Post Office Pies is closing its last remaining location in Mountain Brook.

The popular pizza place, which opened 11 years ago in Avondale, will cease serving customers on June 29, according to an announcement on social media.

The move comes more than a year after the Avondale location closed.

Last year, The New York Times named Post Office Pies in Mountain Brook as one of “22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States.”

It was the only Alabama pizzeria on the list.

Owner John Hall said opening the business was “one of the best decisions of my life,” and that the decision “wasn’t made lightly.” In 2021, Hall announced he was moving to the Pacific Northwest to place a greater focus on family.

In describing his decision, Hall said it was dictated by the current business climate.

“We’ve met every obligation and are proud to finish strong,” Hall said.

“In full transparency, our Mountain Brook lease would have renewed at $14,000–$15,000/month. Even with volume and year over year growth, that was a difficult line for us to draw as independent operators with young families to provide for. This was the same reason we chose to close Avondale at the end of that lease. Ultimately there is no one signing the checks for us and we have to make decisions based not on investor whimsy, but on the actual landscape that exists in Birmingham today for an independent business.”

Hall left Birmingham in 1999 and cooked in kitchens around the South, including later working for chef Frank Stitt.

Over the years, Hall built an impressive culinary resume, cooking with Michelin-starred chefs and restaurants, such as Chef Léa Linster in Luxembourg and New York’s Per Se, Gramercy Tavern and Momofuku Ssam.

Hall returned to Birmingham years later and opened Post Office Pies in 2014 in Avondale with Mike Wilson, Hunter Lake and Brandon Cain — the same management team that runs Saw’s Soul Kitchen.

In 2015, a second location of Post Office Pies opened in Tuscaloosa, but closed in 2017. In 2020, the team opened the Mountain Brook location.

“Over the years, we’ve seen loss, growth, celebration, and survival,” Hall said. “We made it through a global pandemic. We mourned the loss of our partner, Mike. And still, we pushed forward. I’m deeply grateful to every manager, every team member, every guest, and every friend who’s been part of this journey.”