Media Watch: McGeary’s Pub Garners National Press

A newspaper story by Joyce M. Rosenberg on the rapid decline of neighborhood bars as chain restaurants take over, prominently featured Albany’s McGeary’s Pub and proprietor Tess Collins with photographs of Collins and McGeary’s by Mike Groll. And you may have read it in The Times Union.

But it wasn’t just local news. The Associated Press story has been published in newspapers around the country, from Akron, Ohio to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Here’s an excerpt:

“A higher minimum wage and rising insurance costs also sap profits, says Tess Collins, who runs McGeary’s in downtown Albany, New York.

“But Collins brightens as she talks about McGeary’s customers. The bar draws a regular after-work crowd and people visiting the state capital on business. Families show up on weekends. There are seven TVs in the main bar and two in a back room, but Collins finds her customers are more interested in talking to each other than watching a game.

“‘I have an awesome community here,’ says Collins, whose bar is nearby Recovery Sports Grill, a sports bar and restaurant that has 35 screens and is part of an 11-location chain. ‘Everybody knows each other.'”

The story notes, “One in six bars closed between 2004 and 2014, according to market research firm Nielsen. More than 600 close each month, with just 334 opening.”