Maybe Their Wings Are Indeed More Spicy?

This is a true story.

Another late night in which I am driving home knowing that the dinner is likely all gone thanks to my family.  I decide to go to "The Tavern @ JR Criketts" on Old National Highway in College Park GA.

The place was dark and I saw "little red signs" on the window.  I understood what that means: "Closed For Business".

If you take a transactional view of the situation you'' merely say "Oh well, businesses come and go".

This would be fine, except YOU are not running a longitudinal study on "What Makes The Black Consumer Consciousness Tick........And How Do The Koreans Profit From It?"

The "Tavern @ JR Crickets" has been open for at least 8 years.  It was in a newly built strip mall location right near Old National Highway and I-285.  

It is a sports bar themed restaurant.  
It is Black owned and operated.   The location is also close enough to a few hotels and the airport which allowed it to attract the occasional business traveler.    In fact - about 6 weeks ago when I was there there was a table full of Asians and White people doing the majority of the Karaoke.

This location lost its loyal Black crowd, over time, to the new "Dugans Bar And Grill" that opened a few miles south on Old National.

Dugans is a well known "sports bar" brand in metro Atlanta.  They have at least 3 other locations that now cater to a predominately Black patronage but are not Black owned.  Dugans should be applauded because they are investing in Black communities and hiring Black people to give quality service to Black patrons.  They do not have a "No Urban Mandate".

This post is not going to take the standard "By Black" angle.

Both "JR Crickets" and "Dugans" have a majority Black staff.
For me the closing of "JR Critics" means that about 15 Black females have now lost their jobs.

My advice to the "Consumer Minded Black People" on the southside is the same advice that I give to my kids on the subject of my emphasis on grocery shopping.    

With three grocery stores all sitting in retail developments at one major intersection:

• Kroger
• Publix
• Ingles

.....my children always protest when I choose Ingles over the other two that they prefer.  When they ask me why I go there I tell them "With the parking lots of the other two stores full - I would rather see 3 businesses open than 2 large chains that control the market.   One day you two will be looking for an 'after school job' and the loss of one option will make it harder for you if Ingles closes".  

The patrons that I saw at Dugans were more focused on their social interactions with their various friends than they were focused on making a decision to "spread out their monetary resources".  

This pattern of behavior is the same as I noted in nearby Riverdale.   As the "Peppers Sportsbar" had a line waiting outside to get in - another alternative - about 2 blocks up the street sat nearly empty.   Tara Blvd in Jonesboro had another "ill-fated" JR Crickets that closed down as "Hooters" and "Applebys" thrived right next door.    On Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain - right near another Dugan's location - Black people were seen waiting in the cold one night to get into Dugans as a club at the bottom of the hill from "The Atrium" - a "Black biker themed " restaurant ("447"???) sat empty. It too is now closed.

One day we will make note of how much we have invested into politics for our uplift while losing a large part of the practical consciousness about ourselves.  

The "crowd mentality" where the old Yogi Berra anomaly which says "No one ever goes that that restaurant any more - its always too crowded" needs to be brought into the conscious attention of the Black consumer - where he is compelled to adopt the only type of "SPREAD THE WEALTH" mechanism that does not involve the government.  

"Joe The Plumber" won't have anything to say because its your money and your choice.