Stache nightclub has announced it will be ceasing operations Saturday, July 13.
Stache opened in West Hollywood’s Rainbow District in December 2019. Three months later, the COVID pandemic began, ushering in an era of tough business made more complicated by public safety problems and higher wages.
“We have given Stache our best effort, however our operations no longer make sense,” owners said in a press release.
The complete statement is below:
“Dear Stache Community,
Thank you so much for all of your support since day one. Over the last three years, we’ve been a WeHo destination where everyone was welcomed and memories were made. We’ve truly cherished serving you, our community, and appreciate everyone who has been with us for this unforgettable ride. We signed our lease in December 2019 completely unaware that 3 months later everything would change in the new Covid world, and what a journey it has been.
We have given Stache our best effort, however our operations no longer make sense. It is with great sadness that we must announce that Stache’s last day of operations will be this coming Saturday, July 13th, 2024.
We are forever grateful to our amazing team for their dedication and hard work. We hope you’ll join us in supporting them and celebrating Stache’s last week – we’ll forever hold dear the community, friendships, and memories we’ve made.
With gratitude,
Your Stache Family”
If you had honored Café de Toile. you replaced the café de if you had done aone iota of trying to replicate some of their recipes and would made Café de Toile so special you wouldn’t be closing today, but you chose to go in a different direction and that was a deathknell
It’s pretty simple, you want to be successful in the bar business in that location, stop trying to be in any way chic/happening/upscale and just serve people dirt cheap booze in buckets and you’ll have steady revenue for years. Don’t even bother serving food. Look at Bayou, Motherlode, Trunks and Fiesta Cantina. That’s what you need to compete with, not Rocco’s Micky’s or The Chapel. Stop trying to be too much! Damn!
The rainbow district will disappear in less than 10 years.
This is your reaction based on the closure of a 4-year-old business that opened as a Vegan restaurant. This stretch of SMB has never been as active as it is today, with massive investment in new places like the new Beaches, Gym Bar, and Roosterfish. I have lived here a long time and often heard about the death of Boystown (heck, when Studio One closed, people said turn out the lights on weho), but they have all been exaggerated, as they say.
True. Very true.
It’s not true at all lol
The hyperbole on here just gets more ridiculous
What is ridiculous is denial. Constant denial.
What denial? There are 3 new gay bars opening in West Hollywood this year!
WeHo bar district is busier than it’s ever been. Obviously you don’t get out much or you’re just wishful thinking.
Bring back Cafe d’ Etoile!!!
Yes, 100%
Wouldn’t that be nice!
I agree Jim the café was special. You knew if you went to the café for dinner you were going to be served a quality delicious meal. I took many friends. They’re both straight and gay and they absolutely loved it. I remember the day they closed. I was there with a friend on a Sunday and they closed on a Monday, it was devastating it was heartbreaking. Bring it back.
Wow
Maybe we’ll get luck and someone will resurrect the Greenery/Eat Well/Marcos or a similar type of diner. There is a real lack of breakfast and lunch restaurants in West Hollywood. Not every place needs to be over the top or fall into the go-go boy category.
Yup, this is NOT a business friendly city. We’ve seen so many businesses close in this city the last few years. Perhaps the nightclub scene is oversaturated in that small area. Here’s hoping that this space doesn’t stay empty for long…a new restaurant would be nice, not much of that down that end of town.
City staff should talk to the owners and see what improvements they could have improved upon to help a business thrive. Was it high rents, high wages, lack of parking, and lack of safety/security that contributed to profitability ?
At this moment, many thefts and crimes are happening. The neighborhood is evolving in an undesirable way. It also doesn’t help to have an entire swath of a once thriving neighborhood boarded up for a development that wasn’t financially ready for development.
I truly do not understand how this is the fault of the City of WeHo. Stache was one of SEVEN LGBTQ+ bars on a single block of Santa Monica. They aren’t all going to survive. I feel lousy for the owners and the employees, but this isn’t the city’s fault.
Exactly, the city did not do their business plan nor should they. Their business model just did not cut it on a very competitive block as you say and when the roosterfish fully opens it will be more competitive. The space was a great redo so the new operators will benefit from that.
My comment was a general comment about the state of doing business in the City Of West Hollywood. This is not a business friendly city. As many businesses that have shuttered in recent years have stated, their closure is due -in part -to the cities policies. These policies also make it difficult for new businesses to move into the city. This is evident by the many empty store fronts that have been empty for quite a while.
“As many businesses that have shuttered in recent years have stated”
Many businesses said this? Which ones? Please list some examples
I remember most of them have actually said it’s dramatic increases in RENT or their landlords refusing to negotiate that have caused them to close.
“I remember most of them have actually siad its dramatic increases in rent or landlords refusal to negotiate’, can you be more specific, that was Lisa Vanderpump’s line when they did not have a valid business license. Who are you referring to?
I believe Marcos had a lease/rent issue, as did the yogurt place, kitchen 24 and video west plus I think zpizza moved to a new spot due to a a lease/rent issue. When some of these old 10 year plus leases come to an end, it can shocking what the new. rents can be. What is your term and are you worried?
Each of those businesses mentioned left at the expiration of their leases. They chose not to renew. Yogurt Stop wanted to sell and the landlord would not assign a lease, but they wanted out. Video West left more than ten years ago, or even fifteen, we share the same landlord, it was not due to a rent increase. I never have a problem with my landlord, the problem is a hostile environment where employees have to step over homeless people to open the doors, or forced to deal with it daily, and an overall decrease in traffic during the weekdays… Read more »
Good to hear your landlord is good. I understand the businesses I mentioned left at the end of their lease, but I do believe the driver was either a rent increase or renewal terms or both. I also believe Stache just didn’t make it because people did not go there. It was always half empty at peak times and the food was niche. I know weho and California are tough on businesses, favoring workers, but sometimes a business model is just bad. I think that is the case here.
“I never have a problem with my landlord”
You keep citing this as evidence that no businesses are dealing with greedy landlords. Thats simply NOT TRUE. I’m glad you have a great relationship with yours, Larry! But the truth is that many landlords have raised their rents insane amounts and small businesses can no longer afford the rent.
many is not quantifiable, if a tenant had been on a long term lease below market then when the lease renews they might move closer to market, many leases have a ‘fair market value’ clause that allows a tenant to renew at 90% of the fair market value. you simply do not understand the differences between commercial and residential leases.
Yup.
Yogurt Stop, Gym Bar(old location), Gold Coast, Trocadero Lounge, Coffee Bean are a few I can think of off the top of my head. All cited failed landlord relations/rent increases as the reason they closed.
funny how everyone of those places got re-leased except coffee bean. So it was not the price.
Okay so no one is allowed to complain about businesses closing if the space is re-leased?
You don’t think retention of long term businesses is important, Larry? Great campaign slogan for you!
Coffee Bean was NOT re-leased btw. It’s been empty for 5+ years.
GreenEyes, coffee bean was re-leased to a chinese thai but they pulled out and litigation holds up the re-leasing. Your point is that the landlords are to blame, citing video west as one of your five examples..which is not true, im in teir buidling, do you understand that a tenant may call an increase in CAM, common area maitenance which includes the property taxes as a cost increase, or rent increase, but in fact its not the owner raising the rent, it is the city raising the property taxes and assessments, or the owner may have sold the building and… Read more »
It is not a price issue with the new tenant, but is to the old tenant. Also many leases are only offered at 5 years, which is very unattractive to business.
Businesses want long leases to make capital investments to amortize over 20 years. Most leases in key locations often have a 10 plus 10. Or 10 plus 5 plus 5. Renewals are at 90% of market rate. Those are often standard terms to begin the negotiations. So hwen you say most businesses do not want a 5 year lease, implying they want shorter leases, you would be wrong. The tenant like a long term lease to control the sapce for a longer period of time at a fixed rate.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/business/2024/03/15/west-hollywood-minimum-wage “West Hollywood has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $19.08 per hour. Restaurants across the city are struggling to keep their doors open as a result. Businesses have banded together, with more than 50 restaurants having signed a letter to the city calling for a moratorium on wage increases.” https://labusinessjournal.com/featured/business-owners-flee-wage-hike/ “It makes these businesses not viable,” Latteri said. “It’s not sustainable… and you could be, for me, 60 feet east and be in the city of L.A., with 25 to 30% lower labor costs.” https://wehoonline.com/2024/04/11/survey-22-lost-jobs-due-wehos-minimum-wage-hike/ “42 percent of employers said the ordinance had negatively affected them because… Read more »
Wow I love how some commenters are allowed to post links when discussing issues but I am not.
Larry, didn’t you say no one is allowed to post links? You won’t even let me post NY times or LA Times links.