Reggies gets a facelift
New menus, decor and cocktails bring in increased student clientele
After a complete redesign, new menus and longer opening hours, Concordia University’s student bar, Reggies, is reshaping its image. This comes after years of financial controversy.
Operations manager Alex Rona said that Reggies’ old sterile interior was one of the main reasons why the bar was no longer appealing to students.
“It had to be done,” Rona said. “The whole place was neglected and we needed to bring it up to par to get to that next step of Reggies.”
Over the summer, the space was fully remodelled. Rona and the managing team replaced some of the old furniture and worked with local artists to decorate the restaurant and bathroom walls. According to Rona, they plan to add more to the space in the future.
In 2011, the student bar was deemed “un-auditable” by an accounting firm and separated from the Concordia Student Union (CSU) in 2015 to become a solidarity cooperative.
In 2023, Reggies faced another financial crisis after taking out loans to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In 2023 when I [first] started, it became pretty apparent within, like, a week that Reggies was not going to be able to reopen in September of 2023 if it didn't get a bailout,” said Eduardo Malorni, the current general manager of Reggies who was hired to evaluate the bar’s finances in 2023.
According to CSU general coordinator Kareem Rahaman, Reggies approached the student union and asked for a sum of money to stay afloat. After an uncertain future, Reggies was able to reopen for the 2023-24 school year and effectively broke even by the end of the academic year.
Reggies financial reports from June to October 2024 show that the bar turned a profit for two out of the three months provided for the fall semester. According to Malorni, they are on track to end the school year in the green.
Reggies is now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and hosts several events from Tuesday Trivia to Thirsty Thursday, with DJs and discounted drinks. For Rona, that diversity in offerings is important to make all kinds of students feel welcome at Reggies.
“We want Reggies to be the number one spot for events on campus,” Rona said. “It's really creating that community on campus, which I think is really vital to your university experience.”
According to Malorni, the changes made over the summer, such as the new signature cocktail list with offerings like the Shuttle Bus and the St. Germain Spritz, have been very successful for the bar, with cocktails becoming one of their best sellers.
As a solidarity cooperative, no single person owns Reggies, which Malorni says allows them to offer students lower prices compared to other downtown businesses.
“We're not trying to scam students, we're giving you the best price,” Malorni said. “Yes, I have to cover my costs, but if I make a huge profit, that doesn't come to me and it doesn't go to anywhere else, it just stays in Reggies.”
Rona said he knows that past financial scandals have left a stain on Reggies reputation, but he wants students to know that the bar is changing.
“If there is something I want to reiterate, it would be: We've changed, we're different now, those were things that happened in the past,” Rona said. “If you're a Concordia student, there's a spot for you somewhere in Reggies.”
This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 7, published January 14, 2025.
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