TC’s Café Crema closes up for good this Saturday. But the longtime gathering space on the ground floor of the Radio Centre building won’t go empty for long.

Marieta Braun, who owns the EuroStop Deli Café – located southeast of downtown in the former train depot – is buying the space and all the equipment from Joseph Sarafa Sr., Crema’s owner for the last two and a half years. The sale will likely be finalized by the end of the month.

Braun says she’s been eyeing Crema’s downtown location at the corner of Front and Park streets since she bought the EuroStop, but when she initially approached Sarafa two years ago, he wasn’t ready to sell.

“This time, when the building became available, the landlord approached me,” she says.

“It wasn’t officially on the market, but I was open to it,” Sarafa says. “It’s sort of sad to close, but it’s definitely the right thing to do and the right time to do it.”

Sarafa says Braun immediately made him an offer for the Crema space.

“A lot of people who work downtown have said they’d like to have us there,” she says. Braun estimates that about 98 percent of her customers are local, but tourist traffic to the depot location has been almost nil. The move, she expects, will change that.

“The business is growing, and this gives us more space, more visibility and more traffic,” she says. “We hope to keep our local customers, but get more tourists.”

It isn’t known if a new business will open in the depot space EuroStop is vacating (620 Railroad Place), but the TC City Commission in July approved a request from The Filling Station Microbrewery, Inc. for a new “Micro Brewer License” to be operated at 642 Railroad Place. The applicant, TC’s Raymond Klepper, has not responded to The Ticker’s requests for an interview.

With Crema gone, what will happen to CannaBistro, the medical marijuana collective of the Traverse City Compassion Club, which takes over the coffee shop each afternoon?

Sarafa and his son, Joseph Sarafa Jr., who heads up the club, confirm that CannaBistro will continue operating at the location from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday while EuroStop remodels.

Once EuroStop’s construction is complete, the Sarafas hope to reopen the club elsewhere, and are currently seeking the city’s permission to move to a spot on the north side of the 500 block of East Front Street, not far from Crema.

Joe Sarafa Sr. declined to give the exact location that's being considered before the city issues public notices for an upcoming public hearing on the relocation, which will likely happen in November.