On the morning of Oct. 1, the line at 134 Ives St. ran out the door. "Right when we opened, we had a line down the block, which was so cool to see," Nitro Bar co-owner Audrey Finocchiaro told WJAR on the cafe's grand opening day.
Seven months earlier, the same storefront had been dark. Glou, the cocktail and wine bar that had operated on Ives Street since 2022, served its last drinks on Feb. 28. The space came back as a coffee shop instead of a cocktail bar. Its new owners say they want it to do the same job the bar did, as a place where the neighborhood gathers.
What 134 Ives Was Before October
Glou announced its closing in a Feb. 25 Instagram post, and three days later it was finished. Co-owner Emory Harkins described the room's place in Fox Point in that post, which The Brown Daily Herald quoted: "This space was a dream of mine and has and will hold so many incredible memories. We've seen four years of graduations. We've had engagements, book launches (and) anniversaries."
The Herald reported that the closing followed Harkins's decision to move to New York City, which left him unable to oversee the bar going forward. Everything in the bar was sold at a garage sale that started March 3.
That garage sale emptied the room. What it couldn't empty out was the room's reputation as the place on Ives Street where people met. The cafe's new owners picked up that reputation along with the lease.
The Same Door, a Different Hour
The Nitro Bar didn't go looking for 134 Ives. Glou's side approached them. "It was serendipity," Finocchiaro told The Brown Daily Herald in late September.
Many Providence coffee drinkers already know the business. Finocchiaro and Sam Lancaster started The Nitro Cart about 10 years ago, building it in a parent's basement and wheeling it around Providence to serve cold brew, according to WJAR. Their first permanent shop opened at 228 Broadway, and two Newport locations followed. Ives Street is their second Providence shop.
In an email to The Brown Daily Herald when the move was announced in April, Lancaster said the pair had "considered a few locations throughout the years but nothing ever felt 100% like the right spot," and that they had always wanted to be in Fox Point. He also said they knew whose room they were moving into.
"When we were approached about the space being available, we were sad to hear Glou was closing its doors. [We] are hoping that we too can be a community space for the neighborhood to hang out as they were."
The space is small, about 700 square feet, and Lancaster said he was especially excited about the planned outdoor seating. Finocchiaro still called it the "biggest build-out that we've done," and it took longer than planned. The original target was late May or early June.
She told the Herald how much the neighbors had missed the room: "Glou was such a meeting hub for everyone, and so I think that loss was really felt." She said neighbors were "so grateful for (The Nitro Bar) putting intention back in the space."
The fall menu, as described by The Providence Journal, covers the whole morning:
- Seasonal lattes: Whipped Maple Sea Salt, Cinnamon Roll Float, Pumpkin Spice Float and Caramelized Banana
- On tap: chai and Dark Horse cold brew
- Tea: matcha, plus iced blood-orange hibiscus and blue-peaflower
- Food: breakfast sandwiches, bagels, pizza bagels, and avocado or ricotta toast
Regular hours for the Ives Street shop weren't in the coverage we reviewed. Check the business directly before planning a visit around a specific time.
Seven Months on One Block
Here is the 2026 sequence on the block:
- Feb. 13: Tallulah's Taqueria announces that its Fox Point location at 146 Ives St. is closing that week.
- Feb. 25: Glou announces its closing on Instagram.
- Feb. 28: Glou serves its last drinks.
- March 3: Glou's garage sale begins.
- April 21: The Brown Daily Herald reports The Nitro Bar's plans for 134 Ives, with a late May or early June target.
- Late September: The cafe soft-opens on a Friday afternoon instead of fully opening, because a nor'easter was in the forecast and the owners didn't want customers out in hazardous weather. Limited hours follow over the weekend.
- Oct. 1: Grand opening, with a line down the block.
So two familiar Ives Street names closed within about two weeks of each other in February. Only one of the two storefronts has a new tenant so far, and it is a cafe whose owners said, as soon as they announced it, that they intended to fill the gathering-place role the bar had played.
Finocchiaro also told the Herald she hopes Brown and RISD students will come to the new location. The April story also noted the new shop's proximity to campus.
146 Ives Hasn't Announced Its Next Act
The second February closing has no successor yet. Tallulah's opened its Ives Street location in 2014. When owner Jake Rojas announced the closing, he invited small-business entrepreneurs to contact him about the future of 146 Ives St., The Providence Journal reported. The Journal named no successor.
The Providence Board of Licenses agendas for Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, 2026 list nothing for 146 Ives St. Two dockets don't prove nothing is planned, since a plan could exist without reaching the board yet.
That's the other half of what changed on Ives Street this year. One storefront changed hands in about seven months, helped by a direct handoff between the departing operator and an established local business. In the coverage and dockets we reviewed, the other has no named successor since Rojas's February invitation.
The Rest of the Street
Several businesses on the street have been around much longer than this year's changes. Rhode Island Monthly's 2025 outdoor-dining roundup listed Chomp Kitchen and Drinks at 117 Ives St. and Dune Brothers at 170 Ives St. The magazine's list of women-owned businesses included Kow Kow at 120 Ives St. Those listings date from 2025, so check current hours and status before heading over.
Taken together, those addresses put Nitro Bar at 134 Ives in the middle of a short run of food businesses. It sits between the Chomp and Kow Kow addresses at one end and Tallulah's former space and Dune Brothers at the other.
Where the Evenings Are This Fall
For evenings, the Providence River waterfront has several events on the calendar this fall:
- Oct. 17 and Oct. 24: WaterFire full lightings, according to WaterFire's 2026 schedule.
- Oct. 24: The family-friendly Wicked Walk at 195 District Park, listed on the park's events calendar.
- Oct. 29: WaterFire's Starts at Sunset gathering on the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge, 365 S. Water St.
- Nov. 7: WaterFire's Salute to Veterans lighting.
- Dec. 31: Another Starts at Sunset event at the pedestrian bridge, listed in GoProvidence's 2026 event guide.
The pedestrian bridge links both sides of 195 District Park across the Providence River. According to the park's site, construction began in 2024 on a year-round food-and-beverage pavilion there.
At The Blackstone Team, we follow Fox Point block by block, including which storefronts change hands, who moves in and what's still waiting on a new tenant. If you own near Ives Street and want to know how this year's changes affect your property, schedule a private market consultation with our team.
