Lucy’s Garage celebrated their one-year anniversary this past month, thriving in the growing gay district just off Church Street in Nashville’s Midtown area.
The bar, which opened on August 24, 2006, currently has 21 employees, and has dramatically changed its customer offerings in the past year, going from a non-drag bar, to one that heavily promotes it’s Lucky’s La Cage shows.
Owner and Operations Manager Tony Daniel said the bar listened to what its customers wanted – and they wanted a drag show.
“It (having a drag show) was a bit of a turnaround for us,” said Daniel. “We hadn’t originally planned to do shows on a regular basis at Lucky’s. However, the feedback we got from our customers indicated that a show is what they really wanted.”
The show, along with more focused marketing efforts, helped bring in the crowds. And while Lucky’s grew, two other bars in different parts of town – The Chute and DeVil’s - saw dwindling crowds. Eventually, they closed. The Chute was Nashville’s oldest gay when it closed its doors.
Location may have also been a factor in the other bar closings.
Lucky’s anchors the gay district, sitting just off Church Street behind Hustler Hollywood. Other GLBT owned or friendly businesses in the area includes Joe’s clothing store, Red restaurant, Tribe video bar, Play Dance Club, OutLoud! Books and Gifts, OutLoud! Café, OutCentral Community Center, Village Real Estate Services Midtown, Chappy’s, Club Blu and Blue Gene’s.
“It could be that location may have had an impact on the customer base,” Daniel said. “We think Midtown is evolving as the gay place to be, and people love to bar hop and visit the gay district. We think that is why we’ve seen consistent growth.”
Daniel was also quick to say that Lucky’s responds “lightening fast” to customer requests and noted the steady increasing business for the bar was due to a variety of reasons.
“As the year progressed we began holding special events which proved to be appealing to our customers,” he explained. “That included the back bar evolving to include our regular line up of Friday and Saturday drag shows. We’ve been fortunate to continue to see a steady growth in our customer base.”
Daniel said the future for the bar looked bright – if not unpredictable.
“We’re going to always be looking to bring new things to the bar and respond to our customers,” he said.
