Tuesday, January 3, 2012

He's Not Here up for sale

The bar affectionately known by many as "He's Not" is being sold by the owner for $165,000, according to a Craigslist post.

The post states that the bar is to be sold as-is and that the bar's owner would like to retire and has no desire to negotiate the price. Noteworthy: The $165,000 may seem low, but I've been told it's only the price of the franchise. That price does not include any expenses with land and/or rent.

The Craigslist post was made near midnight on Jan. 1, but I've been told it's been on the market since early to mid December.

He's Not, known by everyone who has ever been to Chapel Hill for its blue cups, is the absolute best bar to go to on Sunday nights when it's not frigid. The best time I ever had there was Graduation night in May where it was standing room only both inside and outside, but every other person you bumped into you knew.

My good friend Tori Stilwell wrote a piece on the bar last year for the Daily Tar Heel. In it, she mentions the bar losing 15 percent of its revenue each of the past three years. She also discusses how the owner had come out of retirement from him home in Nova Scotia to oversee the bar after firing a 33-year employee.

"Mark's an old man, I'm an old man, and we were just taking an old man's approach, and we weren't getting anywhere," owner Dave Kitzmiller told Stilwell. He credited poor upkeep as a reason for the financial spiral the bar had taken.

He's Not isn't in the best shape, but that doesn't stop the place from being packed on one of those incredible Chapel Hill nights in the spring, summer and fall. I'm told the owner wants whoever forks over the $165,000 to keep the franchise staples in tact: the name, blue cups and such.

But I think I speak for everyone when I say keep the $4 blue cups and karaoke. But if you want to get a dehumidifier or put a stall in the men's bathroom, that wouldn't be so bad

1 comment:

  1. As someone who paid for my final years at UNC by slinging beer at He's Not it breaks my heart to see it for sale and to know Mark is no longer running it. He helped a lot of us through his 33 years and had a lot of fun a long the way. I can't help but wonder if he was still running it if it would be in the shape it is.
    Pickett
    UNC 92

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