Originally published by Brianna Kelly on July 10, 2025, via Bring Me The News. Read the full article here
Photo: Palmer’s Bar, 500 Cedar Ave, via Google Maps
After announcing the closure of Palmer’s Bar, co-owners Pat and Sarah Dwyer have shared a fuller explanation about what led to the decision to shut down the 119-year-old Minneapolis dive.
💸 The couple revealed the bar has been losing between $10,000 and $30,000 each month due to a combination of economic pressures, changing drinking habits, and the closure of nearby businesses in Cedar-Riverside. They say despite cutting costs and raising prices, “it just wasn’t enough.”
🏢 While efforts were made to find a buyer, interest was minimal. Eventually, they accepted an offer from their next-door neighbors, who plan to turn the space into a community resource. Though not officially confirmed, that likely points to Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque or the Islamic Civic Society of America.
📉 The Dwyers also cited prior financial damage stemming from a former business partner who allegedly withdrew hundreds of thousands from the bar’s accounts, compounding the bar’s financial instability in recent years.
⚠️ “We may have failed in your eyes,” the Dwyers wrote in their public statement, “but the alternative was an orange sticker on the locked door with no notice to staff or patrons.”
