Three downtown eating and drinking establishments have temporarily closed again, its owners announced Friday on social media.
Stephen Savage, co-owner of The Wheelhouse, Start Bar, and The Midwestern Meat & Drink, posted the news on Facebook and Instagram. "We don’t have to close, we don’t want to close, but it’s the decision we’ve made in the best interest of our staff, customers and businesses," the message read in part.
After the city announced a mandatory shutdown in mid-March and allowed establishments to reopen May 18, The Wheelhouse was the first major nightlife venue in the city to reopen (albeit at 25 percent of full occupancy) on Friday, May 22.
"We were very cautious when we reopened," says Savage. "We took every precaution that we could." To mitigate potential waiting lines, The Wheelhouse required reservations for dinner and brunch, as well as tickets for late-night service. A limited number of walk-ins were allowed as the weeks progressed. Start Bar and The Midwestern reopened on the same day with similar parameters.
Then came the citywide curfew in early June. When the establishments were able to reopen during evening hours, Savage says the businesses adhered to CDC guidelines and “were able control the number of people coming through the door, but enforcement of social distancing was difficult,” he says.
“The public had witnessed weeks of seeing people not wearing masks in public, and we saw that our customers weren't wearing masks either or wearing them improperly," he adds. “We quickly realized that any type of mask enforcement on our part just became more difficult, if not impossible.
“This week, we learned that an employee died in a car accident, which set us all back mentally," he adds. "We learned that a customer had tested positive for the virus. And on Friday, we were informed that two of our employees had tested positive. At that point, we referred to the CDC guidelines for ‘when an employee tests positive’ and are following their recommendations. The CDC does not require a business to close when an employee tests positive, but we did it anyway at 9 p.m. that night.
“We also hire secondary police officers to help with the general safety of the block, which includes crowd control," continues Savage, "but lately, it's been hard to staff them—and security officers in general—so that also impacted our decision to close for awhile.
“It’s still a shame,” he adds. “We were trying to keep our 225 employees busy, trying to do our part to help the city's coffers, but realized that, all things considered, maybe now is the time that we should be closed."
In the social media post announcing the businesses' temporary closure, Savage noted, "This is a marathon, not a sprint for us... We can’t ensure the safety of our staff and customers right now, which means we can’t succeed right now. We can’t operate stress-free and enjoy what we’re doing."
All three businesses are now closed for an indefinite period of time, but Savage says he hopes to reopen "sooner than later, in a couple of weeks for some Blues playoffs and Cardinals baseball."
