Marmalade Cafe is gone from Santa Monica.

The restaurant at 525 Santa Monica Blvd. shuttered in late July after 36 years in the city, its 3,000-square-foot storefront stripped bare without so much as a farewell note to customers. The closure ends a run that began in 1990, when founders Selwyn Yosslowitz, Robert Burns Jr., and Bonnie Burns opened a 1,400-square-foot grab-and-go bakery on Montana Avenue.

The Santa Monica Boulevard spot had been open only 27 months. Commercial real estate listings show the owners spent the past year trying to find someone to take over a lease of nearly $18,000 per month, the Santa Monica Sun reported Aug. 2.

The closure is part of a broader restructuring of the privately owned chain, which once operated as many as eight locations across Los Angeles County, according to the Sun. The Original Farmers Market location at 3rd and Fairfax closed roughly three months earlier, also without public announcement. The Calabasas location at The Commons at Calabasas served its final meals Sunday, Aug. 2, ending a 28-year run. Staff there were blindsided days before the shutdown, with one employee citing rent reportedly at $65,000 per month and parking problems from ongoing construction at the Rick Caruso-owned shopping center.

"It's not easy," Michael, a manager at the Calabasas location, told the Sun. "It's unfortunately a sign of the times."

Four Marmalade Cafe locations remain open: Westlake Village, Malibu, Sherman Oaks, and El Segundo.

The Santa Monica Boulevard location sat across the street from a Goodwill and the Santa Monica Public Library, a contrast to the upscale Montana Avenue corridor of boutiques and jewelry shops where the brand was born. The move from Montana Avenue roughly two and a half years ago signaled trouble even then.

Marmalade Cafe is not the only longtime Santa Monica restaurant to fall to lease pressure in 2026. The Misfit, a downtown Santa Monica bar and restaurant, closed April 18 after 15 years, with its operator citing the ongoing challenges of running a business in downtown Santa Monica. The Los Angeles Times reported more than 100 L.A. restaurants closed in 2025 alone, a toll driven by rising rents, labor costs, entertainment-industry slowdowns, and the January 2025 wildfires.

The original founders sold Marmalade Cafe in 2007 and later opened Bedford & Burns in Beverly Hills. Bonnie Burns had personally sourced Americana antiques for each location, giving the cafes their signature cozy feel. Current ownership did not respond to the Sun's requests for comment.

In a statement posted to Instagram on Friday, July 31, the company acknowledged the Calabasas closure and directed customers to the four remaining locations, saying the Marmalade Cafe family would continue.

No replacement tenant has been announced for 525 Santa Monica Blvd.