[kkingston57]

Have owned/lived here for 3 years and this ? keeps coming up.

Admit that I was not familiar with this business, but have seen other businesses like this and they are not in businesses any longer. Can't tell you how many bars and restaurants who have come and gone over the years.

The following come to mind:

Studebakers
Urban Cowboy inspired bars/nightclubs.

From the developers point of view, apartments are a no-brainer.

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by rustyp

How can one not make a profit when people stand in line waiting to get in. Again burden is on you to show they didn't make a profit. Just produce one piece of evidence like yearly Morse meeting or (chuckle) The Villages Sun other than TV posters of which 90% spouting out this hearsay didn't live here and never stepped foot in KB's. Added footnote - let me be clear - I am talking about the original KB's. Not that poor excuse we were fed when it went upstairs. Yea that's how successful the developers wanted it to be. They put a night club on the second floor of a senior citizen's community.

The Cattle Baron was on the 2nd floor. No difference. If the downstairs was profitable they would not have closed it. The Morse's are smart business people.

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by JSR22

The Cattle Baron was on the 2nd floor. No difference. If the downstairs was profitable they would not have closed it. The Morse's are smart business people.

I agree they are smart. Doesn't mean KB's wasn't profitable. Some things aren't worth the headaches. Sometimes one has to read between the lines. BTW the developers owned the second floor. And do you know why it was called Cattle Barron's ?

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by rustyp

I agree they are smart. Doesn't mean KB's wasn't profitable. Some things aren't worth the headaches. Sometimes one has to read between the lines. BTW the developers owned the second floor. And do you know why it was called Cattle Barron's ?

Named after a Grandson Baron.

[Bogie Shooter]

Where’s the proof on the drugs and prostitution??

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

Where’s the proof on the drugs and prostitution??

The prostitutes, if they existed, would have needed blindfolds!

[npwalters]

Originally Posted by coralway

KB closed because deadbeat patrons sat for hours and hours on end nursing one drink. Food was, frankly, mediocre - nothing to brag about. In another location, probably outside of TV, KB would have been very successful.

That was not what I saw or experienced in the several times I was there.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by rustyp

How can one not make a profit when people stand in line waiting to get in.

Maybe they were waiting in line for the Hookers & Blow...

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by JSR22

The prostitutes, if they existed, would have needed blindfolds!

They don't care - it's a one way street.

[Garywt]

We went once and saw a show. It was good but only half full. Maybe different shows were needed. It was just at the beginning of COVID that it closed I believe and the talks of apartments started almost immediately. There have been a number of conversations as to whether or not apartments would be good.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by JSR22

The prostitutes, if they existed, would have needed blindfolds!

I hear they all joined the ballroom dancing club.




PLEASE! Ballroom dancing club members, it was a joke.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

It closed before we move here but since it was losing money why would they bring it back?

Was it really losing money? The various times we went to Katie Belle’s it was full of residents and their guests. Maybe it was poor management or some other reason it was closed. Maybe those that managed The Sharon saw it as competition and made a “pitch” to get rid of it. Fact is we probably will never know “the why”as the Morse family doesn’t answer to any of us. Katie Belle’s did have so called “advertisement value” and it was a unique and different place here in The Villages. I doubt you will see the like of a Katie Belle’s again here in The Villages.

[skippy05]

For all those wanting "The Villages" to bring back Katie Belles: Why not put together a Business Venture with investors and bring it back to The Villages yourself, without "The Villages" help? Certainly, you can lease one of the many vacant commercial spaces in the Villages. And, it is sure to turn a profit, as everyone desiring to bring it back says the old one made good money. This is not a sarcastic reply. For sure you can do it if you put your mind to it.

[GRACEALLEMAN]

Originally Posted by rustyp

How can one not make a profit when people stand in line waiting to get in. Again burden is on you to show they didn't make a profit. Just produce one piece of evidence like yearly Morse meeting or (chuckle) The Villages Sun other than TV posters of which 90% spouting out this hearsay didn't live here and never stepped foot in KB's. Added footnote - let me be clear - I am talking about the original KB's. Not that poor excuse we were fed when it went upstairs. Yea that's how successful the developers wanted it to be. They put a night club on the second floor of a senior citizen's community.

Right on brother. I'd dance with you.

[thevillages2013]

Originally Posted by rustyp

Not picking on you Stu. I have been here since 2005 and logged countless hours at KB's. Tony D (RIP) and I were on first name basis. No way did they fold because they couldn't make a profit. If that is so how can the other restaurants around the square survive when they have to pay rent and the developer didn't? No proof has ever been offered up in these countless conversations about this other than hearsay. From one who has some firsthand experience may I possibly suggest there was possibly a drug and prostitute problem that wasn't worth dealing with if one's entire livelihood depended on Katie Belle's.. Be observant to what may appear to be a sheltered bubble.

Oh my god you are telling me that smooth talking lady was a pupuprostitue ? I thought she was really digging me