Old Town Fort Collins arts and crafts bar to close

After a year in Old Town Fort Collins, Extra Arts & Drafts will close its doors later this month.

The arts and crafts bar, which served up drinks and a menu of upscale DIY projects to try, will shutter after Christmas Eve, said Jeff White, who opened the business with his wife, Amy, early last year.

Like the couple's other business — Loveland's Studio Vino sip and paint studio — Extra Arts & Drafts, 115 E. Mountain Ave., melds the social environment of a bar with "upscale DIY projects," allowing customers to make everything from wine glass tumblers to cutting boards with wood-burned designs.

"It's been a fun business. The people who come here absolutely love it," Jeff said. "There's been a lot of enthusiasm, but the numbers just haven't been hitting."

The business's timing was doomed from the start, with Jeff and Amy signing a lease on its Mountain Avenue space in December 2019. In March and April 2020, when the couple was initially hoping to open the arts and crafts bar, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing.

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Pandemic-related business closures — as well as well as a monthslong delay in getting its necessary permitting from the city — hampered the bar's opening, pushing it to February 2021, Jeff said.

In the year since Extra Arts & Drafts opened, Jeff said it experienced a lull in business similar to what he and Amy have been seeing at Studio Vino.

"I think people got out of the habit of going out and doing things," Jeff said.

Since the pandemic began, Jeff estimated that the Loveland studio — located in The Promenade Shops at Centerra — has faced a 40% dip in business. While that was something the established Studio Vino could weather, it proved too much for Extra Arts & Drafts.

Extra Arts & Drafts' last day in business will be Dec. 24. After its closure, Jeff and Amy plan to take a lot of its equipment to Studio Vino, where they will start offering a range of arts and crafts projects. Gift certificates for Extra Arts & Drafts will also be redeemable at the couple's Studio Vino location.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Old Town Fort Collins arts and crafts bar to close