ATLANTA — With sports venues like the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta United stadiums expected to fill up for the first time since 2019, many businesses that stayed closed for most of the last year are also starting to reopen.
Among the many nightspots on Edgewood Avenue is the Joystick Gamebar, which stayed closed since March of 2020 and reopened two weeks ago.
It’s slowly returning to its old busy self, said one of its owners. "It's good to see people coming back out. People who are still being responsible, but miss that social activity," Johnny Martinez said. He also co-owns the Georgia Beer Garden, which is expected to reopen next weekend after staying closed for a year.
Entertainment venues like the Fox Theater have remained all-but closed. But websites for the Fox and the Masquerade show live events scheduled in July and August.
"People are excited to see live music," Mike Jakob said, who expanded his Elliott Street Pub to include an outdoor concert space, which is hosting shows this weekend. The space will require masks. It won’t require vaccines.
"Most of our customers are vaccinated. And it might turn into, 'hey, if you're not vaccinated and you get sick – not our fault.' It might turn into that," Jakob said.
Jakob said he looked up one day last weekend and 500 people were trying to get into his tiny pub on Elliott Street – and kind of laughing off the old pandemic rules.
"Because vaccinated people are like, hey - we’re good. We’re hugging," he laughed. "No more elbow kissing. We’re all hugging now."
Martinez said it's still uncertain whether businesses like his can start to make money again anytime soon. "We really don’t think we’re really going to go through and hit our old numbers till the end of summer or fall," Martinez said, adding that revenue has climbed slowly since Joystick reopened.
"I’m happy to be reopening again. It’s nice to be able to walk in and see humans," Martinez said. "Even if they're behind a mask."