Two longtime Fairhaven establishments get set to reopen after pandemic pause

A longtime Fairhaven cafe and coffeehouse will be back in action this week.

Owner Nate Breaux announced that Tony’s Coffeehouse will reopen on Wednesday, Dec. 1, while the Harris Avenue Cafe will be back on Friday, Dec. 3. Once open, Tony’s hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, while Harris Avenue Cafe will be open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Monday, closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

During the Harris reopening on Friday the breakfast-and-lunch cafe will be doing some gift card and prize giveaways as a way of welcoming people back at 1101 Harris Ave.

The cafe and coffeehouse closed at the end of October in order to make adjustments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with overhead challenges like rising costs for food, Breaux said in an interview that he needed to hit pause in order to improve operations before going forward.

Things are better now with new systems in place and he’s optimistic going forward. One of the motivating factors was the feedback from the community while he was closed.

“I learned just how important it was for the community that we stay open,” Breaux said, noting that he feels like a caretaker to what the community views as an important gathering place.

The cafe, which opened in October 1998, shares the space with Tony’s, which has been in Fairhaven even longer, opening in 1971.

One new feature for the cafe and coffeehouse is the return of in-house baked goods. Breaux said it was a popular feature before, and he’s glad to have hired a baker to bring this back.