This just in from Martini Corner magnate Chris Seferyn...
The ultra lounge known as Mint at 334 East 31st Street will close after the first of the year and be converted into a private event and banquet space to called The Monaco.
Mint’s Spring 2008 opening pitted it head-to-head with the Power & Light District’s nightclub onslaught and it never really took off. The original concept was that of an ultra lounge and fashion bar, complete with
craig glazer
I have been there several times, cool, place..in fact was there with a couple celebrities who thought highly of the concept, one being Dave Coulier. Unfortunately its a bit over the heads of too many KC night lifers. This has always been a city of local bars and casual clubs, no fancy nightclub or vouge club has ever made it here…EVER…EVER..it points out that in many ways we are truly a Saturday Night town and yes a ‘cow town’ mentality…good or bad…you go back to super clubs like “Be Bas”(sp) on the plaza was our biggest and best flop, followed by Stanfords East(mine)million dollar night club bomb just off the Plaza, all the downtown failures a ton including the recent 7 and on and on….we are just not Chicago or LA or New York…we like Kelly’s and Johnny’s…..
Due to the depression, especially in nightlife, there will be a ton of club/restaurant closing after the lst of the year…many hoping the holidays would save them, but with the holidays falling on weekends(new years/xmas on friday..yikes) no help there….its a shame…many name spots will close as many as 30-50, an all time high…hey I was just in Vegas its bad there too, and LA…nighlife is pretty much gone as far as dancing and clubing, its OVER for now…maybe forever…sadly…with online dating, facebooking, and sex sites for all, there isn’t much need for dancing and party spots anymore…most young folks under 25 have never needed a “pick up line”….they never really danced or had to ‘hit’ on a girl…all that online and at Starbucks…so, so sad…..its a brave new world…and sadly I don’t see anything much about it thats better or as good…sorry….hope I’m wrong and the club scene comes back one day…I miss it…Stanfords is not a club, its a comedy theatre so this does not apply to that biz…thank god……
Glow1
Craig,
I do appreciative your perspective on things in KC so thanks for sharing. But why does the fact that we don’t hop on the latest trend coming in from the coasts make us a “cowtown?” I think there is room here for both the local joints and the big city night clubs. I don’t think the failing of Mint or any other type of club like that is from our cowtown mentality. Wait, then again, maybe it has something to do with the “big city” mentality of some business owners around here who feel like a guest list concept would actually work here.
Ross
Dave Coulier is not now, nor ever has been, a barometer of what is cool, hip or trendy.
Lancelot
Ed Hardy? Really? Let us mark this up to a big fat Fail before it even gets going.
John Patrick
I went to Mint 3 or 4 times to check it out. I was sadly un-impressed. The bartenders were the slowest and worst bartenders I’ve ever encountered in Kansas City. The music was completely different each time I went in… Which isn’t entirely a bad thing but I didn’t know if I was walking into a gay disco or a rave party… I think, ultimately, the closure of Mint though can be blamed on a few things… Lack of promotion and marketing. I think they had this ‘too cool for school’ vibe and didn’t feel they needed to “market” themselves. Which in these hard economic times, is a mistake.
I also think that going out should be a fun experience… and when I went to Mint, it felt very fake and shallow to me… I wanted to like the place, I think the room was designed really well and the lighting was good… I just couldn’t get past the attitude.
craig glazer
I didn’t go to the Mint enough to say that their service or music was or wasn’t a problem. I didn’t mean that KC is a hick town either. My point is and was that no “hip”, “Trendy,” or well you get it, has ever had a longtime run in KC…a couple lasted two years or so, thats all.
More important these types of nightspots for the most part don’t work anywhere at this time. Young people meet each other on the world wide web….not much in bars…what we grew up with, nightlife in general, has ended for the most part…and thats truely sad.