When you are in high school, a safe place to go to grab lunch or hang with friends after school can mean everything. For some students at Washburn High School, their spot was Fast Eddie’s Pizza.

When Washburn High School students found out the Tangletown pizzeria was closing, they started a petition to try and save Fast Eddie’s.

A petition to keep Fast Eddie’s open was signed by more than 400 high school regulars and other customers. Photo by Melody Hoffmann

“They fill up the dining room for an hour and a half, and then they're back to school,” Michael Sloan, owner of Fast Eddie's Pizza, said on Tuesday afternoon.

Sloan is closing up shop after eight years at 4747 Nicollet Ave. The building sold last month for $1.6 million and the new owner, AA Ventures LLC, is not honoring a month-to-month rental agreement Sloan had with his previous landlord.

AA Ventures, LCC is owned by Omar Sabri of Eagle Management, as reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

“We didn't have leases,” Sloan said, referring to his business and C & G's Smoking Barbecue, which is already closed next door. “Our lease expired, like five years ago, and the old landlord wouldn't renew a lease. He just said, ‘Leave it as it is.’”

The remaining businesses at the property, Xin Wong and La Estancia will stay in operation. La Estancia has its grand opening on Nov. 2.

Sloan said he and a business partner are looking at other locations, but he’d ideally like to set up shop in a kitchen-ready establishment nearby to regain the loyal customers he’s found in high school students.

“I started selling slices just for the high school kids, because I knew they would come in,” Sloan said. “It took a few years for them to catch on.” Business really picked up when Sloan’s friend came in and started to help him run the counter. With the extra set of hands, business doubled with the high school crowd.

“They love the cheese-filled breadsticks,” Sloan said. “Oh my god, they went cuckoo for the breadsticks.”

Friday was the last day that Sloan served pizza to Washburn High School students. One student posted on TikTok, “‘Life has its ups, its downs, and its inbetweens and the only constant that holds true has been fast eddies pizzeria.’” The title of the post reads, “Born just in time for Fast Eddie’s pizza.”

Sloan said he still has deep-fried chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, hot dogs, cookies, and “an abundance of pop” to serve people on Oct. 30. He needs to be out of the shop by midnight on Oct. 31.

“Whatever's left, I'll probably eat myself,” Sloan said.