SAUGUS — In the end, the rent, combined with the loss of income from the COVID-19 social distancing protocols, were too much for partners Laurie Cunha and Rich Scirocco to endure.
As a result, the Tumble Inn Diner in Cliftondale Square, which has operated in Saugus for more than 70 years, will be closing just as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announces it’s back in business.
Cunha and Scirocco, who are engaged to be married, said it was a tough decision.
“This is very sad, obviously,” Cunha said last week. “When everything was closed down (due to the coronavirus), it was tough for us to announce that we were just doing takeout. We stayed open for a week, but it just wasn’t feasible. It was all right on the weekend, but we just weren’t going to be able to sustain it. And not for three months.”
Cunha and Scirocco bought the establishment 6 ½ years ago and since that time, Cunha said, they have made some wonderful friends in the town.
“We have some great memories,” she said. “We made a lot of good friends, personally.
“Our regulars were awesome,” she said. “I like the friendships.”
The couple made it a point to be civic-minded. Cunha and Scirocco got involved in Saugus’ “A Taste of Education,” and “A Taste of the North Shore,” made food and donated it to the local shelter in Lynn, and hosted political fundraisers, including one for Selectwoman Debra Panetta.
“I am sorry to see the Tumble Inn close,” Panetta said. “I will miss their delicious breakfasts, especially their hubcap pancakes.
“Laurie and Richard have been wonderful business owners and have done a lot for our community,” she said.
The feeling was mutual.
“We loved being in Saugus,” said Cunha, who, like her fiance, has a fulltime job that only added to the stress and length of their days.
“We loved the people. The place was a nice nook.”
They also understood the history.
“My mother used to come in here,” she said. “We had people come in here whose grandparents owned the place. They would bring in pictures and let us hang them on the wall. Stuff like that. We liked that old stuff.”
But the amount of time devoted to both their jobs and running the diner did take its toll.
“We worked hard,” she said. “I’d say we did 70 hours a week over seven days. I’d get here in the morning and leave at 7 a.m. for my regular job, and that was the same with him. We did it all. And we enjoyed it.”
But, she said, it just became harder and harder to pay the rent with the lack of income.
“I think there are going to be a lot of places that won’t be able to reopen,” she said.
