Popular Minneapolis Bar Hits Significant Milestone

The art of achieving longevity? I’m not sure there is one. Especially with all the changes to our society of the last 20 years or so, for a business to be around a long time doesn’t seem to happen as much as it used to.  

With a quick google search, I learned that there is about a 20% success rate for new restaurants and 60% of new ones close within their first year. 80% will shut their doors within the first five years.  

Those statistics make what Gluek’s Bar and Restaurant is celebrating even more special. The popular spot in Minneapolis has been open for 90 years.  

Fox 9 recently spent time with the owner who is the 4th generation of his family to operate the location. The bar got its name from the Gluek Brewing Company.  Dave Holcomb’s great grandfather purchased the bar from the brewing company at the end of prohibition in 1934. 

The brewing company was established in 1857, a year before Minnesota became a state.  

Blue collar workers were the bars’ primary clientele until the 1970s’ when the location was renovated to feature food as well. Holcomb’s father and uncle updated the location to offer more than just alcohol and attract a more diverse group of customers.  

There have been challenges along the way for Gluek’s. In 1989, the building was destroyed by a fire that started when a man living in an apartment above the location fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand.  

To prove the fortitude of the business, the family reopened just nine months later.  

Then of course there was the pandemic, which forced the bar/restaurant to close for more than a year. Then they had to pivot into being more of an events-based business because so many people were working from home.  

Despite the hurdles they’ve faced to keep the doors open, customers still get the same vibe that Gluek’s has had for years.  

There will be a celebration on Thursday July 25th from 5-8 pm where customers are encouraged to stop by and toast the longevity of this Minneapolis cornerstone.