Sancho Pistola's Just Closed Too. Same Owners, Second Closure in Two Months.

Sancho Pistola's closed at 19 W. Girard Ave. in Fishtown after 12 years, owners Joe Gunn and Casey Parker confirmed. The space sits at Girard and Leopard, a corner that cycled through Cornerstone Market grocery and then Bubba's Texas BBQ before Sancho opened there in 2014. The closure landed two months after the same owners shut Jose Pistola's, their Center City bar on South 15th Street, after 19 years.

Both closures trace back to the same math. Jose Pistola's had about a year left on its lease with a five-year renewal on the table, and the owners passed rather than sign on for another five. Sancho's lease was also nearing its end, and Gunn said they chose to cut losses rather than commit to another five-year term. Pandemic-era debt and the loss of founding chef Adan Trinidad in 2021 ran under both decisions, but the renewal date is what actually forced the call.

Pistola's Del Sur on East Passyunk Avenue, the group's third concept, is still open with no announced plans. For landlords, the pattern here is the one to watch across any post-pandemic lease hitting its renewal point: operators carrying debt from 2020 and 2021 are increasingly choosing to walk rather than re-sign, which means more built out restaurant space cycling back onto the market in corridors that look stable on the surface.