Just got off the phone with Kim Finch, one of the three new co-owners of the Double Wide. The longtime DW staffer, along with fellow DW ladies Jill Saveh and Whitney King, have taken the lease over from Jim Sibert in an equal partnership effective immediately. The bar name remains the same, the tacky decor isn't going anywhere and doors re-open Friday night, though that evening's band lineup hasn't yet been confirmed.
Changes are already in the planning stages. "We wanna spruce up the weekday atmosphere," Finch says, hinting at midweek additions like shuffleboard, barbecues and trivia nights. "We want to bring in more interactive stuff and keep people entertained, not just sit down and drink beer." Otherwise, the staff will remain the same, and the girls' affiliation with local roller derby leagues will not change anything at the Dee Dub: "You have to keep those separate. We'd love their support; if they ever wanna throw a party, that's great. But the bar will definitely come first."
Sibert has been unreachable; his PR agent, Kelly Smith, says that his phone rings directly to voicemail, and the mailbox is crammed to its limits (not surprising). So I was unable to get a direct answer to the question everyone's been asking: Why the abrupt shutdown (the bar didn't even attempt a farewell closing night) if the place could be reopened so quickly?
Finch had her own take on it. "It was a shock to us, too. We had no idea--oh crap, we're out of a job, we're out of a place to hang out...well, let's do it ourselves. We've been there working; we know what's there; we know how to run it. We thought about waiting until next weekend, get our ducks in a row, but a lot of people were concerned: 'Just go ahead and open it if you have it. Why keep it closed if you don't have to?' I hope people aren't like, 'Oh, it was closed just one day, it was a scare tactic,' which it wasn't." -Sam Machkovech
