lack a ‘beer’ culture that Steins promotes), and all of these do not add up to a substantive market for the kind of vibe that Steins is promoting (think of the sheer number of hot pot places around). (2) Stein’s also has competition from at least two other ‘beer-marketing’ places (Olympus, Ludwig), and at least two bars (Molly McGee’s, St. Stephens), and more upscale trendy places that replicate Stein’s vibes (the Peruvian place, and the Tapas place – establishments whose names I can’t recall). A place like Stein’s probably found it increasingly hard to ‘distinguish’ itself from these places; not upscale enough to justify the cost, and not ‘cheaper’ enough to keep up with the other two beer places. In effect, it’s just been squeezed out.
That’s ultimately what the free market does: it’s an aggregate of consumer preferences, on the whole. There’s no reason why any business should succeed. I’m sorry to see Stein’s go – but don’t just reach uncritically and take your uncritical socialist bashing elsehwere.
You’re absolutely right! “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” should be our guiding principle and the minimum wage should be raised to at least $100 a hour!
Poor MV resident says “There’s no reason why any business should succeed.” Huh?
The minimum wage isn’t nearly enough to support the lifestyle of a typical resident. How do you pay for a cellphone, cable TV and meth on $19.20 an hour? Yes, I live rent free in government housing. I shop at the food bank, which is just like a grocery store without the checkout lines. I get free healthcare and free prescriptions. And I get free passes for buses and trains. But cellphones, cable TV and meth ought to be free! My rights are being abused! I should sue!
[Comment removed, Terms of Use violation. Commenter is using different names on this thread. Please, no sock puppets.]
[Comment removed, Terms of Use violation. Commenter is using different names on this thread. Please, no sock puppets.]
Too bad. Steins is a fun place that fits a nice profile that no other place on Castro Street or within walking distance of Downtown Mountain View offers.
Stein’s has good tasting beers, and a good rotation. No sour attitudes from the staff, all friendly and down to earth. The place was clean and felt “nice” without feeling fake. And the Oktoberfest is an amazing cultural experience for Mtn View to have each year.
As “poor MV resident” says, there is competition, but I’d say those are for different market segments.
The beer places, Olympus and Ludwig’s, are much more informal, what with their outdoor long tables and bright indoor lighting. Not as mid-upscale. Ok for beer, not for the Stein’s beer vibe, though.
The bars, Molly’s and St. Stephen’s — well, they are the typical dark bars. The beer lines at St. Stephen’s seem to perpetually need a cleaning/replacement. Molly’s is fine and all, and serves a community need, but it doesn’t give that mid-upper, get away from it all vibe, either.
And the upper scale restaurants that serve alcohol are like a total other world of, I hate to say, facade.
And Eureka is very loud and crowded, too much so on both accounts. You can go to Stein’s to get away for a little while, while staying close, and be in a nice environment, and get some great beer, and some decent snacks if wanted.
There’s an actual genuineness to Stein’s that will be missed. It was a good fit for me and people a lot like me. I guess there’s not a lot of us around here. I sure don’t dispute it.
Yeah, it costs a bit for what it is, but a lot of what is being purchased is the place to hang out in. True, we don’t go that much. But, if I wanted to go somewhere, Stein’s got most of my time.
I guess “poor MV resident” would say, the market segment exists and can be defined, but that does not mean the local economy/people can/will support it enough to keep it as a going concern. We should theoretically be solidly middle or upper middle class, but it’s like we are poor — culturally, financially.
What the heck is going on?
I’ll say what. Everything is priced out of here — even what ostensibly should be a great business, and, even was, apparently until the fake pandemic wiped out the economy, at least from what I can tell how the business owner is describing the timeline.
What is the answer?