sinclair's Review

I went to Sugar’s Lounge on a Thursday night at about 19:15. At the door, they take your ID and write down your name and other information. I’m not sure if this is a COVID-19 protocol or to satisfy local regulations. I noticed it was being done at other strip clubs I had recently visited in West Virginia. The facility is broken down into two rooms. The first room you enter is the main bar and lounge area. The back room is the strip club. If you just want to drink and don’t care about seeing naked women, you can stay in the first room for free. If you want to have access to the back room, you must pay a $5 cover charge. Sincweisers were $4. Sodas were $2. Dancer drinks cost $20. The dancer gets $5 from the proceeds while the club pockets $15. It looks like the building was a bar and restaurant at some point in its history. There is a kitchen behind the bar that was not in use. There is an outdoor fenced-in patio for smoking.

The stage is in the shape of a “U” with the bottom of the “U” being the back wall. Stage tipping is done between the two runways. Dancers strip down to nude on stage. There is no contact at the stage other than sliding dollar bills into a g-string. Dancers play music off of a jukebox hidden in the dressing room. Dancers will beg patrons for jukebox money before they go on stage. Lap dances are $20 per song. Half hour VIP sessions are $200. Both take place upstairs on the second floor. I did not partake in either because I was told there were cameras and contact was one-way.

The only dancer working was Stevie, a blue-eyed brunette with natural D cups from the hollers of West Virginia. She smokes and vapes. For a good amount of the time I was at Sugar’s, I was the only customer, so I chatted with her quite a bit. She said she just had her teeth fixed because a guy smashed them out with brass knuckles. She also said she had been shot in the back with a shotgun. She told me she did time in jail where the women would tattoo each other with rusty staples. I would have guessed she was in her thirties, but she might have been much younger and just looked older from a rough life like many strippers do. I’ll be honest, she did not look too bad despite all of the crazy stories she told. Supposedly, she has been the only dancer at Sugar’s since June. The manager knows Stevie doesn’t have many employment options with a criminal record, so she keeps her trapped at Sugar’s and leeches off of her.