The Side Quest, a popular Lakewood bar, is closing its doors at the end of January.
The Detroit Avenue watering hole announced the bad news on Instagram Saturday night. It hopes to stay open through January to cover final costs and expenses.
“This past year, we have all been through a lot of ups and downs,” read a post written on the bar’s Instagram page. “There have been a lot of new challenges to face, and we’ve risen as best we could with new ways of serving, new products, and a new way to reward our customers for coming to see us. At the end of the day, we enter winter with the lowest customer turnout due to the new influx of COVID combined with the highest cost of running that we’ve ever dealt with.”
The self-proclaimed geek bar, which opened in 2014, grew a following thanks to its vast array of board games and books and its welcoming atmosphere, especially to its LGBTQ crowd. In addition to serving food such as burgers and small plates and seasonal craft cocktails like Butterbeer, it hosted themed nights, Dungeon and Dragons games, trivia nights and TV watch parties.
During repeated COVID-19 shutdowns, the bar had been asking for help to support its employees on a “COVID Sucks! Help Out” page on its website, where money could be shared to the bartenders’ Venmo accounts. That page is still active here.
“We will also try our best to stay open long enough that our staff has time to find new opportunities,” the post continued. “We are so grateful for all the work, love, and creativity our staff have brought to the Side Quest over years.“
Don’t want to see the bar close? The post also mentioned that those interested in “taking over this quest” can reach out.
”Thank you so much to everyone that has come to see us 1,000 times or even just once,” the bar’s post read. ”You’ve helped us build an amazing community that made everything that’s happened here possible.”
Editor’s Note: A representative for The Side Quest did not respond to a request for further comment. This story may be updated if they do.
