Bars That Don’t Serve Booze Appear To Be Growing In Popularity
Is the booze business in decline? I’ve always thought that alcohol was impervious to the economic downturns that affect other businesses. In fact, people who sell beer, wine, and spirits for a living have told me that their business was essentially recession-proof. I don’t think alcoholic beverages are going away by any means, but there does seem to be a growing trend of folks giving up the drink.
Earlier this year, Sugar Lounge opened its doors near Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte. It’s a booze-free bar that serves multi-ingredient mocktails such as the Dirty Sugar Martini, Peachy Sugar Bellini, and Sugar Honey Iced Tea. Sugar Lounge isn’t exactly for health nuts. They also offer hookah and cigars, so you still need to be 21 to enter, but alcohol is nowhere to be found.
Cleveland is hopping on the booze-free bandwagon, too. WJW-TV reports that Molly Cheraso’s husband gave up alcohol while training for the Cleveland Marathon a couple of years ago. Molly, 40, followed suit and hasn’t had a drink in over a year. She has also turned her lifestyle choice into a business. Like the Sugar Lounge, Cleveland’s new Verbena Free Spirited Shoppe is a non-alcoholic gathering space serving a variety of booze-free libations, as well as coffee, tea, savory foods, and desserts.
Booze-Free Boom or Bust?
The viability of the booze-free bar concept has some data to back it up. According to a 2020 University of Michigan study, the share of college-age adults abstaining from alcohol has grown from 20 to 28 percent over the last two decades. And a 2021 Gallup poll showed that 60 percent of U.S. adults drank spirits, wine or beer, which was down from 65 percent in 2019.
Verbena owner Molly Cheraso says, “One thing I like to point out to people is, alcohol is the one drug you have to explain why you don’t want to take it.” She’s right about that. Some people will almost make you feel like you should apologize for not drinking with them. But those attitudes appear to be changing as more and more people reevaluate their relationship with alcohol.
