Just three days after its fifth birthday on Dec. 1, REMIX Audio Bar coffee shop owner Justin Ray tells SFR he and his wife/business partner Julie Grace are preparing to open a second location on Guadalupe Street in the space that once housed gastropub Fire & Hops (or Dana’s After Dark if you’re old), which closed in September.
“We’re ready to expand, and we’re keeping the Marcy Street location and opening up a new location at 222 Guadalupe Street,” Ray explains. “We’re hopefully going to be able to provide something similar to our original location—but we’re starting off with late-night service, after 6 pm. We can’t give a date just yet because we’re still moving in there.”
Ray also tells SFR he and Grace have purchased restaurant equipment from Fire & Hops owner Josh Johns. The idea, Ray notes, is to work with a local chef to develop a food menu that is “something more than sandwiches;” then he and Grace will take it from there and train staff themselves.
As for Johns, he tells SFR after closing his 10-year-old business last September, he’s turned over the keys to the space’s new tenants and “it’s good to be finally done.” Fire & Hops’ final weekend, he says, “was bitter-sweet and it was sad, but there was a lot of laughter, tear and hugs.” Then came “breaking things down, selling things and all of that.…I was kind of joking, but I said, ‘I’m not sure what’s harder: opening a restaurant or closing a restaurant.”
Johns says his lease on the property extended through June of 2024, so he worked to help his landlord find a replacement tenant. REMIX Audio Bar is “a great fit,” he says. “There were some people from Albuquerque and out of state. It’s nice these guys are local.” As for Fire & Hops, Johns says he held onto the business’ name and is working on “potential plans for a small brewery,” perhaps down the line—after he’s had some time to relax and “work on this plan and see if it’s feasible.”
Look for a different vibe at 222 Guadalupe Street, where Ray also plans to relocate his RMX Dojo subscription service—which provides lessons in the art of DJing by Ray, aka DJ 13 Pieces, and others—in order to accommodate more students. REMIX will maintain its relationship with the Los Angeles-based coffee roaster Cafecito Organico for familiar coffee drinks, although that menu, Ray says, will also likely expand.
“We want to say thank you for five wonderful years,” he adds. “We’re ready to provide more.”