Clearing The Air

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Here's one that hits close to home.....

.....Minnesota bloggers know that when it comes to a "gathering of the minds" , the MOB meets at Keegan's in Minneapolis.

Owner Terry Keegan has become a friend and source of information regarding the smoking ban and business loss ever since the ban was implemented. Much to my chagrin, for the first 2-3 months Terry maintained that the ban had little effect on his business. He's a relatively quiet, yet hard working businessman who never complains. So when I noticed this letter on Fraters Libertas' site I knew it must be getting bad.

For the first three months of 2005, our sales were up 8% over the same months in 2004. For the most recent three months our sales are down 7.5% compared to the same months in 2004. That is a swing of 15.5%. Although our percentage decrease is smaller than some, it represents the difference between profit and loss. We have not had a profitable month since April, and the trend is downward. October 2005 was 17% down from October 2004. Cold weather will only accelerate the trend as smokers will be less willing to smoke outside. Hence, they will go to locations where they can smoke inside.

Read the full letter here

As a personal aside....Terry I am so disappointed......come on who's your smokin' ban daddy.....you didn't even have the decency to let Clearing the Air break the story first. Just for that I'll be lighting up a fat Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend next time I'm inside your bar.

....ya civil disobedience.......go on and catch me copper.