Diners enjoy the Rock and Rye Oyster House in Bellingham in September 2015.
Paul Conrad
For The Bellingham Herald
A popular Bellingham restaurant is closing permanently this weekend after 12 years of business.
Rock and Rye Oyster House opened in 2014 and is a locally- and family-owned restaurant known for craft cocktails, steaks, burgers and oysters.
The restaurant’s owner, Harrison Gilbert, announced the closure in June.
“Twelve years flew by in a flash, in June 2014 we opened our doors to the public for the first time. It is time we celebrate our 12th anniversary! Unfortunately, it will also be our last,” Gilbert wrote in a June 16 Instagram post.
The closure is a result of a few factors, according to Rock & Rye Administrative Manager Lorriane Sullivan.
“Additional reasons we have decided to close ultimately make up the extremely difficult landscape faced by small, locally owned restaurants: rising food costs, high labor costs, increasing utilities, inflated rent rates, etc.,” Sullivan told The Herald in June.
“We have also noticed a marked difference in how many Canadian guests we serve over the past year especially, down significantly even from peak Covid drops,” Sullivan said. “Extremely high costs, diminished volume from local regulars and out of town guests, and a brutal larger economic situation have just created the perfect storm, and unfortunately it is no longer feasible to fight this uphill battle.”
As the restaurant closes, Sullivan also addressed that other local restaurants in Bellingham may be struggling with some of the same difficulties.
“It also feels important to state that Rock & Rye is not the only local restaurant facing extreme hardship. If there is a non-chain, locally owned restaurant that you love, they are guaranteed to be feeling the same effects as we have been, even if not to the same degree. If you are at all able, this is the time to choose local businesses. People making this choice every day is what keeps these local gems alive,” Sullivan said.
Now, the restaurant is on its final week of service, with plans to close permanently after Sept. 26.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported Rock and Rye, I especially want to thank all my wonderful employees and friends from start to finish, thank you a thousand times over. I want to thank all our amazing regulars and customers. I want to thank all the great businesses and reps who worked with us. I want to thank each and every one who made it a great twelve years, I will miss you all dearly. This business has been my whole world for so long, thank you to everyone who shared it with me,” Gilbert wrote in the Instagram post.
Rock & Rye Oyster House will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 1145 North State St. in downtown Bellingham.
The Bellingham Herald
Alyse Smith is a reporter at The Bellingham Herald covering retail, restaurants, jobs and business. If you like stories like this, please consider supporting our work with a subscription to our newspaper.
