The Globe Bar & Kitchen, The Blind Buck up for sale
Jan. 13—The owner of The Globe Bar & Kitchen and The Blind Buck is selling the businesses, citing the need to focus on personal matters.
Owner Scott Wilburn listed the two businesses at 204 N. Division St. for sale with NAI Black broker John Powers for $600,000.
"It has been a challenge to operate a bar/nightclub/restaurant business over the last couple of years, but the business has remained open providing prosperity and hope to the community in these challenging times," Wilburn said in a text message.
"During this period, our families (have) sustained setbacks that now require a reprioritization of time and attention to personal matters, which have been put on the back burner while trying to keep the business going," he continued. "It is primarily for these reasons we must depart the business."
The two businesses will remain open until a buyer is found, Wilburn said.
The NAI Black listing indicates the 3,870-square-foot Globe Bar & Kitchen and the 1,200-square-foot Blind Buck have a "history of high volume sales" and are located on "one of the top restaurant and bar corners in Spokane."
The sale includes "attractive rent and a long-term lease" with possible seller financing available, a large rectangular bar, chef's kitchen, state-of-the-art nightclub sound system, large walk-in cooler and basement liquor room, according to the listing.
Wilburn changed The Globe's concept from bar and nightclub to an all-inclusive LGBTQ+-friendly restaurant in September 2020, allowing it to remain in business while providing a safe dining experience for patrons during the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, The Globe generated a significant amount of revenue from alcohol sales after 10 p.m.
If it hadn't pivoted to a new concept, revenue would have been "next to nothing" under coronavirus-related capacity and nightclub operating restrictions in effect at the time, Wilburn told The Spokesman-Review in 2020.
The Globe is adjacent to The Blind Buck, a speak-easy-style gay bar also owned by Wilburn.
The two establishments, which share a kitchen, expanded their food menus and added brunch in 2020.
The Globe and its various incarnations have been in operation for more than two decades.
Denise Tritt and Martin Shearer opened the Globe Bar & Grille in the Division Street space, formerly home to Bountiful National Foods, in 1999.
The Globe Bar & Grille closed in 2012. James Fountain, Ryan Bates and Dianna Dahlgren took over ownership of the space in 2015 and renamed it The Globe Bar & Kitchen. The trio also owned the Blind Buck.
Wilburn acquired the Globe and Blind Buck in 2017 and kept it a restaurant by day and bar at night, in addition to making various improvements to the space before changing its concept in 2020.