Lauren Boebert’s Shooters Grill in Colorado has closed down after the restaurant’s landlords refused to extend the lawmaker’s lease.
The Republican lawmaker’s eatery in the town of Rifle was famous for having waitresses armed with handguns and shut its doors for the final time on Sunday, she confirmed.
“We were like a family. I would say Shooters, for any employee, was their life,” she told The Post Independent about the restaurant that opened in May 2013.
“We lived and breathed it every single day. They were a part of this culture and brand that we created in Rifle, and there was a lot of pride with that.”
The right-wing politician says she was told in June by her new landlord that the lease would not be renewed.
She told the newspaper that she called them back but “there wasn’t really much wiggle room or anywhere to compromise unless we bought the building ourselves.”
And she added: “Within the next two hours, I had reporters reaching out to me asking me if this was true and if we were being evicted.”
“I said, ‘Well, we’re not being evicted. The lease is not being renewed — that’s a big difference.’”
It may not be the end of the Shooters brand for Ms Boebert though and she may do something else in the town.
“We would just dramatically scale it back, because, obviously, we’re not in our building,” she said.
“It may look like a Shooters coffee shop with pastries and some easy breakfast sandwiches and merchandise.”
Staff began carrying weapons when a man was apparently beaten to death near the restaurant, although it later turned out he had died from a drug overdose.
“It’s been an amazing journey. I don’t regret anything. It’s always sad to close a chapter. But this is where we’re at,” she said.
