What caused a Myrtle Beach area strip club to close nearly a month after reopening?
The stage lights at Thee DollHouse have gone dark — again.
The club elected to close indefinitely on Monday because of an order by Gov. Henry McMaster that ends alcohol sales at bars and restaurants in the state at 11 p.m.
The order took effect Saturday and is an attempt to slow the escalating spread of COVID-19 in the state.
Thee DollHouse reopened on June 18 and was open seven days a week from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.
“We just don’t have enough sales from 6 to 11 to justify the cost of being open,” Thee DollHouse marketing director Jenny McCauley said Monday. “We looked at the numbers. We did it this weekend, and with the cost of payroll and just the lights being on, being open from 6 to 11 you can’t justify the expenses.”
In order to reopen, Thee DollHouse suspended its license for adult entertainment and was reopening as a food and beverage establishment, according to Alex Clark, director of marketing and communications for the S.C. Department of Commerce.
That allowed the club in Atlantic Beach to be deemed an essential business by the department.
The club still had female entertainers on stages, but they did not get topless and wore facial coverings such as masks and veils.
Adult entertainment venues, theaters, nightclubs and concert halls are still listed on the SC Department of Commerce website as non-essential businesses by executive order from McMaster.
“We were trudging along and it was OK, but we don’t even get busy until 11 when people are getting off work, that’s when our crowd comes in — the locals who get off work from the restaurants,” McCauley said. “They pretty much cut us off at the knees. We’re going to hold out until we get the new restrictions lifted, I guess.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 3:14 PM.
