Business was booming when Dennis Jordhamo opened up Mustang Sally’s Saloon in downtown Ansonia earlier this year.
Now? Not so much.
“It’s horrible,” Jordhamo said during an interview last week inside the East Main Street bar/restaurant.
Jordhamo reached out the Valley Indy to dispel a rumor that Mustang Sally’s, a country bar, had closed.
“Everywhere I go now people are coming up to me saying ‘Hey I heard you went out of business,’” he said. “I say ‘What are you talking about?’”
Jordhamo also posted a frustrated message on his bar’s Facebook page Sept. 8, pointing out the business wasn’t dead.
“The rumor has perpetuated so fast that we’re closed, and here I am, I’ve got bands booked,” Jordhamo said in an interview. “Every Friday in September has got a band booked. Every Friday in October has a band booked.”
But he acknowledges Mustang Sally’s is on life support — and the next month is do-or-die for the business.
Given the advance buzz in the community and on social media before Mustang Sally’s opened, Jordhamo is baffled by the bad business.
“You look at April and May, we were mobbed,” Jordhamo said. “We were taking 300 people every Friday and Saturday night. Now if we have 300 people in a week we’re lucky.”
After the April-May opening rush, Jordhamo said some customers complained about cover charges.
So he did away with cover charges. And he said the beer can’t be any cheaper.
“But if they weren’t complaining about that they were complaining about $3 bottles of beer,” he said. “Where can you get a bottle of beer for less than three bucks? It’s crazy.”
Tough Business
Sheila O’Malley, Ansonia’s economic development director, said Jordhamo has been talking to her and corporation counsel John Marini about how to turn things around.
The city has been incorporating Mustang Sally’s into various community events, such as the various “Ansonia 125th” events and the upcoming Harvest Festival.
Marini said they’ve tried to help by throwing a spotlight on Mustang Sally’s.
O’Malley said the city has tried to connect to potential private partners and to small-business loan programs offered by area banks.
Generally, O’Malley said, the first year for a small business can be the toughest.
“You often have to be prepared to lose money in that first year. It’s something you have to take into account before you open,” O’Malley said.
Marini and O’Malley said Jordhamo’s biggest challenge could be the size of the place. It’s a cavernous space, built as a nightclub in 1970.
And, in the bigger picture — this is still a tough time to be in the bar-restaurant business.
In a report issued in late August, the National Restaurant Association said restaurant owners have a “dampened outlook” on the economy.
“Operators remain generally optimistic about sales growth in the coming months, but they are less bullish about the economy,” the report states.
That’s the national sentiment.
Closer to home, Whiskey’s, a bar in Derby that was previously Tailgators, was forced to close its doors last month.
The owner’s sales tax permit was suspended, according to the state Department of Revenue Services, and, as of July 1, Whiskey’s was listed as one of the top tax delinquent businesses in the state.
“The current case balance on the account is $140,901.95 for tax, penalty, and interest,” said Sarah Kaufman, a spokesperson with the Department of Revenue Services. “The business is to remain closed until the owner reaches an agreement with the agency on repayment of the taxes owed.”
The success stories with bars in the lower Valley tend to be places much smaller than Mustang Sally’s.
The Dew Drop Inn, at the intersection of Roosevelt Drive and North Avenue in Derby, has transformed itself into a craft beer haven.
Bricks & Barley, a new bar-restaurant in Shelton that took over Downtown Danny O’s spot, is marketing itself as family friendly, complete with kiddie movie nights.
Come Back!
Jordhamo hopes to hold on until he cracks the Valley psyche and people start returning.
“The distributors tell me that the Valley, in the summer, is dead,” Jordhamo said later. “They call it ‘Valley Summer,’ everybody leaves at the end of May and doesn’t come back until the middle of September. But there’s still a lot of people in the Valley.”
Though country-themed, Jordhamo said he’s trying to branch out with more offerings to bring in potential customers.
He’s scheduled a Halloween-themed paranormal masquerade ball for Oct. 31.
The business installed new pool tables over the weekend, and dart boards.
The NFL Sunday Ticket package is available on Sundays.
Jordhamo is also booking rock bands in addition to country acts.
All in an effort to make the tens of thousands of dollars he put into opening the business pay off.
“I’ve got a lot of money here,” he said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into opening this place.”
And it’s not like country fans are shut-ins, he said — people from throughout the state drive all the way to Southington to patronize the Cadillac Ranch, a popular country bar there.
“Why wouldn’t you come here to see a country band?” he wondered. “Why wouldn’t you come here to line dance? Why wouldn’t you come here for some wings and a beer?”
It’s even more baffling since the initial enthusiasm was so strong, he said.
“I looked at that and said OK, it looks like it’s going to be a good investment,” Jordhamo said. “Now I’m at the point where I’m like ‘Is this worth the investment?’ Because it’s been bad. I don’t know how to get around it.”
By contrast, he said, when he opened previous locations in Milford, “We started busy and we stayed busy.”
“Not like this,” he went on. “This is horrendous.”
Next Steps
Now, he says he’ll have to evaluate whether to stay open at the end of next month, unless things change.
“If the end of October comes and people still aren’t coming up this way, then it’s not the ‘Valley summer’ anymore,” he said. “Then it’s a bad location and you can’t change what it is. At some point you have to know when to pull the cord, as much as I’d hate to do that, because I would lose a lot of money.”
Mustang Sally’s Saloon is located at 370 E. Main St. The phone number is 203 – 702-3754.
Click here to visit the business’ Facebook page.
