The Foundry District also hosted blood drives with Carter BloodCare.The Foundry District is arguably one of Fort Worth’s most burgeoning areas, teeming with new businesses from The Grand Berry Theater to New Orleans-inspired cocktail bar Tulane’s, many of which opened within the past two years.
But when COVID-19 hit, many of The Foundry’s tenants found themselves facing not just the challenge of being a new business — but now, the closures and reduced capacities that ensued from the pandemic. Everyone had to pivot, whether it be offering curbside or creating new products and services to offer while doors remained shut.
Cars lined up as far back as 12 blocks to pick up a bottle of hand sanitizer from Blackland Distillery.Blackland Distillery, for example, began producing hand sanitizer, which owner Markus Kypreos says helped mitigate some of the losses from the temporary closure of Blackland’s tasting room. Cars lined up bumper to bumper — as far back as 12 blocks from the distillery — to pick up a bottle.
“You just roll with the punches, you do what you can, and you try and survive,” Kypreos says.
But the pandemic still remains frustrating, especially for wine bar Thirty Eight & Vine. Like other bars around the state, Thirty Eight & Vine had to shut down twice — once in March, during the start of the pandemic, and a second time on June 26 when Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order shutting down all businesses that make more than 51% of their gross revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Business has taken about a 95% hit due to the shutdowns, says Thirty Eight & Vine owner Jennifer Demel. “We do in a month about what we would do, say, on a Friday.”
Even so, the wine bar has found other ways to stay afloat, thanks to alternative sales through online, curbside pickup, and party packages created in partnership with other local businesses like Loot Rentals, My Sweet Roots, and The Greenhouse 817.
Still, Demel says, there’s nothing compared to being open.
“This second shutdown is a little bit different because restaurants are open, a lot of people are living their normal lives now, and you can go out to restaurants, have your drinks and food and all of that — whereas the bars are shut down,” she says. “This time, it’s hurting … We’re all understanding that COVID-19 is a concern, and we all know we have to take safety precautions, but these small businesses need to be able to open with guidelines just like everybody else has been able to.”
Until that happens, Demel encourages Fort Worthians to continue supporting local.
“Fort Worth is a really strong community; we definitely all support each other, and we all want each other to succeed,” she says. “Being able to work with other businesses throughout Fort Worth and within The Foundry itself ... it’s been a great sense of community and moral support.”
FOUNDRY DISTRICT STATS:
- 17 businesses in The Foundry District
- 3 executed leases during COVID-19
- 100% of spaces leased