TAMPA, FL — Trey Lawson was excited when he unexpectedly visited a Christmas-themed bar for the first time. He was immediately taken with Frosty’s in Orlando, which has since closed its doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’d never seen anything like it, a 365-day-a-year Christmas bar,” he told Patch. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh. This is the funniest, tackiest thing I’ve ever seen.’”
Then, he forgot about it — at least until he took over and rebranded his family’s bar, which today is a year-round Christmas-themed venue called Joy Bar.
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His father, Frank Lawson, owned and operated VIP Lounge at 6905 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa for more than 30 years. There were previous owners before his father, as the bar dates back to the 1940s.
For several years, Trey focused on rejuvenating Liquor Depot, the liquor store attached to the bar.
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Eventually, his father retired and he took over the lounge, as well. As sales dropped, he knew some changes needed to be made to drive more traffic to the business.
“I was trying to think of what to do with this place and (Frosty’s) popped back in my head,” he said. “And I knew what I wanted to do.”
He shut down the lounge in November and reopened Dec. 1 as Joy Bar.
“I didn’t want to lose the dive bar feel to it,” Trey said. “It’s always been a dive bar. You’ve got your pool table. You’ve got your cheap drinks. Cocktails, drinks and bourbon pours are getting outrageous.”
All of that remains the same at Joy Bar, except now, people who are “expecting to walk into this dungeon of a dive bar and instead, it’s lit with Christmas lights everywhere and we’re singing ‘The Grinch,’” he said. “It’s like Christmas threw up in there.”
Now, it has three segments of customers — locals looking for a cheap drink and a place to watch sports, those interested in checking out the kitschy Christmas decor and bourbon drinkers.
“Believe it or not, we do a lot of bourbon business with the liquor store – single-barrel picks, high-end whiskey,” according to Trey. “I wanted to offer a place where they could try high-end whiskey but not pay these crazy prices … I can honestly say that we have one of the best whiskey selections in town for a fourth of the price.”
In recent months, he’s started hosting various events at Joy Bar, including comedy and karaoke, and he’s gearing up to celebrate his first Christmas in July.
Events currently scheduled include:
In addition to special events, anyone who wears a Christmas sweater to Joy Bar in July will receive a free Fireball shot. Christmas-themed shots will be $4 and there will be a daily Pabst Blue Ribbon happy hour from 5 to 8 p.m. with $1.50 beers.
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