After 29 years on McKinney Avenue, Christie’s Sports Bar & Grill is closing its doors for good amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owner Ashton Christie said since March, he’s lost $650,000 in sales.
Though he received a PPP loan and one month’s rent assistance, Christie said it wasn’t enough to overcome three closures since March.
“When nothing's coming in, it’s hard to pay the bills,” said Ashton Christie.
In the end, Christie said he couldn’t come to an agreement with his landlord.
And when it comes to rent, Christie believes government support fell short in helping business owners stay afloat.
“We should’ve had an agreement during this time. We all should work together, landlords, tenants. We needed some assistance right away for that, for them and for us to be able to sustain,” said Christie.
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Christie first opened the bar in 1991 with his dad and brother.
He said it was originally a pool hall, but evolved to be the sports bar it is today.
Christie calls it the neighborhood ‘Cheers.’
"Everybody knew your name and had a very friendly atmosphere,” said Christie.
Over the last three decades, he said they experienced their fair share of bumps in the road. That includes climbing rent that sent many of his neighbors packing.
Still, Christie said none compare to what he’s experienced the last five months.
Christie first closed in March due to a Dallas County’s ‘Safer at Home’ order.
He then reopened only to be shut down a week later as protests led to a city-mandated curfew.
When he was able to reopen again, Christie said it wasn’t long before cases spiked and the state shut down anyone whose sales were at least 51% alcohol.
“If it was in my control, we’d still be around. But it takes a lot of people to make things right with one another for everybody to succeed at the end of the day. If not, all of these buildings will be empty. Then what?” said Christie.
Christie said he hopes to open again when given the chance either in Dallas or somewhere up north.
