Downtown Boise bar plans to close after selling liquor license for ‘insane’ price
If you want to stop in for a goodbye cocktail, now is the time at Doc’s Lodge.
The small bar at 1108 W. Front St. plans to close soon.
Doc’s liquor license has been sold, manager Zach Halverson said. The final day of business hasn’t been determined, he said, but the plan is to shutter later this month.
Previously Doc’s Bar (and before that, The Locker Room and Lucky Dog Tavern), the space opened as Doc’s Lodge in May 2018. The downtown Boise hangout is located between a brewery, Woodland Empire Alecraft, and a pub, Matlack’s, which is closed for winter during the pandemic.
Doc’s Lodge attracted customers from the nearby Hilton Garden Inn before the coronavirus hit, Halverson said. After that clientele evaporated, the customer base “kind of just turned into our friend group, honestly. We get some people. Pretty much everyone comes through the back door.”
The owner, who does not live in Idaho, opened Doc’s after being issued a liquor license by the state, Halverson said, with the idea to sell the license eventually. It fetched a price that “is insane to me,” he confessed, considering the challenges bars and restaurants have faced during the pandemic.
The demand for Boise liquor licenses remains strong despite COVID-19, said Ted Challenger, who owns downtown Boise bars StrangeLove, Dirty Little Roddy’s and the Amsterdam Lounge. “I’ve gotten probably three people reaching out to me for liquor licenses, so I know they’re a hot commodity now,” Challenger said.
Challenger helped broker a liquor-license deal last year, he said, for one that cost $185,000. He suspects asking prices are closer to $250,000 now — or higher. “I couldn’t imagine one going for less than $250,000 to $300,000 now,” Challenger said.
Halverson said that Doc’s employs a staff of three. He and the assistant manager have lined up new jobs in Priest Lake, Idaho, where they plan to move this spring. “We’re fine,” he said.
“But I feel bad for a lot of the other spots that have closed. Bartenders are definitely screwed right now.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 4:00 AM.