At Jokers Bar, the staff of eight has been laid off. Owner Tony Schaefer said he’s now working the bar with his brother.

“We’ll be closing up if business doesn’t improve,” Schaefer said. “The sad thing is we don’t even know if anyone would buy it.”

Nearly three-quarters of the 64 businesses that responded to a request from the Appleton Post-Crescent reported sluggish sales in the past month, most from 10 to 40 percent lower compared with last July. Some reported sales off as much as 70 percent.
For now, sales are down 35 percent at Shark’s Club Billiards Bar and Grill, owner Mitchell Roepke said.

“We’re a blue-collar, working-class establishment and they’re the smokers. … I’m losing $11,000 in sales in July,” Roepke said.

Source: Madison.com. Link Expired.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2005 at 9:22 am and is filed under Bars/Taverns, Job Loss, North America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.