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knight_errant

New Jersey

Elgin-area strip club tried to operate during coronavirus shutdown, ‘but nobody showed up’
By RAFAEL GUERRERO
ELGIN COURIER-NEWS |
MAR 19, 2020 | 3:59 PM
Blackjacks Gentlemen's Club near Elgin failed to draw enough customers this week to remain open, its owner said.
(E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune)
While Elgin-area restaurants, bars and other businesses closed over the past week, Anthony Buttitta vowed to keep Blackjacks Gentlemen’s Club open, coronavirus or not.

Posts on the strip club’s Facebook page this week confidently announced the venue would operate as usual.

“We’re open during the COVID-19 outbreak,” said one post. “Disinfecting, sanitizing, washing hands, complying with all state and CDC guidance — and dancing!!!”

“Need to get out of the house? Come play tonight at Blackjacks,” read another.

There was only one problem: Almost no customers showed up.

Buttitta said Thursday that despite efforts to remain open, the club near Elgin will close indefinitely.

"We did try. But nobody showed up,” Buttitta said.

The 18-and-over club does not have a liquor license or serve food, meaning Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to halt dining in restaurants and bars didn’t apply to Blackjacks. The venue followed limits from the governor and authorities on group sizes, Buttitta said.

Staff stopped serving beverages, including water, and dance stages and all surfaces were cleaned frequently, and a separate cleaning company scrubbed the venue daily, he said.

The owner, though, made the decision to close Thursday, citing dwindling business and the ever-evolving news surrounding the coronavirus.

"It’s just not going to work,” Buttitta said.

Blackjacks employs 15 people and independently contracts with 30 to 40 dancers. Buttitta said he kept the business open so employees and dancers could have a job. He didn’t have an estimate for when the club might reopen.

"The girls, they all have children, most of them are single mothers,” he said. Because they’re independently contracted, the dancers will not receive unemployment benefits through the venue, Buttitta said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/e…