The Boulder Wine Bar at R Gallery on Broadway will permanently close on Friday, May 17. Owner Rob Lantz said staffing and serving stopped at the end of April, but there will be a final service window from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday during the closing party for the art gallery next door. The bar will offer heavy discounts on beer and wine, along with bottle specials for takeout.
Yes, the art side will also close. Open Studios took over gallery operations at the beginning of the year but found it unsustainable, and will close Sunday, May 19.
“In the end, high rent and the art-buying market in Boulder are not enough to justify the costs,” Lantz said.
A professional outdoor photographer and former fine food and beverage manager in St. Thomas, Lantz opened the Boulder bar in July 2021, two years after launching R Gallery Art to highlight local artists in a downtown location. (Disclosure: I was an artist and bartender there for the first few months.)
“It was an opportunity to fulfill a vision I had to have a wine bar in the gallery,” Lantz said. “I thought it would be a good way of diversifying and creating more buzz — to have private events, performing arts, bigger receptions, and help the arts community.”
The wine bar, with its open-flow floor plan decorated with large wall art and sculptures, was popular for private events like milestone birthdays, group happy hours and retirement parties. It gave locals a low-key place to enjoy a glass of wine before and after dinners, and visitors could sip wine as they browsed the gallery. It was also spacious enough to host group show parties for artists and their fans, sip and paint classes, poetry nights, salsa dancing and live music.
“It was successful as far as people showing up, but we didn’t get enough financial support with [customers] buying,” said Lantz. “People don’t understand the amount of time, effort and costs it takes to put on an event, and the numbers just didn’t work.”
When he started the art gallery project in February 2019, Lantz had a long-term vision. He hand-built the movable walls on the gallery side and the custom bar, including its poured and glazed concrete top. Lantz added 12 taps for Colorado-crafted beer and kombucha and renovated the bar side to add a kitchen catering prep area. “I have a lot of pride in that bar. I hand build most everything there.” He also invested hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With so much foundational work, Lantz explained why they’re closing now. “Partly timing. We opened one year before lockdown and were building momentum, then Covid killed it, so we started over. It took a lot of money just to stay alive with the hope that when things got better, we could make it and prosper.”
The business held on from 2021 to the summer of 2023. “Everything for me was going toward last summer,” Lantz said. “It looked like we’d be back and people would be out; I put everything I had to get to that goal. Then travel opened up, people were going out of the country again, and unexpectedly tourism was way down in Boulder last summer.”
Lantz said it wiped him out, and he’s had about a year to come to terms with closing the business. He looked for partnerships, like with Open Studios. “I am grateful for everyone who came in and appreciate that they gave it a shot and a try. Artists stepped up and we tried to save this thing that we loved.”
Now the building owner has a turnkey operation for the next tennant, and Lantz is going to chase eclipses around the world while he cooks up his next Boulder-based venture. “I have more ideas! First, close this one down and find room to do something else.” And he has no regrets. “I met so many great artists and got to know them personally, and even helped some careers get started, people who are full-time now and that gives me a lot of pride. Personally, this was a success for me.”
The Boulder Wine Bar and R Gallery/Open Studios final show and reception is open to the public from 6-9 p.m. Friday at 2027 and 2035 Broadway, between Spruce and the Pearl Street Mall. Lantz emailed the thousands of customers and art partners with the news on May 10, inviting everyone for a visit and writing, “This is not just a farewell, but a celebration of all the moments we’ve shared.”
This, Arts and Crafts Co-op and Art Hardware.
Sad to see R Gallery close, one of the few places to get (more) affordable local art. We cherish the pieces we purchased there and loved discovering new artists.