The Virginia Inn opened in 1901. Owners Jim and Patrice, who purchased the bar in 1981, made a business decision to go smoke free in 1993.
“We were catering to a dying population.”
—Jim
After a 12-year run with one identity, the owners felt that it was “the end of an era” and “the right time to make a change.” However, the transition was difficult, and 1993 was a hard time to go smoke free with the recession downtown. “At first, the customers were up in arms. They made buttons saying, ‘The cure is worse than the disease’,” Jim recalls.
“We didn’t see a future in smokers. Society was getting less tolerant of smoke, and as a one-room place, it was clear we would either be a smoking bar, or smoke free.”
—Patrice
Financial impact
At first, business decreased. “This had to do with the recession, too. Then, it got better.” Going smoke free reduced cleaning costs. Jim explains: “No more smoke-eater cleaning, and employees spent a fair amount of time changing ash trays when they could have been serving drinks.”
Employee view
An employee from the Virginia Inn who went through the transition said, “I used to go home and immediately leave my clothes outside the door. After the transition, I immediately felt my energy level pick up by not being in a smoky environment.”
Other factors
Jim concludes, “It was hard, but looking back, I’d do it again. I used to wake up with a headache. I thought it was the beers I had the night before, but it went away when we went smoke free. I think it was the carbon monoxide in the air.”
“We lost some of our smoking customers, but other customers started frequenting the bar more often once they knew we went smoke free.”
—Jim
“We created a new business. The first year was difficult, but long term we are now more financially stable.”
—Virginia Inn employee
“I can picture an employee liability issue playing out…some non-smoking, single-mom bartender developing lung cancer and everything points to the bar owner’s secondhand smoke.”
—Jim
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