DENVER — The owner of a craft cocktail bar on Colfax is hoping to give people peace of mind with a new policy that will only allow vaccinated customers inside.
"So it just didn’t make sense to reopen until we could reopen to people inside and we feel like we can do that safely now with folks who have had a vaccination," said Marshall Smith, the owner of Bar Max.
The bar is reopening on Friday, which is the same day vaccinations opened up to the general public in Colorado. Customers haven't been able to sit inside Bar Max for more than a year — it's a small space and Smith just didn't feel comfortable.
"The folks who haven’t been able to come to a bar are the folks who have been most impacted frontline workers, teachers, folks who have had other health concerns and if we are able to give them a place where they can finally go out," said Smith.
Smith took over the bar in September 2019 and said business was going well until COVID-19 hit. Even though he hasn't been serving customers inside, the bar offered takeout boxes and mixology events online.
He said every business decision he's had to make during this time has been difficult but it seemed liked an easy decision to require customers to be vaccinated.
“I guess what I would tell folks who don’t agree is they have many, many other options for getting a drink," Smith said.
