'I'm glad people haven't forgotten about us': Brewery reopens in downtown Racine

From The Journal Times.com:

Holly Gilvary

RACINE — Nine months after its closure, a beloved downtown brewery has made its comeback.

Littleport Brewing Company, 214 Third St., reopened Oct. 13, according to Mark Flynn, who co-owns the brewery with his wife, Chris Flynn.

The brewery will be open 5-9 p.m. Mondays through Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays, “or until the Packers game is over” on Sunday nights when Green Bay plays, Flynn said.

The Flynns’ first opened Littleport in April 2021.

Littleport closed in January after original investors “decided they wanted their investment back in their entirety,” leading the brewery to put the building up for sale, the Flynns’ wrote in a Facebook post at the time.

The couple also said in the post that they were hopeful they would reopen in another location in six to 12 months.

Mark Flynn said he and Chris were “shocked” when investors turned the building back over to them, not having found success in selling it after six months.

“It’s nice that we didn’t lose the building,” he said. “Had we lost it, that would have been a loss we’d be carrying the rest of our lives.”

The feel of Littleport is largely the same as it was nine months ago, but Flynn said they will likely host more events. The brewery was just ramping up live music and open mic nights when it closed, and now, Flynn said, they’ve received inquiries about hosting dance classes or yoga classes in the space.

The brewery’s new equipment takes up half the space of their original equipment, leaving room for about 40-50 more people inside, according to Flynn. Support from the community has allowed the brewery to restock and reopen that much quicker, Flynn said.

“Customers’ reaction has been fantastic,” he said. “I’m glad people haven’t forgotten about us.”

The Flynns’ haven’t asked for donations, but customers have been giving them — including donations from a GoFundMe page that has so far raised $5,300 for the brewery.

“It was a friend of ours who set it up and I didn’t know she was doing it,” Flynn said. “It’s nice to see the community rallying around us.”

From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/business/article_dca79299-e392-4035-85dd-ec7f95275afa.html