Paradis Books & Bread in North Miami Has Closed Its Doors

Paradis Books & Bread, North Miami's laid-back bakery/café/wine bar/wine shop, has closed its doors for good, ending an eventful two years in business.

The café’s owners, Bianca Sanon and brother-and-sister team Brian and Audrey Wright, announced the news on the shop’s Instagram page (which has been set to “private” and can only be viewed by followers) and on the store's website.
"Audrey, Brian, and Bianca here," the lengthy statement begins. "We have made the heavy decision not to reopen Paradis, and this is our way of letting you know why. We’ve come to the end of the line, and we’re ending this project on our own terms. To our haters, we suppose congratulations are in order, so you can go ahead and stop reading now! But, to those who have loved us, supported our many changes, laughed with us, danced with us, and maybe even cried with us, we wanted to give you this parting explanation, as well as a wholehearted thank you."

The team members, who met while working together in coffee shops or the urban gardens and kitchens of restaurants around NYC, said they poured their heart and soul into transforming the space into the gathering place Miamians grew to love.

Unfortunately, they couldn't make it last.

"We poured ourselves entirely into this place, we’ve grown up in it, we’ve learned tremendously from it, we’ve made friendships that we intend to make last our lifetimes, and yet we can no longer operate it anymore," the statement continues.
The trio cited multiple reasons for its closure, many of them personal.

"The gradual disintegration of our team brought up a lot of difficult conversations, compromises, and, ultimately, the singular heartbreak of long-held friendships ending," the statement continues. "While we have had various friends work part-time at paradis helping us push through busy service nights and “volunteering” during our parties, everything else has landed in our laps."

Ultimately, it was unsustainable for them to keep it going — and they lost close friends and teammates along the way.

The group also cites family issues, with each of its three founders facing some sort of personal crisis and heartbreak since the cafe's opening back in 2021. "We couldn’t prepare for was the extent to which our personal lives would change over the last few years, requiring more out of us than we could ever have expected."

And then, they cite their biggest set back, which occurred at the beginning of 2023.
"As many of you who’ve followed us likely know, at the beginning of last year [2023], we had an incident with a Fox News anchor which resulted in being ceaselessly harassed by their followers, even to this day.

Fox News' Gianno Caldwell, tweeted to his 135,000-plus followers on X (formerly known as Twitter) that while he and his companions "were having discussions about politics we were told by the owner that we were not welcomed there because we aren't politically aligned."

The trio said they faced backlash ever since.

"After being targeted, we didn’t know if we would reopen again, and when we did, we knew we had to do our best to minimize potential harm to us and our community," they wrote. "Since then, we’ve had our Instagram on private, put privacy screens on the gates outside, and changed our hours to make sure no one was working alone while we were operating."

Since 2023, the owners say they have struggled with being vocal advocates of leftist ideas while attempting to maintain a profitable business. They added, "While we’re honored by all the political ways Paradis has touched and emboldened people, people who fight for a better world even and especially in a place like Florida, we’ve struggled with the reality that having a highly visible leftist space that also needs to operate as a business is extremely challenging."

New Times has reached out to Paradis Books & Bread for comment. We will update the story with more information as more details come about.

To read Paradis' entire closing statement, click here.