“It was like seeing the air being let out of the balloon.”
That’s how Party Source General Manager Micah Denison described the morning of the Daniel Carter Bridge fire. The fire caused structural damage to the bridge, forcing the Ohio Department of Transportation north and southbound lanes. The southbound lanes remained closed until February 9.
Party Source, one of the largest brick-and-mortar alcohol stores in the United States, experienced a devastating sales decline during the winter. Denison estimated that the bridge closure affected 20% to 25% of the business.
“When we think about this business, November and December are the biggest months of the year,” Denison said. “It’s very backloaded. That’s when you do most of your sales. It was extremely impactful to us. To give you a ballpark, it was between 20 and 25% of our business was impacted.”
Bill Hill, co-owner of Cork N’ Crust in Bellevue, was preparing for First Friday, a monthly street festival in the city’s historic business district along Fairfield Avenue. He described it as one of the most significant business days of the month, telling LINK nky they typically offered promotions and discounts to coincide with the festival. Once the bridge closed, Cork N’ Crust was forced to pivot.
“The bridge actually closed on that First Friday, so our biggest day of the month,” Hill said. “Everybody took a huge hit because no one can get there on either side.”
The bridge closure proved devastating for foot traffic for countless river city businesses, which lost sales and foot traffic from Cincinnati-based customers.
Now, Northern Kentucky’s river cities, along with meetNKY, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and New Riff Distilling are teaming up on “Bridging Back Business” – an initiative that aims to bring customers and businesses back to the river cities impacted by the closure.
Several stores across Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton and Fort Thomas will offer discounts and specials over the next two weeks in an effort to revitalize business.
“The long hours and dedication of the workers in zero-degree weather at the beginning contributed greatly to the completion of the Big Mac Bridge project one month earlier than anticipated,” Bellevue Mayor Charlie Cleves said in the Bridging Back Business press release. “Even though the repair was finished ahead of schedule, it has still been difficult to watch our businesses struggle. This motivated me to try to find a solution. When all of the cities came together as one, I knew the impact would be exponentially greater.”
Each city and participating establishment will detail the various specials and events during its week. Bellevue and Dayton will kick things off on Feb. 24, while Newport, Covington, and Fort Thomas will start on March 3.
In addition, Newport-based New Riff Distilling is also sponsoring a Bridging NKY Cocktail Contest across each city. The event will culminate in a grand cocktail showdown on March 16 at its third-story Aquifer Bar. The competition invites bars and restaurants across Northern Kentucky to feature a signature New Riff Rye cocktail to help bring foot traffic back into local venues.
Party Source and Cork N’ Crust are both participating in the initiative, with Denison calling the decision a “no-brainer.”
“It’s great to have that much reach, that all of the Northern Kentucky cities, the different municipalities, and chambers got together to really put an emphasis on highlighting these businesses,” Denison said. “I mean, it was a no-brainer.”
