Why bars fail: lessons from the ones that didn't make it
Most advice comes from the wins. These lessons come from the losses, told by the person who lived them.
Big and splashy is not a plan
In 2004 Geoff opened a 20,000-square-foot venue inside DC's new arena. It lasted about a year. He came back and opened four successful bars within two blocks of it, each smaller and built around a clear crowd.
A great bar in the wrong market still loses
A Baltimore expansion lost everything in two years. Some bars are great but sit in the wrong location; one of Geoff's, Carpool Herndon, is "a great bar in a bad location" that still endures 20+ years later.
Traffic patterns change
After COVID, office crowds never fully came back to downtown DC, and a coffee house built for them came and went quickly. Know where your customers come from and whether that will last.
Sometimes the right move is to close
Closing a bar is part of the business. Geoff talks openly about the bars he closed, reinvented or sold.
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