'All good things must come to an end:' Last call at Laurie's Place as Chavez heads into retirement

EDWARDSVILLE - As Laurie’s Place served their last drinks Saturday, owner Laurie Chavez said the last day was bittersweet as she heads into retirement.

“Very bittersweet,” Chavez said Saturday. “I’ve made a lot of good friends and a lot of family here, but you know I’m retiring and looking forward to that chapter. Closing the doors after 21 years, of something that you built, it’s a little bit rough but someone said to me the other day that all good things must come to an end and it’s my time.”

Laurie said she didn’t know exactly how she was going to spend her time in retirement and at the moment did not have travel plans.

She praised her employees and said several of the people had been with her for most of the time of her run.

“I have owned Laurie’s Place for 21 years and it was a great run, but I felt it was just time to retire,” she said. “I have great employees here and I didn’t want to put them out of a job. I know this was a bad time of year to do it, but for me, I just felt it was the right time to do it. It is something I have thought about for a long time.”

After 21 years of business at 228 North Main Street in Edwardsville, Chavez said reaching this point in her career is a great feeling but isn’t sure what she’ll get up to during her retirement.

“Truthfully, I have no plans at all,” Chavez said. “It does feel good, I’m not going to lie.”

Of course there is still some work to be done. Laurie said she still has to clear out the building and sell some equipment. “I’ve got a month to get that done. So if anybody is out there looking for some restaurant equipment, hit me up,” she said.

“It’s been really awesome, lot of well wishes from everybody. It’s been really quite nice,” Laurie said with a big smile. “A lot of people coming in for Jam Session, that have played here over the last 17 years, it's very cool, I’m very very humbled by all of it. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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