Back to the club? How Myrtle Beach bars are adapting as ‘last call’ COVID rule ends
For seven months, Gov. Henry McMaster required South Carolina’s bars and clubs to stop serving alcohol at 11 p.m., effectively shutting them down at least three hours early some nights for many businesses.
The rule, meant to stem the tide of rising COVID-19 cases, destroyed revenue for businesses that thrive on late-night alcohol sales. When the restriction went into effect last July, bars suddenly found themselves unable to serve service industry workers who get off work late, and clubs that made most of their money after midnight saw clientele evaporate.
While the 11 p.m. rule ended Monday, businesses are taking a mixed approach on their next steps. Some immediately shifted their hours to stay open as late as they could. Others plan to take a more gradual approach, not wanting to risk their employees getting COVID-19 if customers flood in.
Ken Phillips, owner of the gay night club Pulse, has said the last call order was one of the most devastating financial strains the COVID-19 pandemic placed on his business. Closing three hours earlier meant moving up drag shows from midnight to 9 p.m. Many LGBTQ+ people in Myrtle Beach, Phillips said, work in hospitality, meaning that people like waiters who don’t get off until 10:30 p.m. suddenly couldn’t go to Pulse after work.
Less than a week since the last call order has been lifted, he’s already seen some people come back to the club.
“It’s good to see those those faces, those regulars that I normally have and had been every single year,” he said.
Not only did the last call restriction mean less money in drink sales, it also meant that fewer people to tip drag performers.
Phillips immediately reinstated the bar’s pre-pandemic hours on March 1. It now serves drinks until 2 a.m., and he’s already seen some of those service industry workers return. He’s taking a slower approach on the drag shows. A lot of people have gotten used to the earlier show, and it’s going to take time to remind everyone about the new hours and show times, he said.
“People, even myself, have gotten so accustomed to the new norm that my brain was trying to get shows in order and employees in order because none of that had been in existence for a year now,” he said.
Bars with heavy local traffic like Bourbon Street and Foster’s Cafe and Bar also rely on late-night customers who work in the service industry to survive.
“We rely on for those guys, being a big local bar. We were hurt,” Bourbon Street owner Jay McAllister said . “By having to close at 11 o’clock, we were losing out on all of our locals that wait tables at Carolina Roadhouse and everywhere else.”
Both Foster’s and Bourbon Street are now extending their hours tentatively on a night-to-night basis, depending on how many customers they have.
Fonda said his business was just “treading water” for the seven months the last call order was in place. It took out about 35% of his sales, and since he doesn’t open until 4 p.m., it cut the bar’s hours by a third.
During the fall, the last call order also got in the way of sports, one of the bar’s primary draws. Not only would he have to stop serving alcohol at 11 p.m., his employees also had to clear all drinks from tables, even if they were unfinished.
“It was not a good thing,” Foster’s owner Don Fonda said. “We were just just trying to rebound from their shutdown” when the governor’s order arrived in July. “Since then, we were like treading water for the last 10 months and not making any money and just kind of losing money at a trickle effect.”
For at least some bar owners, closing a earlier was actually kind of nice. Phillips and McAllister both said it would be an adjustment for them and their employees to have to stay up later.
“We’d adjusted to it. It was good and bad,” McAllister said. “I kind of enjoyed the early closing time. ... It wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be.”
McMaster’s decision Feb. 26 to lift the last call order came exactly one week before the 3001 Nightlife club planned to open its doors for the first time.
“New club, nothing to go by, but has to help,” 3001 owner Roger Davisson said in a text message.
Being able to have extended late-night hours, Davisson estimated, could bring the club “as much as 60% more” revenue than if it had to close at 11 p.m. But the biggest factor in the club’s success will be whether and when crowds of people feel comfortable coming out again, he said.
COVID-19 fears
While the end of the 11 p.m. last call rule might help these businesses’ bottom line, most of the owners still expressed worries about the coronavirus.
Pulse owner Phillips requires all of his employees to wear masks and tells customers when they come in to put one on, though many take them off inside after getting their drink. While acknowledging the risk behaviors like that present, Phillips said he doesn’t want to dog customers and risk losing their business.
He also knows there’s a danger with reopening the dance floor for the first time since July, to both drag performers and customers. But it’s up to each person to evaluate the risk and decide what’s best for them, he says.
Bourbon Street owner McAllister said those same worries are why he’s not rushing to get people back in the door. He hasn’t formally extended his hours back to 2 a.m. Instead, he’s left it up to his employees to decide when to close each night based on the number of customers still around.
“We’re just kind of playing it by ear and slowly, slowly transitioning into the the old way,” he said. “We’re not jumping full bore into big concerts with packing the place out with the congregation and dancing.”
Regardless of new rules for drink sales, the coronavirus hasn’t gone anywhere.
“We’re still aware that the virus is still out there,” McAllister said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Back to the club? How Myrtle Beach bars are adapting as ‘last call’ COVID rule ends."
