Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The corner of 14th and Tennessee has been unusually quiet during the past six weeks. That may change tonight when a longtime Lawrence bar reopens under new management.
Bullwinkle’s – casually referred to as The Bull by most students – reopens at 3 p.m. today after shutting down when students left for winter break.
James Shaffer, co-owner of Bullwinkle's, also known as The Bull, stocks the CD jukebox for the grand opening on Wednesday. The Bull, at 14th and Tennessee, reopens after being closed for the winter and among the plans are an ATM, two plasma screen televisions and a nicer interior. Scott Newell, Shaffer's co-owner, said it will be a "cleaner, better place with colder, better beer."
Michael Woodring, a Kansas graduate, leased the property and ran the bar for almost three years. Woodring said he was ready to get out of the bar business and he sold the bar back to the real estate company that owned the property.
“It was more of I just had to get out of the college lifestyle,” Woodring said.
Two Kansas graduates from the class of 2003, Scott Newell and James Shaffer, saw the empty building sitting at 14th and Tennessee and decided to move on the property.
“They had talked about a coffee shop coming in here, or like a Laundromat,” Newell said. “We didn’t want to see that happen, so we worked out a deal and bought the Bull.”
Newell said he and Shaffer, who also own the Phoggy Dogg, 23rd and Iowa streets, renovated the inside of the bar.
“We’re excited about being close to campus,” Newell said.
The proximity to campus has long made The Bull popular with students who live in the area between 9th and 19th streets and Tennessee to Louisiana.
But James Dunn, a longtime Lawrence resident and past president of the neighborhood association, is one of the many non-students who live in the area.
Dunn said most of the non-student residents aren’t opposed to the bars in the area – Bullwinkle’s, The Jayhawk Café, 1340 Ohio, and the Wagon Wheel, 507 W 14th Street – they just want to make sure the area stayed safe.
“A lot of students live in the area,” Dunn said. “I guess it’s better that they have bars nearby where they can walk there, rather than drive.”
Dunn said he was concerned about what the building would become after Bullwinkle’s closed in December.
“I didn’t know if it was just going to be a derelict building sitting there,” Dunn said.
Woodring said he was glad Newell and Shaffer bought the bar. Woodring said he thought Bullwinkle’s was an iconic part of the neighborhood.
“That neighborhood would lose a lot of its luster if it wasn’t there,” Woodring said.
But Woodring said history alone doesn’t make a bar profitable.
Because the capacity of Bullwinkle’s is limited, the bar relies on packing patrons on its patio.
“The only real headache is that it’s a warm-weather bar,” Woodring said. “You have to make all your money in three months when it’s nice outside.”
Newell is confident business will be good.
“On the inside, we redid everything from the ceilings to the floors,” Newell said.
One student is excited for the bar to reopen. Sarah Tankard, Flower Mound, Texas, junior, said she has been going to The Bull almost every weekend since her freshman year.
“It’s just a fun environment, especially on warm days,” Tankard said.
— Edited by Daniel Reyes
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