Aceitunas Beer Garden among El Paso bars that won’t reopen at 25% capacity
EL PASO, Texas -- While bars in El Paso are being given the green light to reopen Friday as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's restart of the Texas economy, Aceitunas Beer Garden at 5200 Doniphan Drive will not be among those that do.
"We are afraid that they are going to let all of the bars open, and then cases are going to spike, and then they'll say never mind and have everyone shut down again," explained Madison Poe, the owner of Aceitunas said. "Then it’s going to be this whole thing (again) so we kind of just want to wait until its safe."
RELATED STORY: ‘We’re ready’: El Paso bars set to serve customers again
Aceitunas is in a unique position, as it operates on a seasonal basis by making much of its' yearly revenues during the spring and summer months. The bar has already missed out on two months of operation, meaning it would have to make due on just five months of operations.
The west side bar, like all of them in El Paso, was forced to shut its doors on St. Patrick's Day, as part of an emergency order in response to the outbreak of Covid-19.
"St. Patrick's Day is one of the busiest days of the year and so without any warning, we had stocked up on that day, and we had to close. We have been sitting on that inventory this whole time," Poe said.
While his bar has not set a date to reopen, Poe says he plans on doing so when capacity is increased to at least 50%.
"Once we do reopen, you know we’ll keep everything clean, social distance, make it safe and still have our events that we usually do but in a safe way," Poe explained.
