Published: July 30, 2008 08:41 pm      

NIAGARA FALLS: Last call for Dell’s

Family tavern on Niagara Street shuts its doors

One of the “friendliest neighborhood bars in the city” has served its last drink.

Dell’s lounge, 314 Niagara St., officially closed for business at 2 a.m. this morning, ending a family tradition that started back in 1996.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve met a lot of great people,” said owner Kevin Dell, who operated the bar with the help of his mother, wife and brother. “But it’s a day-to-day struggle in this business. I was basically sitting here spinning wheels.”

The Dell family, including Kevin’s late father, opened their first bar in 1996 at the corner of 18th Street and Linwood Avenue. The business moved into the old Pirate’s Table on Portage Road in 1998 and finally into the old Arterial Lounge on Niagara Street in 2003.

Dell had hoped a prime location downtown — a block away from the Seneca Niagara Casino and a short walk from the falls — would bolster business, especially since the bar had a fully functional kitchen to serve finger food and dinners.

However, steep increases in everything from the price of mozzarella to insurance ate up any profit the business may have enjoyed.

All five years on Niagara Street had been a struggle to stay open, but Dell said it wasn’t until recently he concluded it wasn’t going to work out.

“I’ve been going back and forth on making a decision for some time,” he said. “I considered taking out loans. It’s a very tough decision to close. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t. This is Niagara Falls and people just don’t have the money to spend here.”

Dell declined to talk about what influence, if any, competition from other area taverns and the casino’s operations had on his closing, but did say he had thought his business would attract more tourists.

“They don’t wander around to this side of downtown,” he said. “If it wasn’t for my regulars, I wouldn’t have survived for this long. We always prided ourselves on being one of the friendliest neighborhood bars in the city. This was like a home away from home for them.”

To thank the bar’s regulars, the Dell family hosted two parties Tuesday and Wednesday evening to say good-bye. Food was donated by several local businesses as supplies have run out.

Dell also gave his longtime customers beer signs and memorabilia that had adorned the walls.

Jim Gwizdowski, a regular at Dell’s for the past 12 years, requested the LaBatt Blue beer sign that hung prominently for so many years in the front display window.

“It’s depressing,” he said while having a drink Tuesday afternoon. “My wife and I come here, it’s just like a family to us. We’ll have to find a new place, but there won’t be another one like this one.”

Gwizdowski said he still plans to keep in close touch with Dell, who didn’t rule out opening another bar someday.

“There’s always a possibility in the future, but I think I’m going to at least take three to five years off,” Dell said.

The building, located next door to the Niagara Gazette, has housed several businesses, including a photo studio and coffee shop in its early years. It was known as the Arterial Lounge before Dell’s moved in, leasing the building from owner Michael “Mickey” Rimmen.