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Smoking ban victim: Ragtime Rick's - So says the owner. "Ragtime Rick's on Glendale Ave. will close at the end of the business day on Monday [Nov 3]. Owner Rick Grafing says he's lost about 40 percent of his business due to the smoking ban, and he can no longer afford to do business in Toledo. Grafing says he's hoping to relocate his business to Maumee or someplace outside the Toledo city limits." How many lesser-known establishments will tank that we won't hear about? Toledo, Ohio, a small business-friendly environment. Makes me think of the Toledo sign design shot down earlier this year called: ToledOH!. Own a bar in Toledo? DOH! Should have kept that design. It's more appropriate. Homer Simpson, Toledo City Council, I can see the resemblence. Maybe Rick will move to The Town Center at Levis Commons or The Shops at Gateway Crossings.
posted by jr to business at 6:34 P.M. EST     (4 Comments)

Comments ...

The Blade, who is pro-smoking ban, tries to spin a good one about Ragtime Rick's. The Blade took a couple of days to "investigate" the matter and get the "real" story.

"A southwest Toledo pub specializing in ragtime music will shut its doors at the end of the night Monday after 22 years, and the owner is blaming Toledo’s smoking ban. But Lucas County records show that the establishment, at 4733 Glendale Ave., has problems that appear unrelated to Toledo’s two-month old law prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurant."

" "None of these things was devastating," [Grafing] said, denying they were the actual cause of the bar’s demise. He insisted the smoking ban was the catalyst for the closing of the establishment, which serves beer and wine but not hard liquor. Past marketing efforts that worked haven’t worked this time, he said."

Naturally, ban-supporters will say the reason for closing is unrelated to the ban. But Rick plans to reopen outside of Toledo.
posted by jr at 02:52 P.M. EST on Fri Oct 31, 2003     #

And there you go. He is opening OUTSIDE OF TOLEDO. he is NOT closing up. Just relocating. You militant pro smoking people crack me up with your spin!
posted by gl2899 at 09:57 A.M. EST on Wed Dec 10, 2003     #

Militant, that's a good one. What spin? Ragtime Rick's is closed. It's not open anywhere. Rick "plans" to reopen somewhere someday, but no definite timeline. What spin? If he reopens, it will be outside of Toledo. And the reason the business is moving outside of Toledo is because, so he says, of the ban. If there was no ban, Rick's is still open in Toledo. It's your simple mathematics. It's another example of Toledo not being a business-friendly environment. There are other examples of this. Now I must get back to cleaning my rifles with those fine Connecticut wrappers.
posted by jr at 02:29 P.M. EST on Wed Dec 10, 2003     #

The only problem Rick has- he has brought upon himself with his excessive drinking problem, bad service/food, and overall filth in his establishment. He just refuses to accept responsability for anything he has dont wrong and has used the smoking ban as a convenient excuse. BTW- been smoking for 15 years- I can assure you I quit going to Ragtime Rick's LONG before the smoking ban came about.
posted by Guest at 07:12 A.M. EST on Sun Dec 28, 2003     #

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