The former Cosmic Grind storefront on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace has a new tenant. Michael Chase, 30, hopes to open Artemus Café and Burlington Art Mini Museum in the narrow space at 104 Church Street by mid-August.
An artist himself, Chase sees the coffee shop-gallery as a place to “bring the hyperlocal back to Church Street,” he told Seven Days. “I’m a transplant, and what brought me here was the culture: the fun, quirky murals, galleries and little discoverable places.”
Artemus Café will serve Brio Coffeeworks drip coffee, espresso drinks and flavored lattes in addition to matcha, chai and other teas. Food will be “light baked goods” from local bakeries, Chase said, and he’s considering adding a nonalcoholic bar, which would operate in the evenings.
Tables inside the “horizontally challenged” café will be limited, Chase said, but seating will be available on the outdoor patio. The café’s name comes from the building’s original tenant, Artemus Prouty’s Store, which is memorialized on a plaque right outside.
Last summer, to celebrate his 30th birthday, Chase hung his art at the Cosmic Grind. That show evolved into the Burlington Art Mini Museum, which he initially envisioned as a mobile installation. He changed his plans when he got the opportunity to take over the lease on the Church Street location, which hadn’t been open regularly for more than a year.
The café-museum will sell local art, pottery and prints with a sliding-scale commission, and a permanent collection will be on view.
This article appears in August 5 • 2026.
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