Businesses are getting creative to survive during the pandemic — and that includes a Red Deer strip club.
Club X-Static has been shut down since live entertainment was curtailed by the provincial government to slow the spread of COVID-19 in late November. Business was significantly impacted even two weeks before that, when the government ordered bars and lounges to shut down early, said X-Static’s owner Dave Mah.
He estimates losing about 80 per cent of clients when alcohol sales had to stop at 10 p.m. and the facility had to close by 11 p.m. “Our customers don’t start coming out until 10 p.m.,” said Mah.
Since there’s no end in sight yet for the provincial ban on live entertainment, “we had to think creatively,” he added. People expect some adult entertainment when they come out to an adult bar, “otherwise there would be no reason for (customers) to stay,” he explained.
Mah floated the idea that when X-Static re-opens on Thursday, its female servers will wait on tables topless – while wearing pasties.
“We’re not breaking any laws,” he said, noting no pressure was put on the “shy” minority of servers who opted out of going shirtless. “We offered them the choice and about 80 per cent are doing it…
“In tough times, you have to get creative.”
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