Voodoo Brewery is bidding adieu to Erie, Pennsylvania.
The national beer brewer, which was founded in 2005 in Meadville, announced in a post on its website that it is closing its location in downtown Erie, which has been in operation for a decade.
“Erie, this one hurts,” the post read. “After 10 years of pouring beers, hosting game day crowds, serving late night plates, and being part of downtown’s rhythm, we’ve made the decision not to renew our lease at the Boston Store.”
“We didn’t get here easily, and we’re not walking away casually,” the post continued. “The craft beer world and the restaurant industry have shifted, and so have we. Voodoo is continuing to evolve toward what we do best, which is making beer and getting it into more hands in more places, focusing on manufacturing and shifting pub and restaurant management to the Voodoo Franchise Group.”
Voodoo said that it looked for a local partner to take over the bar as a franchise owner, but “ran out of time. The right partnership didn’t land soon enough.”
“This building became so much more than a pub. It became a pregame stop before Otters and Seawolves games, a meetup before shows at the Warner, a familiar counter on a downtown night, a first beer for some, a weekly beer for many. Erie supported us, and we felt it,” the post said.
The company went on to thank its employees “both past and present,” saying that it was working to “help every current employee find their next opportunity.”
“To our customers, thank you for showing up, for sticking with us, for cheering us on, for giving us reason to keep creating,” the post said.
The store’s last day will be this Sunday — from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The owner of the Erie building told WJET/WFXP that while he was sad to see Voodoo go, he is hopeful that its departure will lead to new opportunities.
“It gives us a little bit of a chance to rethink the space, what’s good for the downtown, what we might be able to attract to that space,” Matthew Good, of CEO of Housing and Neighborhood Development Service, said.
The Erie location is listed on the brewer’s main website as one of three corporate locations.
Voodoo still has corporate offices in Meadville and State College, as well as independently owned locations in New Kensington, Scranton and Las Vegas. It also has locations in Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolona, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Wisconsin.
