Clearing The Air

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Hennepin & Ramsey County Establishments out of business since the smoking ban......

Updated list (updates from MN Monthly)

More local commentary here:

".....40 bars and several (don't have the exact number) restaurants in Minneapolis have closed.....Now that winter is upon us, we are likely to see another surge ofclosings. 1400 jobs have already been lost in the hospitality industry....."

Hop's
Denny's Restaurant (this was the local favorite for smokers in Plymouth)
Waldo's
Copelands
TGIF 2 locations
TGIF
Nick & Tony's
Players
America's Original Sportsbar
Jillian's
Park Tavern Bloomington
Larry's Lounge in Long Lake
Goodfellow's
Chang O'Hara's (bankruptcy protection)
Mainstreet Bar & Cafe
Bilimbi Bay (all three)
Bilimbi Bay
Bilimbi Bay
MN Sports Cafe
Jacobs 101
Café Di Napoli
Bennigans
Majors
Southtown Bingo
Italiani's
3 Muses
13 Moons
510 Restaurant
Amie
Chez Foley
Chives
El Rey de Oro
Mpls. Café
Soul City Supper Club
Tonic of Uptown
Porter's
Molly Quinn's
Breakaway Bar -(Luke is still hanging on as best he can, stop by and say hello)
Minnehaha Grill
Margarita Bella
Olive Garden
Knuckleheads Comedy Club
Shamrock's W. 7th St. Paul (rumor is this one is a personal vendetta by some pro-smoking ban city council members in St. Paul against an owner who testified against the ban. In other words the city refused to extend a license on a technicality, but that's just the rumor from some St. Paul hospitality business owners, feel free to correct me on this one Mr. Thune)

*list of closures as reported by members of the public, and when possible verified with the respective city.......reports of bar / restaurant closures due to smoking ban apparently are not being reported by the Star & Tribune nor Pioneer Press.....perhaps because of their editorial agenda.

Anybody with further closings or corrections, please leave comments.

(those on the Johnson & Johnson payroll....who try to make excuses for the closings...need not comment....that means you American Lung Assoc., American Cancer Society, American Non-Smokers Rights Org., AMA, U of M and all the others who accepted Nicoderm CQ money....your special interest funding precludes you from commenting on this post, MPAAT included)

41 closings in 6 months, that's an average of over 6 closings per month. Or at 202 days into the smoking ban which equals one bar /restaurant closing every 5 days.

I wonder how many closed during the same period last year, anybody out there with an answer?