| Predicting which nightclubs in Calgary will stay open and which will die could become a new sport in the city.
This month saw the demise of The Palace, Calgary’s largest dance bar. Meanwhile there’s been so much turnover of bars on First Street S.W., you could be forgiven for thinking the names change weekly.
Nightclubs that actually stick around are a much rarer phenomenon. So what makes some successful and others flop?
"Owning a nightclub is a nasty, dirty business. It’s an intensely competitive industry," says Trevor Leigh, former owner of The Taz, which spent several years operating on First Street. "(The Taz) was hot and crazy for about two years. Then these other clubs opened up and the gum just lost its flavour. You really have to change and reinvent yourself. There’s no security at all."
The type of music you play and cheap liquor are the two biggest draws for clubs aiming to attract the under 25-years-old demographic, says Leigh.
Having a successful club or bar also requires not getting too heavily into alcohol or drugs, he says.
"You need an operation that’s free of narcotics. You’re in an environment where people are partying constantly. I know a lot of people whose bars went up their nose," he says.
Ideally you also need "deep pockets so you can eat any mistakes you might make," he says. "A lot of nightclubs – young owners pool resources, but they don’t have deep pockets so they go belly up."
Deep pockets would definitely come in handy at the moment because there’s a trend towards increasingly upscale, glamorous bars and everyone is trying to outdo each other in terms of design, says Chris Hewitt, owner of the Warehouse.
He says lounges are gaining ground over cavernous dance bars because people are now more interested in "intimate spaces" rather than "big, vacuous spaces."
The Warehouse has been around for twenty years – a rare feat in Calgary, and Hewitt says the bar has been successful because it’s remained more underground and avoided the fickle mainstream crowd.
"The mandate has always been not to be mainstream. It’s always cutting-edge music adapted to change," says Hewitt. "There’s always going to be a market for fringe music."
As well, the bar provides diverse musical offerings from DJs to metal, punk and hardcore underground bands so it’s not the same music all the time, says Hewitt.
If your goal is to open up a mainstream bar offering Top 40 music, the industry becomes much more competitive, says Hewitt.
"I just think it’s hard to remain the hot new location and remain current and fresh," says Hewitt. "There’s an awful amount of bars and as soon as one drops off three more appear."
Paul Vickers, owner of several successful mainstream bars in Calgary, such as Cowboys and Coyotes, has just changed his former bar The Drink into Tantra because he felt the bar needed an updated concept.
"All concepts are fickle. Who’s way cool is not cool tomorrow. You’ve gotta stay fresh and that’s promotions and marketing and fresh new people inside," he says.
Even if a concept remains popular, which is the case for Vickers’ wildly successful bar Cowboys, you still can’t get complacent, says Vickers. His company has spent "millions" updating the bar since it first opened.
Pumping money into your bars and staying on top of trends are important but bar staff is the most crucial, Vickers says.
"How they interact with customers — that is absolutely paramount," says Vickers. "It’s a game of inches and it all adds up." |
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