Eoin Gallagher

Over the past two years, Nomad Pizza has turned into a hotspot for students to gather with friends, eat and enjoy live music by student bands. Last week, the owner, Tom Grim, announced that he will retire at the age of 73 and that the pizza restaurant will close next Sunday. Dutchman’s Wood-Fired Bagels, which currently uses an adjacent space in the Fort Andross mill complex and shares Nomad’s wood-fire oven, will take over the space and open a restaurant next year.

“It’s very simple. It’s just time for me to retire. That’s all. I love the time there, and it was great. We have a great staff, great customers. We’re busier than ever,” Grim said. “But it was just that [Dutchman’s] made an offer to take over the space, so I decided it was a good time for me. So, I accepted [Dutchman’s owner Jeremy Kratzer’s] offer.”

Nomad took over the space two years ago and since has attracted students to watch bands play or attend movie showings.

“Since Nomad opened, it’s definitely become a much younger crowd that comes into the space. Having Bowdoin in town and being in a college town is awesome, because there’s always students, there’s always activity and there’s always things happening,” Grim said.

Grim looks back positively on Nomad’s popularity over the past few years. He notes that it took a while to be accepted into Brunswick, but that has since changed. Despite the boom in popularity making it difficult to part ways from Nomad, Grim is confident in his decision to retire.

Nomad has previously hosted student bands, such as Far From Juno and Night Hawk, in their event space. Ainsley Morrison ’26 expressed disappointment about Nomad’s closure but hopes that the new owner will still open the space for student performers.

“It’s very sad that they’re officially closing, because I feel like they did a really good job of making it a space that people would go to.… I loved that space, and I feel like it was fun for people to be able to go off campus and see that and be in that place,” Morrison said. “I’m definitely sad…. Now we’re gonna have to go to Portland because there’s not a ton of other nearby venues besides [Tonic].”

Bettina Holden ’27 said that Nomad has become a core part of Bowdoin and Brunswick. It has become tradition for Holden to visit the pizza restaurant with her mom whenever she visits.

“I love to go there with my friends. But the person who I love to go there the most with is my mom. We always get a pizza and then split the pasta there,” Holden said. “I’m just happy that it’s not getting taken over by an office space, because it is a really pretty space. People should still enjoy it.”

Upon hearing that Nomad was closing, Holden was sad to learn that there would now be less pizza options in Brunswick.

“I love Nomad so much.… Coming to Brunswick, I wasn’t expecting there to be such a great pizza scene with OTTO, the Portland Pie Company and honestly even Domino’s,” Holden said. “I’m quite literally heartbroken.”

Henry Stack ’27 similarly said that Nomad has become the go-to spot in Brunswick for an off-campus meal with friends or with his parents.

“I’m really bummed. That’s the only restaurant I really go to in Brunswick. I like that and Shere Punjab,” Stack said. “I’ve been [to Nomad] with my parents several times. Also, it’s very easy to get a table with a lot of friends. We had a nice birthday celebration in the big room, and we got a lot of friends there. The food is always good.”

Looking to the future, Grim hoped that the new owner, Jeremy Kratzer, will continue to garner excitement over the space.

“I’m proud of what we did and what we created, and I hope we took good care of the space while we were there. I wish I could stay longer, but Jeremy should do a good job,” Grim said. “Hopefully, he’ll have an awesome restaurant.”

Editor’s Note on November 25 at 2:30 p.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Nomad will close on Thursday, November 21. The restaurant actually closed on Sunday, November 24.