ST. MATTHEWS — It is happy hour at the Calhoun Saloon, minus the customers.

Glenn Rucker, owner and resident of St. Matthews, purchased the saloon in 1995. He said the recession has had a definite impact on his business, and he has had to make adjustments accordingly.

“Overall sales are down, and the customer volume is down. Some of that can be attributed to the warmer weather and people wanting to be outdoors fishing and boating, and getting their lawn work taken care of.

“I have had to cut back on the cleaning crew and bartenders’ hours. I have also had to cut out a lot of live bands, which I personally love because the numbers of customers decline when there is a door charge for bands.

“Little things that I never had to worry about before such as cutting down on lighting, and making adjustments on the air conditioning by raising the temperature a few degrees, and even shutting down a few neon lights inside, are now changes that I have to be aware of that might help.”

“These are small changes that may add up to savings on the electric bill. Customers who used to come in for happy hour every day, I am just not seeing any more.”

“I know that is due to the economic condition and because a lot of people are out of work. I have not raised my prices and am hoping that in the near future things will improve.”

“ I like to attend my grandson’s ball games and that is really of the utmost importance in my life is to be there for them, so I have to do all I can to work around those hours by having a bartender here early,” Rucker said. “It costs a little more to have the help here then when I would normally do it myself, but my grandchildren mean the world to me, and that is all I am working for anyway. You cannot put a price on that.”

You must be logged in to comment.