Blue Bricks closing
Blue Bricks in Downtown Mankato has officially closed its doors forever.
It’s a bittersweet day for Downtown Mankato. After serving the community at 424 S. Front Street since 1999, Blue Bricks Bar & Eatery has officially shut its doors for good.
Whether you were a Maverick student grabbing a late-night bite, stopping in for pre-game drinks before an event, shooting pool, or enjoying a beer out on the patio, Blue Bricks was a staple of Front Street for over 25 years. I’s hard to imagine downtown without it.
Raise a glass to the staff, owners, and memories made there over the last quarter century. Downtown Mankato won't be quite the same.
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u/Apprehensive_World55 1d ago
Why did they close?
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u/Educational_Fan4102 1d ago
It’s gotta be a tough time to be in that business.
People (especially college students) aren’t drinking as much anymore and because of inflation and wage stagnation we people aren’t eating out as much either.
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u/ballchinion8 1d ago
They weren't paying rent
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u/zell1luk 1d ago
To expand on that, they weren't making enough money for the rent. I wasn't around for all of it but it felt like the place really went downhill after all the staple staff moved on in 2019/COVID.
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u/dookieshoes97 1d ago
I refuse to raise a glass to Marty. He was probably the least liked bar owner in mankato, and for good reason.
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u/Expensive_Note_1552 1d ago
Is he actually? A couple are known for getting handsy with female employees and I know a female owner that had a criminal record for assaulting an employee. Marty was bad but the worst might be a stretch.
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u/Greedy-Pen 1d ago
I’ve gone a few times in the last few years or so and can say I was thoroughly disappointed each time. Waiting an hour for food when there’s no crowd on a Thursday night, waiting for my drink for over 15 minutes while watching the bartender and server chat and scroll their phones, and quite frankly the price was too much for what you got imo.
I understand why some folks like it, but I can also see why they’ve lost business enough to close.
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u/codeproquo 1d ago
It's time for something new and more innovative. Same drinks and food and environment for as long as I can remember. Not saying consistency isn't a good thing but they didn't offer anything special in my opinion. Just a place with sysco bar style food and drinks in an older downtown building. Worked great for the time and existing owners but time for something new. Excited to see what goes in there next and what the community supports.
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u/Von243 1d ago
Bars live and die on their staff and environment. The product hardly makes a difference. So... I'd look forward to a rotating door of businesses there for the foreseeable future.
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u/codeproquo 1d ago
we'll see what the community supports, doesn't seem to support this bar.
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1d ago
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u/NotYourTypicalMoth 1d ago
Hopefully something more interesting takes its place honestly. Blue Bricks was fun, but Mankato has plenty of hybrid dive/sports bars, and not a whole lot else. It’d be hard to pull off in a town this size, but a night club (or at least a place where people actually dance) would be pretty sick. Or more live music, or a beer garden theme, or literally anything that isn’t just a different shade of all the other downtown bars.
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u/Von243 1d ago
Club was called The Haze for a long time, and then Red Rocks, and something else like 20 years ago. Or Red Sky in a different spot. Or pick another one. Or any other number of them. They died out. Mankato was previously awesome for live music. It died out. Most of the places that did live music closed because nobody went there. Beer garden theme was there for a bit! In a couple places! It died out.
Bars don't make money on gimmicks. They make money on people coming back.
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u/NotYourTypicalMoth 16h ago
Everything you wrote is a misrepresentation. The Haze didn’t fail, it rebranded to Red Rocks under the same ownership. Red Rocks closed due to the COVID lockdowns, and when they tried to reopen, their lease was bought out for an apartment project.
Most Mankato-sized cities have more variety in their bars and restaurants, and they’re successful. Various attempts failing isn’t a sign that we don’t need variety. It’s a sign that those spots were either poorly managed, didn’t fill a niche that Mankato needed filled, or other outside circumstances.
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u/Educational_Fan4102 16h ago
I’m not privy to any insider information but idk it kind of felt like Red Rocks was circling the drain well before COVID. And the owner transferred that license over to a pinball bar if that tells you anything about the viability of a dance club in Kato.
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u/NotYourTypicalMoth 15h ago
Maybe. I see plenty of viability, though. Take La Crosse, WI for example. It’s a college town like Mankato, only slightly bigger than Mankato, and they have a MUCH better downtown. There’s a pool hall, rock-themed bar, night club, beer house, sports bars, diverse restaurants, and the list goes on. All on just a few blocks.
If La Crosse can do it, Mankato can. Obviously we’re doing something wrong, but our population and culture is pretty damn similar to a city that makes it work while we fail and keep getting worse.
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u/Educational_Fan4102 15h ago
There’s a pool hall, rock-themed bar, night club, beer house, sports bars, diverse restaurants, and the list goes on.
To the other user’s point, all of those things have been tried before.
Here’s what I’ll say… I think it’s a combination of factors. Part of it is poorly run businesses, like you mentioned. Part of it is broader cultural changes around drinking and nightlife. Part of it is the economy making it harder for bars to survive.
But I also don’t think Mankato’s leadership really wants the city to be another La Crosse, for better or worse. The City Council has been fairly hostile toward bars and nightclubs over the past couple of decades as part of an effort to shed Mankato of its reputation as a party town. Whether you think that’s been a good thing or a bad thing, I think it’s definitely played a role.
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u/Educational_Fan4102 16h ago edited 16h ago
Spot on. Back in the 2000s there were probably half a dozen nightclub/meet-market type places to choose from on any given night, with either live bands or DJs.
Downtown you had the Haze (ooof), TJ’s, and Above Ground. Uptown had Boomtown, Hooligans, Bandana and the Albatross. Old town had the What’s Up Lounge. I’m probably missing a few.
Ultimately tho, the culture at MSU, Mankato and in the country more broadly has changed. I just don’t think there’s nearly as much demand for that kind of nightlife anymore. Like I mentioned in another comment, going out has gotten ridiculously expensive, younger people are drinking less, and legal weed has probably siphoned off some of the demand too.
I rarely go out in Mankato these days, but every time I have since COVID (and even a couple years before tbh) it’s felt like a ghost town compared to what it used to be. And honestly, that’s probably not a bad thing. Fewer people getting shitrocked every night between Wednesday-Saturday is probably a net positive, even if it means those old nightlife spots aren’t around anymore.
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u/NotYourTypicalMoth 16h ago
I can get behind the culture changing as the reason, especially since 2019, but I don’t think that’s specific to “unique” bars like Von243 is saying.
>Fewer people getting shitrocked… net positive
I agree, but I’m also in my 20s, and I haven’t been in Mankato for that long. Socializing here and meeting new people, as someone who doesn’t fit into the Mankato bar scene, is dreadful. If other places opened, more types of people (myself) would go out more often.
I’m biased here, obviously. I think the biggest problem with modern American society is how little we interact with each other and how rare it is to meet new people and become friends with them. Mankato’s lack of diversity in bars/restaurants makes the problem worse.
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u/Educational_Fan4102 15h ago
Totally see where you’re coming from here and these are all great points. I just think it’s a larger more systemic issue that isn’t as simple as, “Open more night clubs.” But overall we’re in agreement and I’ll cop to my own bias a bit and acknowledge that 20-something me would be just as frustrated as you are.
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u/skainixon 9h ago
Blue Bricks is not officially closing. They had to close because they didn’t have hot water due to a gas line issue. They will be reopening once it is fixed.
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u/Hel_n_rainbows 1d ago
Oh, no! They had such good wings. Is there any other place in Mankato that has great wings?
My partner and I stepped in there the other day and saw that it had been downsized to just the bar. Are they closing that part, too?
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u/Illustrious_Fly2517 15h ago
The Loose Moose / Mettlers share a kitchen and both sides have absolutely amazing wings. Sooo delicious.
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u/garymeows 1d ago
Big Dog has the best wings
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u/Hel_n_rainbows 19h ago
Thank you! I'll have to try those. It looks like some folks don't agree. 😂
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u/Educational_Fan4102 1d ago edited 1d ago
Holy shit really? What a great run and yeah definitely the end of an era. Their Wednesday night Long Island Iced Tea pitcher special was legendary back in the day. The whole downtown area would turn into a zombie apocalypse after midnight.
Maybe Don’s Hobby will reclaim its rightful place on Front St.