Smokers here in Virginny are beginning to panic. In just three weeks the restaurants will be going smoke-free. Miller’s patrons are contemplating the process of turning it a private club so they can continue to smoke with themselves and their kids (rumor has it DMB is paying the costs of the paperwork). Rapture is planning on closing at 5pm every night, since they assume they will get no business. Things will change. Evil is taking over. New private clubs will be built.
Speaking with a number of locals it seems as if the village has done a study. They predict that business will plummet by around 70% due to the number of smokers around here. Luckily, they plan to sell the bricks from the downtown mall to raise money for establishments that are near bankruptcy.
Can the village survive this attack? Will anyone survive? Is TJ rolling (a doobie) in his doped-up grave?
We don’t know what the future holds, but without a puff, I fear it will be bad.
I disagree. While I’m not a fan of laws that inhibit personal freedom (although I’m also not a fan of cigarette smoke), I think that the new law could have a POSITIVE effect on business, especially in drinking establishments. I lived in Massachusetts when they passed a similar law, and everyone was worried that this would be the death of the local pub. But the reverse occurred: suddenly the pubs were filling up with people who had never come because of the smoke and dingy atmosphere. It also limited the time the barflys spent inside, turning over the seats and freshening up the scene.
It’s true that C-ville’s restaurants may not be exactly analogous to the 25+ tap pubs of the Bay State, but the effect might be the same. Rapture might find that a whole new set of people suddenly want to come.