Owens opened a Tommy O’s location in April inside the historic Camas Hotel, 401 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas. The future of that location appears to be up in the air. Owens wrote that he “will be working at the Camas restaurant trying to keep that one open.”
The downtown restaurant will shut down after the Tom Grant Band performance scheduled for Sunday evening.
“I thank you all for the love, support, and most of all the memories!” he wrote. “Aloha Ahui Hou.”
Aloha Cafe
Owens first opened the Aloha Cafe at Evergreen Boulevard and Columbia Street in 1994, offering a mix of Northwest- and Polynesian-style food. The deli later became known as Tommy O’s Cafe, and in 2002 Owens moved the business to 801 Washington St., where he expanded it to a full-scale restaurant.
The Camas Hotel eatery is Owens’ second shot operating multiple locations. He previously opened a second restaurant in east Vancouver in 2008, but it struggled during the recession and Owens opted to close it in 2013 to focus his efforts on the original downtown location.
The downtown location struggled during the recession years, too, and Owens was forced to make cuts to the menu, but by the time the restaurant celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012, Owens said sales were rebounding.
Owens did not respond to a request for comment from The Columbian.
