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Suffolk’s Wall Street Cafe says goodbye. In a Thursday, Jan. 18 social media post on the official Facebook page, the cafe announced it will be closed for business. While the 347 N. Main St location closed back in April, the cafe’s 118 W. Washington St. location closed its doors last Friday, Jan. 19. Owned by both the Epps and Hayes families, the cafe and restaurant opened in October 2020 and has provided Suffolk entrepreneurs a place for coffee, delicious food and networking opportunities. Both Wall Street Cafe Co-Owners Domenck Epps and Danita Hayes reflected on the cafe, with a premise based on Black Wall Street and Wall Street in New York City. Hayes talked more about the cafe.

 

“It began to provide a place for entrepreneurs to come and conduct business over a cup of coffee while watching the stock market, placing trades in their personal stock and forex trading account, network with real-estate professionals while learning real-estate investing and the history of Black Wall Street,” Epps said. “We have ‘Never Forget Greenwood 1921’ over our door to remind everyone of the greatness of the Black Wall Street in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, [Oklahoma].

Hayes talked about both of their decisions to close Wall Street Cafe, saying that they “felt it was the right thing to do.”

“It was just something that we needed to do, a business decision that we wanted to do, because we both have other things too that we are working on. Domenck and his family have relocated to Atlanta. My husband and I were still here, but we’re still working on other business ventures,” Hayes said. “So we just came together as a unit and made the decision that it would be the best business decision for us to go ahead and sell the building and close the cafe for now.”

Both talked about their plans following Wall Street Cafe. With Epps noting his relocation to Atlanta, Georgia, he expressed his excitement in continuing his work in real estate. 

 “…We enjoy serving the community in that profession whether it’s assisting with a client purchasing or selling a home, getting pre-approved for a mortgage or by providing real-estate education,” Epps said.

For Hayes, she and her family will be focusing on business in real estate as well as future plans in the works.

“We still have our real estate company. I also have ‘Women Flip Houses Too!’ which is a company that I created back in 2021 where we teach women how to invest in real estate,” Hayes said. “So right now, we’re focusing on that, focusing on real estate, and again, we’re working on some other business ventures that we haven’t really announced to anyone just yet, but we got some stuff brewing.”

Finally, with new journeys ahead for both of them and their families, both Epps and Hayes reflected on the support from Suffolk locals during their venture. Hayes thanked supporters of Wall Street Cafe as well as the city for helping make it possible.

“I truly do thank them,” she said. “I thank them for being patrons of our business [and] for supporting our business while we were in business. I really do thank them. I appreciate them so much. I also appreciate the city of Suffolk as well for working with us because when we first got started opening up the restaurant, they were very pivotal in helping us to make sure that we had everything in order, so we do appreciate them as well.”

Likewise, Epps gave thanks to supporters and reflected on their outreach at Wall Street Cafe.

“We are so grateful for our customers and those who love Wall Street Cafe. We have so many that have signed our wall and or taken a picture in front of our famous mural or attended one of the many events we have conducted,” he said.