Last week, 922 S. 20th St. was purchased by May, the person who opened May’s Cafe at 1847 Christian St. a couple of years ago. From what we understand, she plans to renovate the building and open a new cafe in the first floor space, serving breakfast foods, coffee, and pho. She’s taking over a space that functioned as a small convenience store for many years until it was shut down by the DA’s office for, uh, off-label pharmaceutical sales, if you’re picking up what we’re putting down.

In bad shape

Fortunately, May has experience transforming a rough looking bodega into a presentable commercial space.

In the past. Low res, we know. Sorry.

The other day

As far as the building goes, we’re not fans of the rehab. We’re not into the stucco at all and we lament the cornice being covered up. But the large windows on the first floor, if nothing else, have turned an uninviting cave of a business into a much more welcoming corner store.

We’re excited for a potential new business in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood and we hope that the community supports May’s new plan. On the other hand, we have some concerns about the new business as well. While the large windows make May’s a viable commercial space, the store itself is underwhelming and hasn’t exactly caught on with all the neighbors. Anecdotally, we’ve heard complaints about cleanliness, quality of service, and product selection. We’ve also heard rumors that May isn’t involved at all with the operations at May’s (kind of a misleading name, no?), so perhaps we have nothing to worry about after all.

If it’s done right, we’re sure that this business will be a smashing success.

Can’t wait for pho.