After more than a decade, this Phoenix cocktail bar has closed permanently due to COVID

SideBar, the Phoenix craft cocktail bar located at the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and McDowell Road, has closed due to pandemic-related financial difficulties.  

Owner Josh Parry announced the closure on social media on Tuesday in a heartfelt post to the customers who patronized the bar since he opened it with Mike Winn in November 2008.  

The bar has been closed since March 15 and had to close as “bills stacked up beyond fixing,” according to the statement on Facebook by Parry.  

While this is the end for SideBar, Parry said in the post that he sold the bar to new owners who will “remodel and refresh” the space and reopen it under a different name.

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'It is like a piece of me is missing'

Parry and Winn opened the bar in 2008, and as Parry describes in his statement, had no experience in the industry. 

"I had never even stood behind a bar until I owned one," wrote Parry, but the lounge became a place where parties and life events were celebrated by many. 

Hundreds of customers expressed their sadness over the closing on Facebook, reminiscing about first dates with now-spouses and late nights dancing to music spun by the Phoenix DJs that came through the bar. 

"The time away because of COVID has made this easier, but it is like a piece of me is missing," Parry wrote, "The good news is change is an amazing catalyst for growth."

Reach the reporter at Shaena.Montanari@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @DrShaena.

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