‘It seems like we don’t exist’: NoDa’s Dog Bar near closing, seeks customer support
A local business for both patrons and puppies alike is in trouble.
The Dog Bar has been closed for 100 days since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no hope for reopening soon, The Dog Bar is now asking customers for their support.
The Dog Bar is described as “kinda like a dog park that serves alcohol,” on its Facebook. A GoFundMe called “Save Dog Bar,” started by The Dog Bar’s bartender of almost 15 years, Stephanie Lewis, has raised over $4,000 of its $10,000 goal in less than a day.
The catalyst for starting the GoFundMe was Gov. Roy Cooper’s Wednesday, June 24, press conference, when the word “bar” wasn’t mentioned as he outlined North Carolina’s plans to stay in Phase 2, said owner Travis Bickford.
“Private bars, it seems like we don’t exist,” Bickford said. “And so we knew at that point that there was going to be no help forthcoming from the state government and that we really had to take matters into our own hands just to try and survive,” Bickford said.
Over the next few weeks, Bickford said he hopes to expand to other forms of fundraising for The Dog Bar, such as online auctions, selling dog washes on the premises and merchandise sales.
‘We’ve been closed during three of our busiest months of the year’
Businesses that sell alcohol can be open during Phase 2 if 30 percent of its revenue comes from food sales. “We simply don’t have that. We have a single, sole stream of income that we’ve basically been prohibited from exercising,” Bickford said.
Without customer support, the breaking point for The Dog Bar would be the lack of business over Fourth of July weekend, Bickford said. March through early June is when The Dog Bar makes the revenue needed to last through the winter, along with holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day and Memorial Day.
Since closing on March 16, Bickford said The Dog Bar has already lost about 43 percent of its total annual revenue. “It’s not only us being closed and the lack of income, it’s the fact that we’ve been closed during three of our busiest months of the year,” Bickford said.
If there is a second wave of cases come the fall, along with flu season, “that’ll be it” for The Dog Bar, Bickford said.
The hardest part about closing has been losing the sense of community among both patrons and their puppies. “Having that be gone just leaves a huge gap in both the NoDa community but also in the overall Charlotte pet ownership community,” Bickford said.
Lawsuit to reopen bars pending
Bickford is part of the North Carolina Bar & Tavern Association that filed suit against Cooper after North Carolina moved into Phase 2, permitting restaurants, breweries and wineries to open while excluding bars.
Since North Carolina entered Phase 2 on May 22, the NCBATA has stated that 85 percent of the state’s bars have been open.
The group was started in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suit has over 185 plaintiffs. A hearing on the preliminary injunction occurred last Friday. “That went as well as I think it could have possibly have gone,” Bickford said. Now, they wait.
Bickford said he was under the impression that bars would be included in the Phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening plan. Less than 48 hours before Phase 2 began on May 22, he found out private bars and gyms were excluded. “It just took the air out of me. I actually have a new phone because of it, because my phone went across the room at a pretty rapid pace,” he said.
“At this point all that we’re asking is to be treated like the other 85 percent of alcohol permit owners in the state are already being treated,” Bickford said.
Bickford said The Dog Bar is capable of implementing capacity restrictions and social distancing requirements “as well as or better than the establishments that are currently allowed to operate.”
Bickford noted that The Dog Bar’s security measures would have permitted it to implement and enforce the social distancing and capacity requirements. “We’re used to telling people that they have to go,” he said.
Concerns for small businesses
The Dog Bar is just one local business that has generated customer support before completely going under. Lang Van, a Vietnamese restaurant in Plaza Shamrock, raised over $55,000 in five days through a GoFundMe organized by a customer who had heard the restaurant was in trouble.
“Most of us are small businesses,” Bickford said. “We’re the little guy. And the little guy needs your help right now.”
For North Carolinians, Bickford put forth a simple ask: Wear your masks.
“If you want normalcy, the best things you can do is be responsible to your fellow North Carolinians and put the masks on when you’re out in public and keep them on,” he said.
To the customers who have already donated, Bickford said all he can say is thank you.
“We miss your dogs very much. We miss you a little bit, too,” he said with a laugh.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 4:19 PM.
