A Guelph nightclub unexpectedly closed its doors for good last Friday after falling behind on rent.
The closure was so abrupt that they were still planning on opening as of Friday morning, but by 8 p.m. had officially closed the doors, Onyx co-owner Bilay Badoe told GuelphToday.
“We were behind on rent. I was away on vacation to visit my family in Ghana. And when I got back, I don’t know what happened, because we’ve always had good relations with (our landlords). I still don’t fully understand,” he said.
Guelph’s 2SLGBTQIA+ monthly dance party, FIERCE!, was planned to start two hours later and, without a venue, was forced to cancel at the last minute.
Others scrambled to get their events moved elsewhere.
Canadian rapper and singer-songwriter K-os was set to perform the following day, and the show was moved to the Red Papaya, just after the venue finished hosting a St. Patrick’s Day Bar Room Brawl wrestling event.
Gain Media’s Battle of the Bands was moved to the Red Papaya as well.
“I’m really sad that Guelph is losing the space,” Badoe said. He’s also worried about their employees.
At the time, there were between 25 to 30 employees at Onyx, who all lost their jobs in an instant.
“We want to make sure that we get them paid,” he said. “That’s our first priority.”
While the downtown business was doing well, it had never fully recovered from the pandemic. Their landlords were lenient with them during those few years if they were ever behind on rent (though they hadn't been recently), he said, which was why this came as such a surprise.
“It’s just a matter of, you have a couple bad weeks. The nature of the business is very volatile. A few bad events can flip everything”
They did have a few bad weeks: some events were cancelled, and while he said it shouldn’t have affected them badly, it did in the end.
“The choice to close wasn’t on us,” he said. “With the events we had booked, paying those bills would not have been a problem.
“But we also understand from the point of our landlords, it’s just the nature of business. We’re young go-getters, and it doesn’t really translate sometimes.”
Still, he said the landlords were “more than gracious towards us (for) three years of COVID.
“It is what it is. That’s all I can say.”
While Badoe said closing wasn’t their choice, one of the landlords Chuck Nash said over email “the tenant was in rent arrears and was asked to pay those but instead chose to do a midnight move.
“They (moved) out Friday night at midnight with arrears and no notice,” he said.
Nash said they are still considering future plans for the space.
As for Badoe, he said he's thankful for the five years Onyx had since first opening in 2019.
“A lot of places don’t last that long, especially through Covid,” he said. “We are grateful for our landlords working with us for so long.”
He said they’re also grateful for everything they were able to do with the community, the staff and anyone who helped out along the way.
“We worked really hard to provide a safe and awesome space for LGBTQIA+ people and a great time for musicians and DJs,” he said.
Onyx was a diverse space, a regular spot for live music, drag shows, Desi nights, queer dance parties and more.
“We’ve done a lot with different groups,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to bring someone from every continent to Guelph in terms of music. We were able to make some epic shows happen and epic memories happen.
“For me, when you open a space like Onyx, it’s not like we’re the owners – it’s almost like the community owns it. They really make it their own. Hopefully something like that happens again.”
