The people responsible for these shutdowns don't realize how bad they are hurting business. And yet for the most part they put those people back in power. Just amazing. And sad. [Reply]
In addition to sports bars, the neighborhood joints on every other corner here are dropping like flies. Feel its always been inevitable due to the younger generation having different drinking habits and a desire to play bocce ball rather than pool or darts. Covid, and the response to it, has definitely helped expedite the extinction though.
Lot of these places here are, I mean were, pre-prohibition. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dj56dt58:
Fortunately I live in a Republican state where we are still free to live our lives
I do too but unfortunately, the local mayors, judges and health officials can still modify the rules businesses operate under within their local jurisdictions. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KCUnited:
In addition to sports bars, the neighborhood joints on every other corner here are dropping like flies. Feel its always been inevitable due to the younger generation having different drinking habits and a desire to play bocce ball rather than pool or darts. Covid, and the response to it, has definitely helped expedite the extinction though.
Lot of these places here are, I mean were, pre-prohibition.
I'm not sure if I qualify as "younger" anymore, but I've probably been in a true sports bar fewer than 5 times in my life (unless you count Buffalo Wild Wings). I've done it a couple times to catch a game when I'm on the road, but otherwise, I'd much rather watch at home where the beer is cheap and I can control the TV and audio. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I'm not sure if I qualify as "younger" anymore, but I've probably been in a true sports bar fewer than 5 times in my life (unless you count Buffalo Wild Wings). I've done it a couple times to catch a game when I'm on the road, but otherwise, I'd much rather watch at home where the beer is cheap and I can control the TV and audio.
It's the only time I've been to Sports Bars in the last 10 years - when I'm travelling. The model was drastically changing well before COVID struck. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alanm:
The people responsible for these shutdowns don't realize how bad they are hurting business. And yet for the most part they put those people back in power. Just amazing. And sad.
Just a pure flex of power by these douche bags. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dante84:
Not to those who have lost family members and friends.
the cure is worse looking at the aggregate... it's always hard for those that lose family members, but the overall costs of shutdowns on the world poverty level will cost many many more lives than Covid...
Originally Posted by Bob Dole:
It’s just amazing how many iconic places have been forced out of business.
It's not just the iconic, newsworthy ones, but a whole bunch of unknown neighborhood joints - and not just bars, but restaurants, delis, all manner of one off shops. If there were any real shutdowns.
I have no idea of any on-the-ground experiences, other than I know one guy that used to run bars in Manhattan (KS) that still has friends out there and it's bad is all he'll ever tell me. I can't imagine what any of the outfits in places that had harsher shutdowns look like. I don't have any first hand knowledge other than what it takes to run my business, but between rent, and labor alone, I can't imagine they're margins are that great pre-COVID. I don't see any way they're not fucked. I mean, I guess they could call a rent moratorium or some similar shit, but that would equally fuck the landlord and I'd guess wreck the real estate market real nice. Then who knows what happens if the building sells?
IMO, ripping the small business backbone out of communities is a worst case scenario kind of thing.
Interestingly, what about office buildings? I haven't done a ton of research or anything, but I know a bunch of accounting firms are pushing to continue WFH, Microsoft put some permanency in their policy. I'm guessing any shrewd business is going to try to reduce their rent costs and blame COVID. Think about if you owned a bunch of big ass office buildings and can't fill them up in NYC or Chicago or something and they're 10% full. And you're leveraged. Woof.
The shocking thing about all that is there is a real chance that iconic downtown buildings in major cities might be bankrupt or some such nonsense.
I'd be interested in some in depth research on that front.
I didn't intend to meander into a rant here - and hopefully I kept the DC out of it - but the effects of this deal are going to be far reaching to say the least. My position has always been to not wreck commerce. That's the foundation of our economy. But they did it so now we get to see what happens.