Hardtimes Germantown MD to close after the Super Bowl

BUD · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:30 am

Well to follow along behind Rembrandts, Stringz & Wingz and Demoris you can add Hardtimes Germantown to the closing list.

We found out last night that Hardtimes will close down in 2 weeks, after the Super Bowl.
The shopping center landlord has raised the Hardtimes rent to 17k per month. The corporate bean counters in another state have decided it's not worth keeping this store open at that price. There are 12 Hardtimes in MD & VA.

So we have 2 weeks left at Hardtimes before moving on. This comes on the heels of JJ Muldoons Gaithersburg being evicted from their building a few months ago due to non payment of rent. JJ Muldoons was our main NTN site from about 1992 before moving to Hardtimes around 2006. A La Mexicana restaurant is coming into that building and probably won't want BT.

We will probably end up back in Gaithersburg at a BWW.....God I hate saying that....but we have no choice at the moment.

RIP Hardtimes on 2/2/14. (maybe something decent will fill the very large space and consider keeping BT)

scar · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm **Posts:** 2218

Well damn. Sorry to hear that, Bud.

Akbar71 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:41 pm

That sucks, Bud. Sorry to hear it.

pengwn · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:36 pm

Yeah, definitely no fun in losing your home bar on only a couple of weeks' notice, but I daresay it's a little worse with the added irony of the Hard Times name

Remind me to buy you a conciliatory beer at 'Palooza, BUD

S O B · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:39 pm

Whatever happened to Sullivan's in Laurel? I realize that's a long ways from Germantown but they used to be a powerful team on Tuesday nights some time back.

BUD · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:37 pm

Thanks to all who replied so far, the Hardtimes crew will showup somewhere in 2 weeks.

SOB - Well the problem with Sullivans was that Joe NOLES moved to your god forsaken state. :shock:

But really, the Sullivans team still is doing very well and ranks in the top 10 or 20 for SD on a regular basis just not at Sullivans. They moved to Jillys Ellicott City MD then to Stained Glass pub Elkridge MD and now to Sapphire in Laurel MD. Keep an eye open for them.

See you all on the boards on Wed for the 2nd to last Wed SIX from Hardtimes.

Jim · **Joined:** Sun May 08, 2011 9:39 am **Posts:** 294

BUD wrote:

We will probably end up back in Gaithersburg at a BWW.....God I hate saying that....but we have no choice at the moment.

BWW is to chicken wings and sports bars as McDonald's is to hamburgers. There is so many better choices, but you still wind up going and they are both successful.

CLIPPR · **Joined:** Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:01 am **Posts:** 68

Bud,

I'm really sorry to hear this. Your team is one that I always root for.

CLIPPR

FOG · **Joined:** Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:20 pm **Posts:** 71

Condolences, Andy. Having lived through the end of Cadillac Jack's run, I can empathize.

zzuupp · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:56 pm **Posts:** 224

Dang! This is not a good start to the year. Best of luck in y'alls next venue.

bigdog216 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:45 pm

Condolences.

It appears The Fellowship will also be sentenced to a BWW also, as of this post.

As of now, it looks like there are no non-BWWs in our area that are capable of or willing to accommodate us, so after going down with the ship, we'll be in the brig of BWW.

Did I ever mention I have the same affinity for BWW as I have for hemorrhoids? BWW will charge you $7 for a beer that costs $5 or $5.50 anywhere else in town.

Although Streetsboro is closer to my home, I think the great people at West Park Station will see more of me for Thursday Six.

Oh well, another Buzztime bar is removed from my Bucket List.

ranger · **Joined:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:27 am **Posts:** 630

Its really depressing to see all these strong sites go away.

googie · **Posted:** Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:08 am

Condolences from my group as well. I think every player and group has unfortunately experienced too many losses of a home site. With the closing of so many great sites with strong established players does this hurt Buzztime's core marketing strategy? They market their product to non-BWW locations as a way to get more business but if locations that are popular and have regular customers can't stay open, where is the incentive for a restaurant/bar to install a system?

BUD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 21, 2014 4:22 pm

bigdog216 wrote:

Condolences.

Oh well, another Buzztime bar is removed from my Bucket List.

There is still time for anyone interested. 13 days to go till the Super Bowl closing party.

BUD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 21, 2014 4:50 pm

googie wrote:

They market their product to non-BWW locations as a way to get more business but if locations that are popular and have regular customers can't stay open, where is the incentive for a restaurant/bar to install a system?

Hardtimes indeed was popular and had good crowds of BT players and much larger numbers of the regular masses watching sports, bands, playing pool, darts etc. They would have stayed open for years to come if it weren't for the huge rent increase the shopping center landlords just threw on them. A 7k per month increase was too much. The center did do a renovation of the front exteriors of each shop but come on.

I say the Hardtimes corporate bosses in VA could have still made a profit but it was going to be too small for their liking, so let's just give everyone their 2 weeks notice instead and close.

So BT is indeed an incentive for a bar to bring in business but just beware of huge rent increases.

Noles · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:17 am **Posts:** 108

Wow. Glad I got one last visit in last month. It's rather unlikely I'll be up there again in the next two weeks.

googie · **Posted:** Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:13 pm

BUD wrote:

googie wrote:

They market their product to non-BWW locations as a way to get more business but if locations that are popular and have regular customers can't stay open, where is the incentive for a restaurant/bar to install a system?

Hardtimes indeed was popular and had good crowds of BT players and much larger numbers of the regular masses watching sports, bands, playing pool, darts etc. They would have stayed open for years to come if it weren't for the huge rent increase the shopping center landlords just threw on them. A 7k per month increase was too much. The center did do a renovation of the front exteriors of each shop but come on.

I say the Hardtimes corporate bosses in VA could have still made a profit but it was going to be too small for their liking, so let's just give everyone their 2 weeks notice instead and close.

So BT is indeed an incentive for a bar to bring in business but just beware of huge rent increases.

I've never taken a business class, but this situation sounds bad and dumb on both parties involved. The landlord loses a tenant and Hardtimes loses a source of revenue. Maybe the company that owns the building wanted to force them out and maybe the Hardtimes company felt the profits weren't enough. We had the same situation here 10 years ago with our Damon's. It was in the Ashland Mall, the owner made plenty of profit and then the company that owned the mall increased the rent, said he wouldn't make enough profit to justify keeping it open so closed it and the space was empty for at least 5 years before a Panera Bread went in.

pengwn · **Posted:** Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:26 pm

BUD wrote:

Thanks to all who replied so far, the Hardtimes crew will showup somewhere in 2 weeks.

SOB - Well the problem with Sullivans was that Joe NOLES moved to your god forsaken state. :shock:

But really, the Sullivans team still is doing very well and ranks in the top 10 or 20 for SD on a regular basis just not at Sullivans. They moved to Jillys Ellicott City MD then to Stained Glass pub Elkridge MD and now to Sapphire in Laurel MD. Keep an eye open for them.

See you all on the boards on Wed for the 2nd to last Wed SIX from Hardtimes.*

* Offer void in AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, WA, WY, Western Dakotas and Nebraska, British Columbia, and Alberta

Nevertheless, best of knowledge tomorrow night

Bonzo · **Joined:** Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:18 pm **Posts:** 262

I'm sorry to hear that your home site has
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wait for it
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fallen on hard times!

Jim · **Joined:** Sun May 08, 2011 9:39 am **Posts:** 294

At least they aren't dropping Buzztime because of something Buzztime did. I'm expecting some local independents to drop Buzztime if they try and get them to pay for the tablet upgrade.

If Germantown was a successful Hardtimes location, have they looked for another location nearby or are they planning on another nearby location. Then again maybe cash is tight and they don't have the jack to relocate at this time. In any event, unfortunate.

Cloudy · **Joined:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:30 am **Posts:** 5277

BUD wrote:

Well to follow along behind Rembrandts, Stringz & Wingz and Demoris you can add Hardtimes Germantown to the closing list.

We found out last night that Hardtimes will close down in 2 weeks, after the Super Bowl.
The shopping center landlord has raised the Hardtimes rent to 17k per month. The corporate bean counters in another state have decided it's not worth keeping this store open at that price. There are 12 Hardtimes in MD & VA.

So we have 2 weeks left at Hardtimes before moving on. This comes on the heels of JJ Muldoons Gaithersburg being evicted from their building a few months ago due to non payment of rent. JJ Muldoons was our main NTN site from about 1992 before moving to Hardtimes around 2006. A La Mexicana restaurant is coming into that building and probably won't want BT.

We will probably end up back in Gaithersburg at a BWW.....God I hate saying that....but we have no choice at the moment.

RIP Hardtimes on 2/2/14. (maybe something decent will fill the very large space and consider keeping BT)

BUD, we've all been there... It's always sad when your home trivia bar closes or drops Buzztime, but there will always be another one to move to. I've had to move more times than I care to remember. However, I have figured out that moving to a Buffalo Wild Wings, as loud as they are, and as mediocre as the food is, is probably the best move you can make. They never drop Buzztime trivia, and very few of them go out of business.

..................................................................................

............................................................... "Ah, forget about the noise and the food. We always have Buzztime trivia."

clavin · **Joined:** Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:11 am **Posts:** 30

If you are going into the bar/restaurant business, you should undertake the added expense of owning the property. If you lease and your business is successful, the landlord will seek to capture your profits when the lease comes up for renewal.

MitchWolf · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:01 am

Jim wrote:

At least they aren't dropping Buzztime because of something Buzztime did. I'm expecting some local independents to drop Buzztime if they try and get them to pay for the tablet upgrade.

If Germantown was a successful Hardtimes location, have they looked for another location nearby or are they planning on another nearby location. Then again maybe cash is tight and they don't have the jack to relocate at this time. In any event, unfortunate.

Jim, St Louis Sports Zone has problems finding a new nearby location before their April closing in way of Wal-Mart. Hope they find one soon than later.

MitchWolf · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:03 am

clavin wrote:

If you are going into the bar/restaurant business, you should undertake the added expense of owning the property. If you lease and your business is successful, the landlord will seek to capture your profits when the lease comes up for renewal.

So True Brad...

ANON · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:59 pm **Posts:** 2232

So sorry to hear this. It has not been a good month for good trivia sites.

Condolences, and best wishes on your search for a new home.

New Scaratings

Hardtimes Germantown MD to close after the Super Bowl

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