Just around the corner from the Eastern Market Metro station is a bar with a large rainbow flag hanging outside. For many, it’s the only place they can feel safe and seen. Now, it’s under threat of closing.
For the married co-founders of As You Are, Rach “Coach” Pike and Jo McDaniel, seeing other businesses close down after the pandemic was a warning sign that their space could be next.
After a “particularly slow summer and holiday season,” McDaniel said, they decided to create a GoFundMe “as a last resort,” calling on the community for help to keep them afloat.
“The funds raised will go toward catching up on overhead costs and debts incurred during a slow season at the close of last year. While AYA has seen a significant increase in customer traffic and revenue that is promising, moving forward, the funds raised will be applied immediately to saving AYA from closure,” the fundraiser reads.
The fundraiser has raised nearly all of its $150,000 goal in less than 48 hours.
In the last two days, the restaurant has also seen a stark growth in patrons. And the community is wholly to blame.
“Part of releasing the GoFundMe, I think, drew attention to the fact that industry businesses are struggling. And so a lot of people that maybe can’t donate, or on top of donating, started to really come out and show support that way, and fuel our fire to keep fighting to be here,” Pike said.
A large portion of the new funds will go toward paying off back taxes on their rent so they’ll be eligible to meet the March deadline of many D.C. grants, such as DC Main Streets or the Great Streets Small Business Retail grants.
“We have a really good business that would be thriving if we weren’t paying rent that’s higher than most Pennsylvania Avenue businesses. Barracks Row is 20% vacant and retail. And our price per square foot is almost double most other spaces on this block,” McDaniel said.
High rents and rising labor costs, as well as the fading out of pandemic-era relief dollars, have hit D.C. restaurants and businesses hard. In November, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington released a survey of local restaurant owners, showing that summer sales and customer traffic were down more than 30%.
“When the rent goes up and the patronage can’t, you get into a bind,” Pike said.
McDaniel is calling on D.C.’s various associations to communicate more with businesses and just have “more solidarity — if we all come together and talk about what all of our issues are, if we can address them from a legislative standpoint.”
Once they’re able to pay back their taxes to the D.C. government and renegotiate their lease with their landlord, the couple hopes to continue running their business with their community in mind.
The safe space Pike and McDaniel have worked two long years to create truly welcomes everyone. The LGBTQ+ friendly bar hosts all sorts of events, from trivia and karaoke nights to book clubs and drag shows.
“If our space can accommodate it, we won’t say no if it serves our community,” Pike said.
“It’s nonstop. You’ve got to really, really love it to do it. You just have to,” McDaniel added.
WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.
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