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JANET ZINKThe success of the new Harpo's club in Brandon has created a problem: where to put all the cars.
Business is booming at Harpo's.
It's so good that the 100 parking spaces around the new Brandon nightclub can't accommodate all of its weekend patrons.
That's been the case practically since the night Harpo's opened two months ago.
"Things are going very well," said Tee Hatjoiannou, who, with his son, Jeff, owns the club.
With the success of the club, open Tuesday through Saturday with live music on weekends, many clubgoers have been tempted to park in the Borders lot next door. But that's a no-no. A big expensive no-no.
One Friday several weeks ago, Borders towed the cars of 36 people who were partying at Harpo's like it was 1999. When they left the bar well after midnight they discovered they'd have to come up with $160 to get their vehicles back, Hatjoiannou said.
Not that they weren't warned. Signs in the Borders parking lot make it clear it is for their customers only, and before the towing began, the disc jockey and band at Harpo's told the crowd to move their cars from the bookstore's lot, Hatjoiannou said.
"I don't know if they thought we were kidding or what," Hatjoiannou said.
Trish Laurance, area marketing manager for Borders, said Harpo's patrons have sometimes made it difficult for Borders customers to find parking.
It's particularly problematic because Borders attracts a "non-drinking public," Laurance said.
"That can create difficulties when people who are coming from bars are in our parking lot," she said.
Borders and Harpo's have made peace, though. The bookstore gave the Harpo's valets permission to park cars in its lot after midnight. The store closes at 11 p.m.
Meanwhile, construction continues on 40 additional parking spaces for Harpo's patrons next to the existing lot. Those should be done in about 30 days, Hatjoiannou said. Also, the owners of Wings, a restaurant now under construction, have agreed to let Harpo's use some of their 200 or so parking spaces. Those should be available in about six weeks.
"We're going to have all kinds of spaces back there," Hatjoiannou said.
That should be good news to about 2,000 people who pass through the doors of Harpo's each weekend night. That's about three times the number of people who hit Harpo's nightly at its former location in Ybor City, Hatjoiannou said. There's also a Harpo's in Carrollwood, but the Hatjoiannous sold it about a year ago.
"We are busier than we thought we were going to be," Hatjoiannou said.