River Market updates: City Diner changes hands, River Market Cyclery to close

A year after purchasing Twenty 20 cafe in the Crossroads, Samuel and Jackie Bay have taken over River Market mainstay City Diner.

City Diner has long served inexpensive meals at the northeast edge of the City Market area. The Bays took over earlier this month and plan to continue to offer the same menu, including omelets, biscuits and gravy, french toast, pancakes, burgers, meatballs and pork tenderloins.

In late September they also will start serving Twenty 20’s sandwiches and in late October, they plan to consolidate the two operations at the City Diner, 301 Grand Blvd.

It will then be known as City Diner and Twenty 20. They also are offering catering services.

Samuel Bay works in IT at UMB so will be in the restaurant part-time while Jackie Bay is full-time at the restaurants.

The former owners of City Diner couldn’t be reached for comment.

Hours are 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

The couple took over Twenty 20 cafe, at 2020 Baltimore Ave., in mid-2015, and continue to offer such items as meatball and cheese grinders, smoky chicken panini and roasted sirloin of beef sandwiches, soups, small salads and entree salads, and desserts.

River Market Cyclery closing

Meanwhile, City Diner’s neighbor, River Market Cyclery at 315 E. Third St., is closing after nearly 26 years.

Owner Jay Williams had planned to sell the 6,000-square-foot building (he lives upstairs) and retire to his north central Missouri farm in two or three years. Then someone offered to buy the building.

“They made an offer and we went back and forth a bit. But I probably got a higher rate because of the proximity to the streetcar,” he said.

The remaining inventory is now discounted 45 percent and Williams expects to close the shop in early September.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 10:39 AM with the headline "River Market updates: City Diner changes hands, River Market Cyclery to close."