CLEARWATER, Fla. — Many restaurants around Clearwater are now open for business, but bars are still closed and some say that’s not fair.
What You Need To Know
- Unclear for now when bars will be allowed to reopen
- Restaurants were allowed to reopen under Phase 1 of Florida re-opening plan
- Bars that serve food but make more than 50% of revenue from alcohol sales must remain closed for now
- More coronavirus stories
Monkey Bar, a popular Clearwater neighborhood bar normally full of customers and music, is currently silent. It’s been that way for two months now.
“It makes my pockets feel empty,” said owner Ken Schmidt.
Schmidt says two months equals hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue that they will never see.
“We’ve lost revenue in the last two months and the rent still goes on, the utilities still go on, the bills are still coming in,” said Schmidt. “There’s nothing i can do about it, plain and simple, nothing I can do about it."
Even though they serve food, The Monkey Bar makes more than 50 percent of its revenue from alcohol sales, so unlike restaurants — even restaurants with full bars — they are closed indefinitely.
But Schmidt says they’ve done everything they can to get the bar ready and now just need the go-ahead.
“Our bar is four feet, five feet away from the customer so, you know, a hairdresser is right on you,” said Schmidt.
When asked if he believed he and his staff could adhere to social distancing guidelines if allowed to re-open, Schmidt didn't hesitate with his answer.
“Sure, there’s no problem,” said Schmidt.
Schmidt says he’s waited long enough to bring the neighborhood back together, from a distance, of course.
At this point, it’s not clear when bars will be allowed to reopen.
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