Sober nightlife and music industries struggle under heightened overhead costs, forcing businesses to close or move locations

St. Petersburg has become host to a thriving artistic culture akin to similar cities in other regions of the nation. Kenwood has been continuously ranked as one of the most desirable art districts nationwide, and the local music scene in St Petersburg as a whole is a thriving and vibrant ecosystem.

This ecosystem has opened up the city to a vast array of social establishments, from music venues to art galleries, and even sober tea bars. This cultural makeup is heavily vested in the arts, and has bred a local scene favorable for artists and musicians to make a name for themselves in an otherwise unstable economic climate.

Art galleries are still seen to exist here, and in many other regions nationwide the existence of small galleries has become more and more sparse as financial concerns mount for these smaller businesses.

Many music venues have existed in St. Petersburg for decades, most notably Jannus Live. Many businesses like Jannus have had to close or relocate, including several music venues. Some sober tea bars have had to close or move locations as well in the last few years due to issues involving landlords, including Ohana Coffee Kava Tea in Largo, and State Side Kava in Indian Shores. A regular of Ohana spoken to stressed that finding a new establishment to be a regular at is “distressing and highly disruptive to my social life.”

Jannus Live was faced with imminent closure in recent years, but was able to stay afloat due to a crowdsourcing fundraiser that rectified the worries of possible closure. Jannus Live, originally Jannus Landing, was founded in 1984 by Bob Barnes, Bill Pendergast, and Gene Bryant, and gets its name sake from the pilot, Tony Jannus. Located in the thick of Downtown St. Petersburg’s Historic District, Jannus is an oasis between buildings where musicians have been serenading this historic neighborhood since the mid 80s.

Many other establishments were not as lucky, and have had to close up shop or move locations to a more affordable locations. However, as rent goes up across the city, many businesses are experiencing a high degree of difficulty finding a new space within their price range as the housing market becomes all the more volatile.

Fubar on St. Petersburg’s 600 Block, long a bastion of local vibes and loud music had to begrudgingly shutter their doors, making a once livelier stretch of Saint Pete’s 600 block a little lackluster. St Pete’s Hideaway Café has experienced similar pains, whose financial state was deeply influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many businesses from other sectors have had to move locations due to development projects from their previous landlords. As was seen on Central Avenue between downtown and I 275, this stretch of desirable real estate has been slotted for rapid development and gentrification, making way for hundreds of new apartments and a large population of buildings, as well as a swathe of new businesses being brought in to an already competitive commercial real estate market.

Steep Station St. Pete, a chain of tea bars located across Tampa Bay, had a location at the corner of Central Ave. and 29^th Street North which had to move due to issues with their landlord on a block that has been recently slotted for a large development project. Several businesses on this street have been recently evicted, and much of this swath of Central has begun to be developed. Across the street from the once present establishment is a large project opening up apartments for steep prices, and down the street more development has sprung up in the plots surrounding the once notoriously dangerous Grand Central Bus Terminal.

Most of these projects have been in rapid development, and many have sprung up quite quickly, as citizens who witnessed the monumental transformation of the parts of Central Avenue adjacent to the highway can attest to. These projects may open up new homes and businesses for sale, but in a housing market that is already red hot, the new development runs a great risk of heating the rent crisis to a smoking boil.

Steep Station reopened their new location down the street closer to downtown, now residing on 1^st Avenue South at plot number 2235. The new storefront is freshly renovated and very unique, but finding new customers after a major move is often a challenge for many businesses who have to leave their once held locations. One ex regular spoken to expressed dismay about the business’s move, stating “Steep’s new location just doesn’t feel the same; the new venue’s climate is totally different.” These struggles add to the already high cost of relocating and renovating a new site, and can tip many smaller businesses in to the red as expenses stay high when profit may not correlate attractively.

These problems are a very real reality for many renters across the city, and many businesses and locals alike have had a great deal of anxiety and fear as many of them have been, or are worried about being priced out of their neighborhoods. These struggles most violently affect tip-based employees, and many such as servers, bartenders, and hairstylists have felt the wrath of increased cost of living with not much gain in total income flow. Many have even expressed decreased wages due to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially relating to the past lockdowns seen statewide.

How many similar local businesses across the bay will stay afloat is uncertain as cost of living increases, and many citizens have expressed concern about possible risk of homelessness, which was seen to happen in comparable cities as financial ruin hit many lower income residents.

What will happen next is largely uncertain, but many changes at the legislative level can be made to lessen the burden of the highly stressed housing market. Changing zoning laws, enacting incentives for affordable housing, and offering financial assistance for lower income Americans are all possible avenues for help that could be seen from the local and statewide governing bodies.

In highly unfortunate terms, this situation is untenable and deeply volatile, with many locals approaching or experiencing financial ruin. The situation is still salvageable, but will our local government be able to take steps drastic enough to see real, quantifiable improvements for the average working class citizen and small business?