Closing early may have done irreparable harm
MARY HENNIGAN
Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written by University of Arkansas student Mary Hennigan while the bars in Fayetteville were closing early due to state covid mandates. On Feb. 3, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, citing the decline in Arkansas’ daily increases in coronavirus cases and in the number of people hospitalized with the virus, said he would not extend a directive requiring restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to close at 11 p.m.)
The C4 Nightclub & Lounge near Dickson Street used to be full of strangers dancing, socializing and sharing drinks with one another. Now, the downstairs dance floor has scattered furniture to prohibit dancing and encourage social distancing. Guests are required to wear masks and leave by 11 p.m.
“Before covid, we had no debt,” owner Jamie Wilson says. “We’re now in debt of $130,000 to try to help get us through all of this.”
Owners must alter their business plans and try to progress through another change, all while they fear permanent closure.
Gov. Hutchinson’s original legislation to close bars at 11 p.m. was effective Nov. 20 and was allowed to expire on Feb. 3. While the regulation might seem like it was just cutting back a few hours into the workday, some owners thought it changed the mindset of going out altogether.
General Manager Shaun Traxler, 34, wears a mask at the Vault bar counter Dec. 4. Traxler was infected with covid-19 in late September and lost his taste and smell, he reveals. He isolated for 10 days at home before returning to work.
(Courtesy Photo/Mary Hennigan)
Because of the legislation, C4 shifted its hours to 7 to 11 p.m. instead of the regular 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., something that has cut customer turnout by about 60% from pre-pandemic times.
New Year’s Eve, normally the club’s third-most-popular night of the year, was a “total loss,” Wilson said. C4 hosted a drag show to provide guests with entertainment, but ultimately, the night cost more to put on than it made.
The constant regulation changes have exhausted Wilson’s search for financial aid to keep the club open, he said. After multiple grants and personal loans, he said he isn’t sure how much longer the business can maintain itself.
Wilson said he worries more about the community impact than his own financial burden if C4 were to permanently close.
“For an alternative lifestyle, a club is way more than just a club,” he points out. “It’s also a second home, or even a first home for some people.”
With the closure of small businesses comes fewer employment opportunities for entry-level positions, Raja Kali, assistant economics professor at the University of Arkansas, said. This has a chain effect on how much money is circulating, because when paychecks are cut, people can’t spend as much.
When covid-19 initially shut down businesses, “every sector of the economy was hit,” causing an economic recession, Kali says. As covid-19 continues to force businesses to close, an economic recovery will be difficult.
Recovery prospects seemed bleak for Bo Counts and his bar, Pinpoint, last month when the business turned out about half of what it did the previous December.
The regulation extension felt like a “big punch in the stomach with everything that’s going on, considering the first restrictions on bars did almost nothing to reduce any [covid-19 case] numbers,” Counts confessed.
Counts said the bar’s busiest months are October, November and December, but with the 11 p.m. closing and social distancing guidelines that only allow about 35 guests inside at a time, the holidays did not provide the same output.
“When people are expecting places to close early, they stop going out,” Counts asserted.
With fewer customers, Pinpoint was also forced to cut employees to save funds. Seven employees staff the bar instead of the once 15.
“We’re just sitting here, dying,” Counts said. “I’ve sold personal possessions. I had a food pantry that I operated out of my back pocket for some of my employees because they weren’t being able to get assistance from the state.”
Pinpoint owner Bo Counts wears a mask in front of his bar Jan. 24. Counts says he does not live a lavish life, and that has helped keep personal needs low to help the business. He second-hand shops for clothing, drives a used pick-up truck and lives in a small apartment near the bar.
(Courtesy Photo/Mary Hennigan)
Without more financial assistance, Counts said he worries about permanently closing the business.
Nearby cocktail bar, Vault, has had to close on several occasions due to a lack of available and healthy staff, general manager Shaun Traxler revealed.
Including Traxler, six of the nine employees at Vault had contracted covid-19 when this story was written.
“It’s very hard to staff,” he admitted. “You want to tell your employees to not go have fun, ever, and just stay home and isolate until this is over.”
Unlike most of the other local bars, Vault was able to employ three additional server positions to help deliver drinks, clean tables and maintain health regulations. This ensures the bartenders never leave the counter, and there is no contamination in the drinks area.
“Before [customers] even get seated anywhere, they’re told all of our rules,” Traxler said. “The entire idea of hospitality has changed for now. Instead of having people walk through our doors, immediately welcoming them to our home … we treat them almost like enemies if they’re not wearing a mask.”
The 11 p.m. closing regulation cut right into Vault’s peak hours of 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and ultimately resulted in fewer people coming out at all.
Pinpoint owner Bo Counts wears a mask in front of his bar Jan. 24. Counts says he does not live a lavish life, and that has helped keep personal needs low to help the business. He second-hand shops for clothing, drives a used pick-up truck and lives in a small apartment near the bar.
(Courtesy Photo/Mary Hennigan)
“We’re still a small business and we still need to survive,” Traxler said.
