Bay Avenue restaurant sees significant drop in weekend sales after Sept. shooting

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — At least one local restaurant is seeing a significant negative impact on sales after a random shooting in downtown Columbus.

More than a month after 18-year-old Kalielah Davis was shot and killed on Bay Avenue on Sept. 5, 11th and Bay Southern Table across the street is seeing a 20 to 25% drop in weekend sales, according to owner Michael Harrell.  

Harrell, who runs the restaurant alongside wife Heather, said Friday and Saturday night traffic hasn’t recovered, despite police efforts to keep the area safe.

“It’s unfortunate the incident happened,” Harrell said Wednesday, adding the shooting and its aftereffects caught he and his wife off-guard.

According to the 11th and Bay owner, groups were gathering late at night at the Bay Avenue playground across the street since earlier this year. It hadn’t impacted business until Davis’ death.

“Literally the weekend after that happened, we saw a drop,” Harrell said.

In late September, Columbus Police Department Chief Stoney Mathis spoke with WRBL about what was being done to keep the area safe.

“We close majority of our parks [at] 10:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m., and Woodruff Park is down there,” Mathis said on Sept. 22. “We just came up with the idea, why don’t we just close from 11th and Bay all the way around? Just close that whole area off.”

Bay Avenue is now barricaded from 11p.m. to about 3:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, with police patrolling the area.

Harrell confirmed police have been attentive in their efforts to keep the area safe.

“The amount of police presence that we’ve seen down here, especially on weekends, is – I’ve got nothing but great things to say,” Harrell said. “They are patrolling this area every night now.”

According to Harrell, the landlord who owns the building which houses 11th and Bay also has security that regularly patrols the area.

Harrell hopes things will turn around. He encouraged the community to keep supporting downtown business.

“All the businesses down here are independently owned. We really do depend on the community to support us, which they always have,” Harrell said. “It would be unfortunate if this random act of violence really impacted the way we do business down here.”

At least one other business in downtown Columbus confirmed to WRBL that it had also seen a slowdown since the shooting.