A weak economy isn’t hampering three Valley club owners’ expansion onto Mill Avenue in Tempe.

For an ASU alum and two recent college graduates from British Columbia, Canada, the tough economic climate is ripe for expansion.

Mark Brown, Ryan Harris, and Jay Johari — the latter of whom graduated from ASU in 2000 and also received an MBA from the University in 2003— are the owners of Vintage Lounge, a new bar geared toward ASU students.

“Anybody who’s purchasing a vehicle will know it is a buyer’s market,” Brown said.

Johari said the club’s large college base and its location right next to a light rail stop would make it a great investment, especially when the economy settles.

“We feel that No. 1, the economy is going to rebound,” he said. “We’re in place, and when it rebounds we’ll be in the thick of things.”

Vintage Lounge, set to open in mid-December, is the second acquisition in the Valley for the trio. Last month, they officially opened Waters Edge, a rock ’n’ roll-themed club in Chandler that attracts Polytechnic students, Brown said.

Brown, 24, and Harris, 25, moved to Arizona in mid-October. After working with Johari to open Waters Edge, they got word during the last week of October that Coconut Club Bar & Grill on Mill Avenue was closing due to liquor-licensing troubles.

That meant the opportunity to aggressively expand to a new location, Harris said.

“We didn’t sleep for three days,” he said. “We just did all the research we could and ended up at the conclusion that we could do it.”
Vintage Lounge looks to cater to ASU students as a classy but nonexclusive nightspot, Brown said.

The upscale feel will not necessarily mean high prices, Brown said.
“I don’t want people to think classy as expensive,” he said.

The club will offer daily drink specials, a casual atmosphere for ASU students and a tapas menu served from lunchtime throughout the day, Brown said.

“It’s somewhere between an appetizer and an entree if you will,” he said, describing tapas. “We can offer the consumer a very nice presentable plate at a very reasonable cost.”

Johari said he is drawing from his experience as an ASU student to create a bar that caters to a student base.

“I worked and went to school the entire time I went to ASU,” he said. “So when I went out I had to let off some steam.”

Harris said the quick expansion — two clubs opening in two months — is something that fits into his goals.

“Everyone in their life has had a million-dollar business idea,” he said. “You can’t be ambitious and not have the drive to do it. ”

Reach the reporter at matt.culbertson@asu.edu.