Following news that bars will be allowed to reopen starting May 29 for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, a handful of local bar owners have expressed relief, but not all are totally optimistic. Some remain skeptical that they’ll be able to draw enough customers or hire enough staff members.
One complicating factor is that the May 29 date is only for allowing bars to open. Even after that date, bars will still be subject to rules on social distancing and seating capacity in the same way as restaurants. A press release from the Baker-Polito administration announcing the change states that bars, beer gardens, breweries, wineries and distilleries “will be subject to restaurant rules with seated service only, a 90-minute limit and no dance floors.”
The more important date, in some ways, is Aug. 1. That is when the remaining restrictions on bars are expected to be lifted, although local bar owners say there are rumors that the date may ultimately be moved closer to the beginning of July.
For Between the Uprights, a sports bar on Avenue A in Turners Falls, that makes August the target for reopening.
“I want to do it right. I want to do it when there are more people who have been vaccinated and will feel comfortable going out again,” said Lew Collins, owner of Between the Uprights. “I want to be able to host my customers, when I finally am able to open the doors again, in the way I want to do it.”
Financially, August is more sensible anyway, Collins said. It takes a few months to hire back employees and to renew the insurance services associated with running a business, several of which he canceled during the shutdown of the pandemic.
“My sense is, people are ready now,” Collins said. “Three or four months ago, people might have said, ‘It would be nice to.’ Now, it’s, ‘I can’t wait to.’”
But some are more tepid on reopening.
The People’s Pint, a restaurant on Federal Street in Greenfield with a bar and its own brewery, is aiming to reopen in June.
“We don’t have to have the bar full. It’s just a percentage of our seats,” The People’s Pint co-owner Alden Booth said. “It is going to affect how well we do. But I think we can be open and do OK without having an absolutely full bar all the time. Same thing with the tables.”
Hiring staff has been the bigger issue, he said. Some former employees are still nervous about the coronavirus, and some still have issues with child care, he said.
Then there’s some, Booth added, that don’t need to work. He said the unemployment services during the pandemic have been so good that some have been able to get by without a regular job.
“Until people really feel like, ‘I have to go to work because I have to put food on the table,’ — that’s when people will start coming back,” Booth said.
The Balkan Lounge, a bar at 4 Ames St. in Greenfield, has had the same problem, according to owner Abaz Cecunjanin.
“I can’t imagine how I’m going to do it with the Balkan,” said Cecunjanin, who also owns the Terrazza restaurant in Greenfield. “There are not enough qualified employees taking applications.”
Even with the announcement of the new rules for bars, Cecunjanin said he is still unsure when or if the Balkan Lounge will reopen. The business had only been open for two months before having to close with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remaining restrictions are still an issue, he continued. Financially, it may not make sense to open for the night if the bar still has legal limits on how many customers it can take.
But he also isn’t sure if he will wait for the restrictions to be lifted. He hasn’t ruled out closing the business and selling the liquor license, he said.
“It’s definitely an issue,” Cecunjanin said. “For me to open up for 20 people, it’s definitely an issue.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.