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Citing Rent Hike, Stalwart Denton Pizzeria J&J’s Will Close Permanently

The pizzeria was a fixture on Denton’s downtown square for 24 years

A pepperoni pizza sitting atop a pizza peel
There’s still time left to score a perfect thin crust pie
J&J’s Pizza/Facebook
Amy McCarthy is a staff writer at Eater.com, focusing on pop culture, policy and labor, and only the weirdest online trends.

After 24 years of slinging pies to college kids and devoted locals, Denton pizza favorite J&J’s Pizza will permanently close its doors later this summer.

The restaurant announced its impending closure in a Facebook post on Wednesday, noting that J&J’s final day of service will come in August. “We will miss serving this beautiful and supportive community so, so much,” the statement reads in part. In the post J&J’s owners say that their landlord increased the rent on the pizzeria’s space at 118 West Oak Street that they “just can’t pay.”

Since opening 24 years ago, J&J’s was a staple for college kids attending the University of North Texas, and for more than a decade the restaurant’s “old dirty basement” played host to free underground rock shows from local musicians. J&J’s discontinued its basement shows in 2016, after the pizzeria lost access to the space following “heated” negotiations with the building’s owner.

For serious fans of J&J’s though, the pizzeria’s sister restaurant, called Saint Joe’s Pizza, is set to open its doors in Gainesville later this year. That’s only about a 35 minute drive according to Google Maps, which is a totally reasonable haul when a serious pizza craving strikes. No official timeline for Saint Joe’s Pizza has been announced just yet, but expect it to arrive in the “next few months.”

In the meantime, J&J’s fans still have about six weeks to score their final meat lovers’ pies and Italian subs. The restaurant is set to officially close its doors on August 10.