Photo by Hana Isihara ‘17

March Street, long overlooked by College Hill businesses, continues to grow with the upcoming opening of Mojo Hill Place, a juice bar whose owners say will offer a continental atmosphere along with an menu offering a variety of items.

The owners Lambrose Galanos, who also owns Campus Pizza, and Spiros Tatakis, Galanos’s friend from Greece, said the large amount of snow this winter delayed the processing for the paperwork for an opening.

“[It will open] as soon as possible,” Galanos said. “Maybe one week, maybe two weeks” from now, and definitely “before the end of the semester.”

Mojo Hill Place will offer smoothies, coffee, and pastries, they said, and will be open late nights, with planned events such as open mics. It will be a “more European-style” place, Galanos and Tatkis said, where customers can relax, talk, and read.

“It’s going to be a meeting point for everybody,” Takis said.

Associate Professor of Economics Christopher Ruebeck said this added café could be an indication that investment potential is growing on March Street and will bring more business to the area.

“It may cause more people to be in that area at times” where existing businesses might be especially busy or not attracting customers, Ruebeck said.

In Ruebeck’s experience, students are more aware of businesses on March Street than before. Cosmic Cup moved from Cattell Street to March Street in August 2006 and Don Juan Mexican Grill opened in 2011.

“Certainly, it appears that March Street is developing into perhaps an off-shoot of Cattell because there’s certainly plenty of restaurants on Cattell that are within walking distance of [campus],” Ruebeck said.

Juan Martinez, who owns Don Juan Mexican Grill with his wife, Melanie, expressed excitement about the new prospects for businesses on March Street.

“There is a lot of opportunity for business owners, [and] entrepreneurs that want to cater to the local community as well as the college,” Martinez said. He said that more business on March Street will be beneficial to the Lafayette community.

While many students did not hear about the new Mojo Hill Place opening up on March Street, they are excited about the new juice bar.

“I just love supporting local businesses and I think it’s really important,” Anya Kelly ‘16 said.

“People will definitely go to [the Mojo Hill Place],” John Hyatt ‘17 said.

Some students are looking forward to the open mic nights at Mojo Hill Place and the prospect of spending time at business with a relaxed ambiance.

“I’d be pretty excited about any place that would have that kind of vibe, that kind of atmosphere,” Luke Wasacz ‘16 said.