A Look At How Coronavirus Shutdowns And Re-Openings Affected Booze Sales At Dallas’ Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels In July 2020.

Welcome to Bar Raised, our recurring column that proves that Texans like to spend copious amounts of their income participating in the Great American Pastime. We know this because the Texas Comptroller keeps tabs on that sort of thing and makes all that info public record. Any establishment in the state that holds a Mixed Beverage license must report all sales revenue generated from the sale of liquor, beer and wine at their establishments on a monthly basis. The comptroller, in turn, puts all that info into a conveniently navigable database. And then we break down Dallas’ numbers for you here.

For the fifth straight month, alcohol sales at Dallas bars, clubs, venues and convention centers for July 2020 were almost nonexistent when compared to their traditional norms, many thanks to government-mandated restrictions relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

On the other hand: Restaurants and hotels seem to be doing OK.

Whereas Dallas establishments combined to report $69 million in booze sales in July 2019, those same figures for July 2020 checked in at slight more than one-third of that number, totaling $28.4 million.

If there’s any consolation to be found here, it’s that those figures were somehow up from June 2020’s $23.5 million total.

Most of July’s $28.4 million came from restaurants and hotels, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shuttered most other booze-selling establishments across the state on June 26 as COVID-19 numbers spiked at the start of the summer.

In the face of lawsuits, protests and establishments finding new ways to operate through legislative loopholes, Abbott and the brass in Austin have in August started to lessen some of the restrictions that they’d earlier put into place.

Whether those changes result in any sort of bounce-back won’t be seen fully until August’s numbers and, eventually, September’s numbers come in. July, however, shows an industry once again in dire straits, with drinkers rushing to hotel bars and restaurants acting as bars to get their going-out fixes.

Anything not to stay in, we guess?

Take a look at the top 20 booze-selling establishments in Dallas for July 2020 to see exactly where these revelers spent their cash.

Dallas Establishments With Top Gross Alcohol Sales For July 2020:

  1. VIRGIN HOTELS DALLAS: $554,700
  2. BOMBSHELLS: $439,890
  3. OJOS LOCOS SPORTS CANTINA: $372,043
  4. STIRR ADDISON: $338,009
  5. VIDORRA: $327,567
  6. MOXIE’S GRILL & BAR: $326,490
  7. TMC BEVERAGES OF DALLAS, INC. (The Men’s Club): $313,579
  8. EPIC ABS LLC (The Statler): $287,068
  9. DD BEVCO, LLC (AT&T Discovery District): $279,949
  10. NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $267,193
  11. THE RUSTIC: $234,263
  12. HG SPLY CO: $231,357
  13. JAVIER’S RESTAURANT: $228,503
  14. HILLSTONE: $224,062
  15. SIDECAR SOCIAL: $213,063
  16. SALC, INC. (Hilton Anatole): $198,472
  17. (CHRP, LLC) DRAKE’S DALLAS: $194,461
  18. REPUBLIC RANCH: $189,782
  19. MI COCINA-WEST VILLAGE: $188,178
  20. TOPGOLF USA: $184,211

Total alcohol sales in Dallas in July 2020: $28,446,081
June 2020 total: $23,536,499

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