ST. LOUIS — Open Concept, the all-you-can-drink bar in the Grove run by the city recorder of deeds, has closed.
Recorder Michael Butler, who just announced a run for mayor, said Monday he had lost his passion for the bar business and wants to focus on politics.
“I am squarely focused on running for mayor,” he said via text message. “Closing Open Concept allows me to finally do one thing, and not be spread amongst so many endeavors.”
Butler
Open Concept first announced the closure on social media, casting a bathroom malfunction as the last straw.
“We were hoping for a last hoorah party,” a Facebook post said on Saturday, “but our bathroom toilets had plumbing issues last night during service and that was the last sign we needed.”
The announcement ended a five-year run for Open Concept, which, unlike other bars, charged patrons a flat fee per hour to imbibe as much as they could handle — $20 for beer only, $50 for everything. Butler said shortly after it opened that 95% of patrons drank responsibly and that staff could intervene with the rest.
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In February 2023, when Butler left his position as head of the state Democratic Party, Butler said he had new investment in the business.
He from some in the beleaguered party who thought he had not done enough to support candidates in the 2022 election cycle, but he denied those charges.
The bar’s social media post on Saturday said several St. Louisans had shown interest in the buying the business over the past nine months, but none followed through.
Butler, also a former state representative, announced his campaign for mayor on Friday afternoon, citing concerns the city is moving in the wrong direction under Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
“We need to address our most important issues head-on and place crime, growing our local economy, and basic city services on the front burner, every day,” Butler said in the statement Friday. “My record of public service demonstrates my capabilities in managing difficult problems and solving them.”
Alderwoman Cara Spencer has also filed to run for mayor.
View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
