With the old Mackay St building earmarked for demolition soon, the owners had trouble finding new premises.
"The end of our lease and ongoing developments in the CBD mean it's time to call time," the owner said today in a statement.
"We've looked at other options but have been unable to find a viable space where (we) can continue all we do. We're sad to say that the Bonzai will be closing its doors on the 25th of November. We want to thank all our wonderful customers and everyone who has been part of the Bonzai story over the last 40 years."
The Bonzai opened amid much publicity in July 1982, and was the brainchild of Dutch immigrant Marcel van Leeuwen, and his friend Toon van Rijnsoever.
The walls were plastered with European newspapers, all dated May 5, to honour Chanel No 5. Another feature was a pink vinyl EP that was turned into a clock. The newspapers eventually went in 2015.
Greymouth mayor Barry Dallas turned up to open what quickly became a West Coast institution, but it immediately hit problems.
In a saga that filled the Greymouth Evening Star for weeks, and took up time at the Greymouth Borough Council meeting table, Mr van Leeuwen went head-to-head with then borough health inspector, Peter Fletcher.
But the Bonzai persevered, and when Mr van Leeuwen sold out a few years later, and started a pizza shop in Hokitika, it was a very successful business.
Mr van Rijnsoever then took over the business on his own and continued until 2015.
As the popularity grew from a hot bread shop-pizzeria, the Bonzai developed into a trendy coffee shop and a la carte restaurant.
It survived four floods, expanded, and became fully licensed in 1989, and in 2018 it became the first Greymouth café to make its outdoor area smokefree.
Mr van Rijnsoever recalled today he came on holiday to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1981, and the only person he knew from the past was Marcel, who was then working in a pizza parlour in New Plymouth. They "clicked" and decided to start the West Coast's first pizza parlour - in Greymouth.
Mr van Rijnsoever had to go back to Holland in order to emigrate, and meanwhile Marcel got the business off the ground, and they became business partners.
They were the first to bring in a coffee machine, imported from Italy, to the surprise of their customers, who included fishermen and coalminers.
"When we started up there was no KFC, no McDonald's and Subway and Domino's ..."
Mayor Tania Gibson said she had been going to the Bonzai since she was a child and it had always been a great business.
"An icon of the town, it's sad to see it go, especially with the circumstances."
The quake-prone Duncan Hardie Building that houses the Bonzai and Mann's Security and Cycles, will be demolished shortly by the Mawhera Incorporation, which has just got rid of another CBD eyesore, Broadcasting House.
A new retail block is planned for the Broadcasting House site.
