Local bar owner waves 'white flag' due to COVID-19 pandemic

Shooters Downstairs Lounge temporarily closed its doors in mid-December, after owner Ryan Byrne made what he called a “tough decision” to lay off his staff prior to the holiday season. 

“I told them we’ve got no help and no support,” Byrne recalled telling his staff. “I mean, we can keep running up the debt mountain and inevitably sewer ourselves in three months. And who wants to work the holidays when nobody’s coming out, right?”

The local entrepreneur says the increase in COVID-19 cases in Sault Ste. Marie - and all the doom-and-gloom messaging that comes with it - has “significantly put businesses out of it, basically, because no one wants to come out.” 

“The playing field was just not suitable for our business at this time and there’s no federal help in wage subsidy and rent subsidy right now,” said Byrne. “There’s also a large amount of fear sort of spread in town. The town is really at a point where it’s been two years, and they don’t know what or who to listen to anymore.

“Putting that all into context, there’s nothing that we can do to make someone not be afraid to come out and the restrictions don’t allow us to dance - we sell a human experience, it’s interaction," he continued. "We cannot do takeout karaoke, we cannot do Skip The Dishes dancing. We haven’t had a fair chance to open our doors 100 per cent since the beginning.” 

Byrne says the popular Dennis Street bar and restaurant will remain closed until conditions become more favourable.

Right now, he says, checking for proof of vaccination requires additional security. All of the food costs have doubled - and in some instances, even tripled - during the COVID-19 pandemic, while supply chain issues continue. Insurance has also doubled for Shooters during the pandemic. 

“It’s impossible for a bar and restaurant to make a profit and that is the point of business - so yeah, you wave the white flag,” he said. “The smart thing is, you wave the white flag and you wait for the playing field to be fair and suitable to do business.”

Around 23 people were employed when Shooters Downstairs Lounge was fully operational prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, including security, karaoke and DJ services, cooks, bartenders, marketing and cleaners.

“Usually, we'd have four or five people working on a Saturday night - but not during the pandemic, because it’s all half capacity,” he said. 

The staff impacted by the recent layoffs, Byrne says, have been supportive and remain hopeful that Shooters will be able to re-open sometime in the new year. 

“I’m not that kind of guy to throw in the towel. I just never knew I’d be fighting an invisible enemy like this. I just think about the people that don’t have the same resolve as us, because it’s not easy. It’s not easy. I’ve had to dig down deeper than I’ve ever dug in my life,” Byrne said.