You dismissed our complaints about the data being flawed. But how else would you characterize a report on the effect of the smoking ban that left out businesses that closed after the ban? Leaving out the hundreds of businesses forced to close because of the ban clearly distorts the findings.

Even with this manipulation of the data, the report found that bar and tavern sales fell dramatically following the implementation of the ban and that they have not recovered since. Translating this into sales, the ban cost New York’s bar and tavern owners more than $80 million in sales since the law went into effect.

Businesses forced to close. Severe economic harm experienced by hundreds of businesses. More than $80 million in lost bar and tavern sales. We may argue about the merits of the ban, but when it comes to the economic impact of the ban … case closed.

Source: Albany Times Union. Original link expired, Mirror here

Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Felix Ortiz said his legislation would immediately require public housing complexes to make 50 percent of their apartments smoke-free.

By 2010, smoking in the projects would be outlawed completely, Ortiz said.

(Once again, the nicotine nannies are trying to make it illegal for people to smoke in their homes.)

Source: New York Post. Link expired.

The study, released Tuesday, measured alcohol sales by wholesale distributors to Lexington hotels, bars and restaurants. Richard Thalheimer, who performed the study, said those sales dropped 9.8 percent to 13.3 percent since the ban took effect in April 2004.

Source: WKYT.com. Link Expired

“I used to work four days. I’m down to one day,” said James O’Toole, a bartender at Dudley’s Parkview Tavern in New Rochelle, who has taken another job driving a limousine. “From last summer to this summer, coming into this season, business is off by at least 45 percent. … The bar is empty.”

At the Willett House Restaurant in Port Chester, manager Dennis Gallagher said the ban landed a one-two-three punch. Revenues plunged — he said he lost an estimated $50,000 in June 2003, the first month of the ban — which forced him to put his by-the-hour bartenders on the payroll to make up their lost tips. And the business he ran selling cigars at the bar has closed.

“From a health standpoint and from an economic standpoint, the law has made a tremendous amount of sense and has been an overwhelming success,” said Rick Lepkowski, vice president of the Westchester chapter of the American Cancer Society. “Culturally, most people are a lot less tolerant of being in places where people do smoke. In terms of education and the cultural acceptability of smoking, I believe we’ve really turned a corner.”

(It’s not very often that The American Cancer Society admits their goal is to spread intolerance, but here it is in black and white.)

Source: Lohud.com. Link expired.

APPLETON, Wis. —Two groups have backed out of plans to bring their conventions here because of a ban on smoking set to take effect July 1, according to the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The bureau’s executive director, Lynn Peters, declined to name the groups, but The Post-Crescent of Appleton said one was a scotch-and-cigar-loving sportsmen’s association and the other a military group with lots of older smokers as members.

Source: Twin Cities, Pioneer Press. Link Expired

Whereas, J.P.’s Exeter Pub, on Route 3, is losing the bulk of its business and is in fear of closing, according to long-time bartender Linda Osenkowski.

…Neil White, owner of Middle of No-where Diner, who said he wouldn’t want to guess at how many customers he’s lost.

“It’s a large amount of people who used to sit, eat and smoke,” he said. “Now they might get a coffee and run. The ambiance has changed. The locals don’t stay. It definitely affects revenue.”

In the case of J.P.’s Exeter Pub, business relies heavily on smoking customers.

Linda Osenkowski, a 23-year employee, said, “It’s bad. We’re not far from going under. This is just a small, little bar that doesn’t serve food. Just snacks and pizza. It’s really hurt us bad.”

Macquarie analyst Steve Wheen surveyed a number of large charitable trusts that operate slot machines in New Zealand and found their gaming revenues had fallen between 11 per cent and 17 per cent compared with the levels of the previous year. . .

“The smoking ban impact felt by the charitable trusts continues to support our notion that Sky City has underestimated the potential impact of the ban,” he said.

Source: Stuff.co.nz. Link expired.

Julian’s restaurant and bar made its last call for patrons on Saturday night. Owner Julian Sanfillipo says the smoking ban is to blame for the decline and eventual death of his business.

Julian’s first opened its doors to the public in 1979.

Source: 10tv.com. Link Expired.

A university fixture for more than a decade, Calamity Cafe, closed its doors, much to the dismay of its loyal following. The restaurant cited the smoking ban as hurting business and a reason to close.

Source: Marshall Parthenon. Link

Minneapolis (WCCO) Some establishment owners are claiming a huge drop in business since Minneapolis snuffed out smoking three weeks ago.

The smoking ban went in effect March 31 at city bars, restaurants and bowling alleys, but claims of declining business have elected officials thinking about changing the law.

City Councilman Dean Zimmerman, co-sponsor of the city smoking ban, got an earful Wednesday at a meeting with about 40 Minneapolis establishment owners, including Gabby’s owner Jeff Ormond.

“Everybody is seeing declined sales,” Ormond said.

“We’re down between 25 and 30 percent,” one bar owner said.

“We were not prepared for this big chunk of our business to be bitten out of us,” said another.

“We’re the ones risking everything, and I’m very upset about it, and we’ve got to do something about it,” another attendee said.

Zimmerman was willing to suggest the law could change.

“There certainly may be opportunity for doing the partial ban that would mimic what’s happening in St. Paul,” Zimmerman told those in attendance.

During Wednesday’s lunch rush, there were plenty of open tables at Gabby’s in northeast Minneapolis. The bar was practically empty, and owner Ormond was fuming.

“This is the worst — what you’re looking at — the worst problem,” Ormond said, indicating the empty barstools. “Our bar was always semi-full.”

Ormond said business was down 26 percent since the ban went in effect.

“Our bartenders’ tips are down 50 percent. People come in and have one drink and say ‘Hi’ and then ‘Bye, thank you, gotta go to the bar where we can smoke.’”

Before the smoking ban, Ormond had six people serving drinks on a Saturday night. Ormond said he was cutting it to three, because he needed fewer people to serve the declining bar clientele.

In all, Ormond crossed 51 work shifts off his schedule, an amount equal to 10 full-time jobs.

Source: wcco.com. Link expired, mirror link here.

The company that manages the city’s Pershing Center will be cited by police after comedian Ron White violated the city’s smoking ban during a performance last week. Police Chief Tom Casady said SMG of Philadelphia will get a $100 ticket.

“The law says you can’t allow smoking,” Casady said Cigars, scotch and Texas-tough talk are part of White’s act. During the performance at the Pershing Center, a fan shouted out, asking what it was costing him to smoke the cigar at the center. “Nothin’,” White replied. “I said if I can’t smoke, I ain’t comin.”‘

Casady said White will not be ticketed because “he’s long gone.”

Casady said one of his sergeants thought briefly about ticketing White during his act.
“But she said �No way was I going to give a ticket to a comedian on stage with a crowd of 8,000 people,’ ” Casady said. (Brave, aren’t they?)

Source: Journalstar.com.  Link

William Kozlak, of Jax Cafe, 1928 University Av. NE., said total sales were down $64,942 compared with the same month a year ago. Jeffrey Ormond, of Gabby’s, 1900 NE. Marshall St., said that his gross receipts had dropped 12.4 percent.

The lost business is hurting charitable gambling as well, said Michael Kuduk of the Lions Club. He estimated revenue losses of about 25 percent.

Source: Star Tribune. Link Expired

At Rosie’s Tavern in Granby, owner Rose Anthony has watched her business plummet over the better part of two years.

“My last quarter that I had to pay my sales tax, I only paid four hundred and fifty dollars. That’s considerably down from fifteen, sixteen hundred I normally pay per quarter,” said Mancino, owner of Fulton Ale House.

Mancino says he’s tired of fighting and unless something drastically changes, he will give up his business of 35 years in September.

Source: News 10 Now. Link Expired.

“We received a call this morning that, with the smoking ban going into effect July 1st, they’re going to take their party elsewhere. It was booked for 200 people, several thousands dollars worth of business, and it’s amazing just 12 hours after the election that we got the call,” says Joe Kohlbeck, co-owner of The Bar.”

Source: wbay.com. Link

Health officials are considering prohibiting elderly smokers from lighting up in their own homes at least an hour before home-care workers are due to arrive

(Nicotine nannies have constantly told us they’d never go after people in their own homes, while quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) planning to do it when the time was right.)

Source: Winnipeg Sun. Link Expired

(Sue Jeffers kept a diary of the devastating effect a smoking ban had on her business, Stub and Herbs. These are just a few excerpts. We recommend reading the entire articleto get a feel for just how badly smoking bans hurt hard working small business people.

She also documents how nearby towns, who didn’t have a ban, were seeing their business flourish as smokers and their friends flocked to smoke friendly venues. This always happens when bans are enacted, expose the nannies “good for business” bleat as an intentional lie.)


Half of our regular Thursday lunch customers didn’t come in for lunch.

We have made it through the first weekend of the smoking ban. Sales at my bar were down each day by about 25% from the week before. Our Sunday food and liquor sales were reduced by 50%. One VFW was down 65%.

Customer reactions have been consistent. Most customers, smokers or not, are angry. Some stayed for shorter periods of time, some refused to patronize Minneapolis, some stayed home. My smoking customers are not buying a beer when they are outside having a smoke.

Being so close to the University my bar has customers visiting from out of state. These customers visiting this weekend stayed for one beer and left, they did not order food or another round of drinks. They informed us they will not be back, ever. Even some of my “regulars” are now informing me they will be going to a nearby county to drink as they become someone else’s “regular” customer.

I spent some time in the small bars in NE Minneapolis this weekend, two bars had zero customers. One of the larger NE bars had many people outside smoking, angry customers who said they will not be back and would not stay as long as usual, keep in mind the weather was nice as they stood outside and smoked.

Bar owners around town compared notes…one bar in St. Paul was empty on Thursday night but after receiving a waiver on Friday noticed customer counts were well above average when smoking was allowed again. A bar in Anoka County (a county that just voted no ban) was crowed with transplants (customers and staff) from Ramsey County businesses who could no longer allow smoking. Versions of this were heard over and over again.

A small group of the smoke haters feel they need to visit my bar or send me an anonymous letters, telling me how stupid I am. One drove all the way from Burnsville to gloat and antagonize my customers. These gullible and uninformed people usually list inaccurate facts and are terrified SHS will kill them if they are exposed to a whiff of smoke. They do not realize SHS levels in bars with ventilation test at 150 times BELOW the OSHA safety limits. They do not understand the concept of private property rights and personal freedoms but they do exercise their freedom of speech rights. They are lucky some of my customers did not beat them up, my staff is well trained.

Bars in St. Paul with waivers recorded record sales this past weekend. One particular bar owner who did not receive a waiver in time for the first day of the ban reported sales “$ucked” on Thursday. However, Friday, with his waiver, he had record high sales.

Comments from bar owners over the weekend across the city and county reported sales down up to 65%. On Saturday evening, two NE bars had zero customers. Another NE landmark reported sales down 40%. One VFW reported sales down 65%. A pull tab organization reported sales down 33%. A St. Louis Park bartender made $50 instead of the usual $200 she makes. The Anoka County bar I stopped into was full of Ramsey County residents who decided it was worth the mile drive to be able to smoke.
Enforcement to keep drinks inside and cigarettes outside has caused problems with noise, litter, vandalism, fights and drugs.

Bar sales are still the number one concern. A NE landmark lost a banquet of 125 because the party could not smoke.

Several violent incidents have occurred. A bar owner in St. Paul spoke out publicly today warning women not to leave drinks unattended while they go outside to have a cigarette. The drinks have been drugged. Another bar owner on West Bank reported an altercation with the smokers and local gang members that got out of hand. A downtown club had a patron violently assaulted after going outside for a smoke. Several bars reported drug and alcohol use while customers are outside.

Every day I hear from more and more business owners telling me the problems they are experiencing thanks to the smoking ban. I have heard staff is quitting because of reduced hours and lost tips, assaults and drug and alcohol use while customers are out smoking have increased, and city streets are a mess. I have heard revenue losses in Bloomington, Minneapolis, and Hennepin County down anywhere from 13% to 65%. One VFW has already informed their city they will no longer be donating charitable gambling revenues to the city coffers.

All the while, surrounding cities and counties report record sales.

We are entering the third week of the ban. It is heartbreaking to hear the stories. Today I heard about 2 well established businesses who decided to stop serving lunches, more lost revenues and lost jobs. I heard about a NE Minneapolis nightclub who lost $20,000 in sales last weekend and tomorrow will lay off 20 employees.

After just one month of a smoking ban the bars and restaurants in Minneapolis have proved the bar owners right and the smoke haters lie. Business has not increased, our staff and customers are not healthier and some businesses will not remain in business much longer. The nonsmokers are not coming out and spending more money, in fact they are leaving with their smoking friends to surrounding cities and counties with no bans.
Businesses in those cities and counties continue to thank our foolish city council.
Revenue declines range from 10-65%. Businesses have cut staff and hours, some businesses have laid off up to 25 employees. Businesses that serve the hospitality industry have lost revenues as well. This includes the beer and liquor companies, the pop companies, food distributors, vending, charitable gaming organizations, and others all report declining revenues in Minneapolis. We estimate the first month has cost our city 614 jobs and over a million dollars in lost revenues. And that estimate is low.

After 6 weeks we have had 3 bars close their doors, more are barely hanging on. Every single statement the smoke haters said has been proven a lie. Bar owners have been proven right but no one seems to care about the small business owner, lost revenues, and lost jobs.

Bar owners in surrounding counties without a ban continue to do a thriving business as do those exempted in the next county.

In Minneapolis, 29 businesses have closed, most attribute it mostly to the smoking ban. One owner has laid off his entire kitchen staff and he cooks from open to close. Another owner is bartending open to close just to keep the doors open. A night club has reduced hours to 4 nights per week and is offering free drinks, sometimes until midnight just to lure customers.

Especially powerful was a list the VFW read of all the organizations they donate their charitable gambling revenues to. These organizations have now received letters explaining that the ban has cost significant revenue losses and they will not be receiving contributions similar to last year, if at all. All thanks to the smoking ban.

Again, the list of heartbreaking stories were told by some of the biggest bars in the county. Some own bars in both Hennepin and Ramsey County (St. Paul and surrounding cities with a partial ban). Also included were damages to Kuether Distributing, our Budweiser distributor with accounts mostly in Hennepin County. They have eliminated one entire route and are down 16%. Carbonic Machines, who for 50 years has serviced our bars and restaurants, is down 27%. Vending, food and other hospitality industry related businesses reported losses from 15-50%. Bands do not want to play our venues, they can’t smoke and the customers are all gone anyway.

We also heard the stories about vandalism, noise, litter, and drug and alcohol use as smokers went outside to our sidewalks or parking lots. Bar owners are worried that it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed. One bar owner, down 65% compared to last year, had left a customer running her bar so she could come down and speak to the commissioners.

We met at a south Minneapolis bar/restaurant whose business is down over 30%. Eight years and he could not pay his property taxes in May and can not get any additional financing. He said he won’t last much longer. The three new customers he gained with the smoking ban have not begun to replace the lost ones.

Bloomington has been receptive to the concerns of the bars and private clubs. They DID notice 2 businesses closed in the Mall of America. They noticed the Minnesota Department of Economic Security reported a loss of 1400 jobs in the hospitality sector for May and another 700 in June. (Wait until the minimum wage increase hits in August.) They also noticed their private clubs were down $250,000 the first three months of the ban. Money that will not be donated to worthy causes in their community. Liquor revenues continue to plummet in all size bars as the losses now total millions of dollars.

As we enter the 4th month of the smoking ban we continue to see lost revenues, jobs and more closed businesses. Minneapolis Hospitality Association can document the city of Minneapolis is losing a million dollars a month in lost revenues compared to the year before. We can document 1200 lost jobs. Charitable gambling losses are down on average over $100,000 per month per establishment. More money that will not go back into the community.

The smoke haters in Hennepin County call this “dip” in business: temporary. A dip that Hennepin County and Minneapolis assured us would never happen, as the nonsmoking customers flocked to our businesses. If you assume this trend will continue, Hennepin County will lose an estimated $1,632,000 in annual tax revenues in just charitable gambling losses. The City of Minneapolis charitable gambling is down 24.26% totaling $1,894,585.99, in just two months.

The job losses continue to mount and the liquor revenues are devastating as well. Food sales appear to be flat. Twenty businesses have closed in Hennepin County since the beginning of the ban. In researching other communities in similar size who have chosen to trample on property and individual rights, we expect another 80 to go under if the ban continues.

Friday is another fundraiser for a bar who can no longer pay their bills. Porter’s Bar, in business for 70 years is ready to close. Kathy and John are two of the finest people I have ever met, caring, hard working, honest and they have been put out of business by yet another regulation to our industry as our elected officials try to legislate “healthy” behavior while ignoring facts, science, and negative economic impacts.

The fact remains 23 businesses have closed that I know of… there could be and are more, over a thousand jobs have been lost and millions in lost revenues have been documented.

Source: The Smokers Club. Link

In one week, the alcohol sales at Katz has dropped 20 percent, and their overall sales 13%. At P.O.E.T.S., the owner says they’re down from 20 percent to 33 percent on any given day and at the Q Pub, where they stopped selling food to allow their customers to smoke, sales are down 36 percent.

Kessler and the other owners are asking for a Federal injunction to stop the ban, fearing the losses will continue as they have in other smoke-free cities according to at least some recent studies.

“They show that Dallas lost 11.8 million the first year that it was in effect in Dallas,” said attorney James Skrobarcek.

Source: kirstv.com. Link

LINCOLN, Neb. — Some Lincoln bars and restaurants said they’re taking a big financial hit three months after Lincoln’s smoking ban went into effect.

“Our sales are down about $20,000 a month,” said Cheerleads Bar & Grill owner Dean Borgmann.

Borgmann is so concerned that on Monday, he and two other bar owners complained to the City Council. They reported that business has dropped 30 percent.

“Our lunch crowds have dropped by more than half. We’ve already cut 14 hours of operation of when we’re open,” Bormann said.

The city said the ban’s first economic impact results will be released in July.
Borgmann said he doesn’t know if his business will still be around.
“I will be very lucky to survive over the summer,” Borgmann said.

Source: ketv.com Link

Avid bowlers have a month left to enjoy Ottawa Lanes on Talmadge Road, which is slated to close April 16 to make way for a ribs restaurant.

The bowling center’s closing will occur almost 46 years to the day after it was opened by James Nopper, who said at the time he patterned the operation after developments in Florida and California.

“Part of the reason that motivated him into selling was that he was so drastically impacted by the smoking ban in Toledo,” Mr. Healey said. The anti-smoking law has since been loosened.

Source: Toledo Blade. Link

Robert Mogavero says he lost half of his business at Mulligan’s Sports Pub immediately after the ban took effect January 31st.

Source: wkyc.com. Link Expired

Two Reynolds Road diners opened by well-known chef Maximilian Korl in the late 1990s closed last week after the latest owners were unable to meet payroll for 50 employees Saturday, one of the owners said.

Business at the Max’s Diner restaurants dropped 20 to 25 percent after Toledo’s smoking ban went into effect, eating away profits, said Jeff Kaminsky, who has owned the restaurants with his wife, Kathy, for five years.

Source: Toledo Blade. Link

“I’m losing $300 a day,” one Columbus bar owner says. “I’m near bankruptcy.
“This is all my husband and I do for a living. This is it,” she says. Saying the smoking ban is destroying her profits. “I rang $37 on a Tuesday. That’s from 10am to 230am,” Leslie said. “I’ve cut all my vendors in half.”Fowler says he’s losing somewhere around 15% to 25% range.

“I feel bad. I’ve let three bartenders go,” Tim Cashin, owner of “Somewhere Else” tavern says. “I’m seeing revenue loss of $1200-$1500 a week.”

Source: 10tv.com. Link Expired

“We get a profit and loss statement every week, and the numbers are going down, so it’s hurting,” said Joanna Segyde, restaurant manager.

The workers are in an environment free of second-hand smoke for the first time. On the other hand, the manager has had to lay-off a half-dozen staffers because of decreasing revenue.

Source wishtv.com. Link Expired

According to the Connecticut Bowlers’ Association 49 percent of bowlers light up. Since the ban, business has bombed.

“I’m down 25 to 50 percent because of the smoking ban and that’s a big chunk of my business” says Izzi.

There’s also another hazard for smokers and it has nothing to do with the air. When smokers take a break and don’t change to their street shoes, the shoes will get wet, stick and people could hurt themselves.

Besides injuring themselves they track in dirt and gravel which rips up the wood floors and ruins it for everybody.

Source: wtnh.com. Link

Sales tax at Talbot County bars and restaurants with liquor licenses declined by nearly $3 million, or 11 percent, from May through December 2004 when compared with the same period in 2003.

The number of bars and restaurants with liquor licenses dropped from 39 in November 2003 to 29 at the end of 2004. Talbot County went smoke-free in April 2004.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal. Link