Fort Collins to lose longtime sushi bar

Nimo's Sushibar and Japanese Restaurant will close at the end of April after 32 years in Fort Collins.

Chef Hiroshi "Nimo" Nimota began making sushi in Denver restaurants about 50 years ago after emigrating from Japan but said he always wanted to be independent and own his own place.

Nimota found a small storefront "with reasonable rent" on West Elizabeth Street in Fort Collins in 1992 and opened "the only Japanese restaurant owned and operated by Japanese," according to Nimo's website.

Now 75 years old, Nimota and his wife, Noriko, plan to retire. He sold the business but was unsure when a new restaurant would open in Nimo's place.

Nimo's moved to 921 E. Harmony Road in 2013 after 21 years of dealing with difficult parking on West Elizabeth Street.

"It wasn't a big restaurant but my customers could not park," he said.

With a popular pizza restaurant on one side and a bar on the other, "my customers had to park in the street." That led a neighboring business to have his customers' cars towed, he said. "So, I decided to move to a big parking lot."

Big indeed. Nimo's is now located in the Sam's Club-anchored shopping center on Harmony Road between South Lemay Avenue and Boardwalk Drive.

"Eighteen-wheelers, RVs, no problem," he said.

Nimo's had a loyal clientele from south Fort Collins that made the move a solid gamble.

"It was a great success moving from Campus West to Harmony," he said. His regulars stayed with him and new customers came.

Nimota has been cutting back on his time at the restaurant for the past two to three years, and last month he started telling customers he was closing the eatery at the end of April. That's brought his regulars in more regularly, some of them several times a week, he said.

What's next for a man who's worked 70 hours a week for five decades?

Nimota isn't sure. His oldest son, who teaches English in Japan, is becoming a father, and Nimota and Noriko will visit Tokyo to meet their first grandchild.

"I want to say thank you, Fort Collins. Everybody really helped me" through the process of getting a liquor license and opening the store. "And to my customers: What can I say?"

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Longtime Fort Collins sushi bar will close