Maple Street's Empty Storefronts Went to the Neighbors

In 2025 and the first half of 2026, the university stretch of Maple Street lost its original coffee shop, a Starbucks and, for a few months, a bar that had been open since 1934. By this fall, most of those addresses had been filled by businesses and people already working within a block or two. In most cases the replacement for a Maple Street business is another Maple Street business that changed rooms.

Here is how the strip stands this fall, walking toward Carrollton:

• 7538 Maple St.: Bruno's Tavern, reopened in August under five new owners, with Sammy's running the kitchen
• 7626 Maple St.: Origami Sushi & Izakaya, opened in August in the space PJ's Coffee held for decades
• 7638 Maple St.: French Truck Coffee, in the former Zoe's Bakery
• 7700 Maple St.: PJ's Coffee, open this month in the former Starbucks at Adams and Maple

That's four storefronts across roughly two blocks. Only one of them went to a business that hadn't been on this stretch of Maple or run by people who already worked it.

PJ's left over construction and came back one block away

The chain of moves starts with PJ's. Phyllis Jordan opened the first PJ's on Maple in 1978, and the company later grew through franchising under Ballard Brands, which bought it in 2008 and now has more than 160 locations, according to NOLA.com. In January 2025, the original shop closed. New Orleans CityBusiness reported that the company cited "severe disruptions" from street construction nearby.

That construction belongs to the City's East Carrollton Group B&C project. According to the city's project page, the project sits within the roadway and drainage program run by the Department of Public Works and the Sewerage & Water Board. A May 2025 city traffic advisory tied the work to the FEMA-funded program and described water line work in the 1500 and 1600 blocks of Adams Street at Birch and projected the overall project would finish by spring 2026, weather permitting. The city's project page still lists the project as "Awarded." For anyone who drives Adams or the cross streets, the city's page is the place to check status before assuming the barricades are gone.

The Starbucks at Adams and Maple then closed too. NOLA.com ran a photo of the shuttered store dated Sept. 26, 2025. PJ's took that space. Its first target was to open before August classes at Tulane and Loyola, and later announcements pushed that to fall. CityBusiness confirmed on Oct. 6 that 7700 Maple was open, a block from where the company started, with opening specials running through Oct. 11.

Scott Ballard, a co-founder of Ballard Brands, presented the move to NOLA.com as continuity rather than a comeback: "We are proud to share with our New Orleans neighbors, students and friends that we never left."

PJ's came back to a busier coffee block than the one it left. French Truck Coffee, a New Orleans-based company, had opened at 7638 Maple in spring 2025, in the old Zoe's Bakery. French Truck sits a few doors from PJ's original room, which Origami now occupies.

Origami took the room PJ's left behind

The sushi restaurant spent years on Freret Street, starting in 2011, when chef Mitsuko Tanner opened it with a following she had built at the long-closed Uptown restaurant Kyoto. Brothers James and Joe Locascio bought it in 2021 and still run it. Origami closed on Freret late last year planning to relocate. It reopened in August at 7626 Maple St. as Origami Sushi & Izakaya.

The relocation kept much of the staff. Ian McNulty wrote for NOLA.com that many employees took other jobs during the seven months the restaurant was closed and then came back to the new location. The kitchen changed more. The new head chef, Japanese-born Kenichi Matsumura, built a reputation for ramen in Tokyo, and ramen is set to join the Origami menu once the weather cools. That's a reason to check back in November.

The old coffee shop is now a set of small dining rooms around an L-shaped sushi bar, with a covered patio and a private dining room planned. McNulty's dishes to know include salmon carpaccio sliced thinner than before, shima aji carpaccio made with striped jack from Japan, steelhead trout nigiri, and broiled mussels with miso butter. NOLA.com also reported that weekday lunch and take-out were slated to start in September. The restaurant's own site, origaminola.com, is the place to confirm current hours.

So PJ's moved into the Starbucks, and Origami moved into PJ's. Freret is where Maple's newest restaurant came from, but on Maple itself the moves were between neighbors.

Bruno's new owners already worked the block

Bruno's Tavern makes the pattern clearest. The bar at 7538 Maple has been part of local college life since 1934. It closed abruptly in April and reopened as the fall semester started. The five new owners mostly come from bars within walking distance, as NOLA.com laid out:

• Will Wilson was Bruno's general manager for six years before he bought nearby Carrollton Station, which he still runs.
• Eric Orlando and Greg Buisson are partners in Redd's Uptilly Tavern, next door on Maple, and each managed Bruno's in earlier decades.
• David Demarest is a partner in Bayou Beer and Wine Garden, Oak & Ale, the Holy Ground and Banks Street Bar.
• Caufman Talley is Demarest's partner in some of those bars.

The kitchen came from nearby too. Sammy's, Sam Yams' counter for chopped cheese and other sandwiches from the Northeast, started as a pop-up and ran at Carrollton Station and the Bronx Bar at New York Pizza. Yams then moved the whole operation into Bruno's full-time.

Wilson told NOLA.com what the group was aiming for:

"We're going to bring Bruno's back to the way people remember. I have a lot of good memories here, and I know a lot of other people do, too."

The renovation kept the university emblems and memorabilia on the walls. It added refinished woodwork, new felt on the pool table and butcher-block high-tops facing the game screens. Some old traditions returned along with the owners. Wine Wednesday, with bottles at $5, came back Aug. 19 at the same price it sold for during Wilson's years as manager. NOLA.com also reported that the Babbling Bastards of Bruno's parade could be revived.

The circle extends past Maple. Demarest is a partner in Oak & Ale, and that's where the next stop begins.

Oak Street's festival day runs on the same circle

The 18th annual Oak Street Po-Boy Festival is Sunday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on the 8100 to 8700 blocks of Oak Street, ten days after this post goes up. The festival's 2026 page lists 40 food and beverage vendors, several music stages, a parade, an arts market and a kids zone, with part of the proceeds going to the nonprofit partner Son of a Saint. Admission is free, but you need a wristband to buy po-boys, according to the official event listing.

Oak and Ale, one of Demarest's bars, is on the 2026 vendor roster. So are Jacques-Imo's, Brigtsen's, Boucherie, Breads on Oak, Cheri Brocato, Parkway Bakery and Tavern, Mahony's Po-Boys, Crabby Jack's, Seither's Seafood, Clesi's Seafood, Mister Mao, La Milpa, Los Jefes, 14 Parishes, Walker's BBQ, Riverboat Coffee Company and others.

The Saints play the Cleveland Browns that day. The festival's Maple Leaf Bar stage is set aside for a game watch from noon to 3:30 p.m., and the rest of the music schedule had not been posted at last check. The festival map page was still showing the 2025 layout with the 2026 map marked "Coming Soon," so check it again before you pick a meeting spot.

One way to spend the day across both streets:

1. Coffee on Maple in the morning, at PJ's at 7700 or French Truck at 7638.
2. Head to Oak when the festival opens at 10 and pick up a wristband.
3. Catch the game watch at the Maple Leaf Bar stage, which runs from noon to 3:30 p.m.
4. End back on Maple at Bruno's for a chopped cheese from Sammy's, or at Origami at 7626 if the ramen has arrived by then.

If you own a home near Maple or Oak, a year of storefronts changing hands raises a fair question about what your own address is worth today. At Burk Brokerage Real Estate, we pair Uptown neighborhood knowledge with hands-on renovation and construction experience to give you a clear, current read on your property. Get a Free Home Valuation and see where your home stands this fall.