FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Bo Counts in the owner of Pinpoint bar.
“We were all just sighing a breath of relief and having hope there is a light at the end of this tunnel,” Counts said.
Jamie Wilson is the owner of C4 nightclub.
“My phone is blowing up I’m trying to message out and everyone was very excited,” Wilson said.
Both owners were shocked to hear Gov. Asa Hutchinson announce bars will no longer have to close early. A curfew that’s been in place for two months to slow the spread of Covid-19.
“We saw sales plummet over 50% to 58%,” Counts said. “Even in January, we didn’t even break even for the month.”
“We were able to pay the bills,” Wilson said. “We had to use a GoFundMe a bit to actually help get out of it.”
This news comes just a week after a judge threw out a lawsuit filed by bar owners in Fayettville to overturn the 11 p.m. curfew.
“I think that many of us believe that we sent a very powerful message that we can’t survive without help and without assistance and without hours to work,” Counts said.
“It got many of us in front of cameras,” Wilson said. “It actually put light on us to let us see that we are normal, we are not a monster. Bars and clubs and restaurants that serve liquor are needed.”
Now, these owners are getting ready to get back to business this weekend.
“We’ve got to get our staff back, we got to get more inventory on hand, we’ve got to get ready for it,” Counts said. “It’s not as simple as hey let’s stay open later.”
“If at all you are comfortable coming out, come out support not necessarily us but any one of the bars because we all need your support right now,” Wilson said.
Hutchinson said that, as cases and hospitalizations dip statewide, he made the judgment that it was not necessary to maintain the curfew.
