The owner of a bar in Hamilton that has a strip club is breathing a sigh of relief that his business will be able to open in Alert Level 1.
Steele Williams, who owns The Book Club in Hamilton, had a hard time trying to stay open in Level 2 due to the restrictions.
“We will officially open on Friday, and we are planning a grand reopening for lack of better words, where we’d promote ourselves again, push a few deals and hopefully get some numbers through our door.”
The restrictions in Level 2 required customers to be seated with single service required for each table. This meant Williams would have needed to outsource more seating and hire more staff, ultimately leading to lost profits.
“The cost of running versus having people in was too high and there was no benefit to it. So we just decided it was better for us to remain closed and wait it out.”
Williams also struggled running the strip club within the venue.
“It’s quite personal with interaction on the strip side, and it’s very one-on-one and that was quite difficult, how we were going to navigate that. So that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t open that side on Level 2 either.”
Supporting staff during lockdown
During the lockdown period, Williams maintained staff numbers due to the support from the government which offered $10,000 loans for businesses and a wage subsidiary to staff.
During Level 2 the Book Club hosted a quiz night, which wasn’t a normal procedure for the club. However, Williams felt it was necessary to host the event to entice current and new customers.
The quiz night was a success and was sold out within the first 50 hours.
Looking ahead
Now that the country has transitioned into Level 1, staff at The Book Club will continue registering customers when they visit.
Williams says he will provide QR codes to customers willing to carry out the optional Tracing procedures. He will also provide a physical registration for those not using the Tracer app.
Williams says he is hopeful for the future.
“It was hard to get through, but we’re through. Hopefully, fingers crossed, we remain on this side of it and we can carry on business as usual.”
The bar will only open during the weekends for now.