photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

Downtown Lawrence is pictured in this aerial photo from September 2023.

A stack of recipes, an empty building and fond memories of when he was a leader of the pack in Lawrence’s restaurant scene has set the stage for an unexpected comeback

Lawrence’s once-popular Mass Street Deli is reopening, and yes, original owner Bob Schumm will be the owner and operator. Schumm has been retired from the restaurant business for more than a decade, but said he is raring to get back in the business.

“I just needed a little break and I’m ready to go again,” Schumm said.

It will be happening in a different spot on Massachusetts Street, though. The new version of Mass Street Deli will be located at 717 Massachusetts, which is a couple of blocks north of where the original was located. Schumm sold that original building when he closed Mass Street Deli in 2007 after 34 years in business.

Schumm, though, continued to own multiple buildings in downtown, including the 717 Massachusetts location, which most recently had housed the clothing retailer Glik’s, which closed last fall.

“Two things are really driving this,” Schumm told me. “I wanted to find a viable tenant for this building, and just a real love of doing what I once did.”

Schumm had kept old recipes and menus from Mass Street Deli, which he said was his favorite among the five or so different restaurants he had owned in Lawrence. He said the new version of Mass Street Deli will be working off a 1999 menu that the original used.

That means it will have a heavy dose of sandwiches, salads and soups that proved to be popular in Lawrence for a long time. A reuben sandwich was always one of the top sellers, as was a special sausage sandwich that was loaded with veggies. Plus, he said the restaurant’s cheesecake offerings definitely will be coming back.

“It will be very similar,” Schumm said of the menu offerings of old.

Of course, what has changed is time. Schumm — who gave his age as “not as old as President Trump” — said he’s looking forward to what’s to come. He compared himself to a former high school football player who has spent a lot of time thinking about his playing days.

“I can still outrun those guys,” he said.

Schumm, though, said he doesn’t believe he will be the long-term owner of the new Mass Street Deli. Instead, he said he expects it eventually will become a successful venture that will be ripe for a next generation restaurateur who wants to operate in downtown Lawrence.

Schumm first entered the Lawrence restaurant scene in 1970 when he opened an establishment called the Bull and Boar in a spot behind Weaver’s Department store. Schumm previously has told the Journal-World that there were a total of just nine restaurants in downtown Lawrence when he opened his first one. He said downtown was far busier during the day than the evening during those times.

As a former Lawrence mayor, he watched the restaurant scene change significantly in the decades after, including some changes he implemented. He was the first restaurant owner to win approval for the concept of sidewalk dining in downtown Lawrence.

By 2014, Schumm had decided to call it quits, closing his final restaurant, Buffalo Bob’s Smokehouse, after 37 years in business.

“I have employees who are children of past employees of the restaurant,” Schumm told the Journal-World in 2014. “I always said when I started employing their grandchildren, it would be time for me to move on. We’re getting pretty close to that point.”

On Friday, Schumm brought up those Buffalo Bob days.

“Before any one asks,” Schumm said, “no, that one is not coming back.”

Schumm has begun some demolition work in the former Glik’s space, but hasn’t yet started the remodeling work. Once a building permit gets approved, he hopes to have the new Mass Street Deli open in October or November. While it will be smaller than the original — which had two stories of dining — Schumm said the new version will be plenty large. It is expected to have about 90 seats inside and another 16 outdoor dining seats.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

City Commission candidate Bob Schumm, right, is pictured at a candidate forum on Sept. 24, 2025.