Emily Bloch

ebloch@jacksonville.com

Birdies — the popular, longstanding bar in Jacksonville’s Five Points — is closing permanently.

Wednesday evening, Owner Christy Frazier confirmed the bar was closing to the Times-Union through Facebook Messenger.

“Birdies, as a bar, is closing permanently,” Frazier said. “We will be selling to go package sales for pick up and delivery under the name Birdies soon.”

Last week, the bar announced it was temporarily closing because of the coronavirus. Frazier confirmed that its employees were let go because of the situation.

When asked if the permanent closure was because of the coronavirus’ hit on local businesses, Frazier replied “YES!” in all capital letters.

The bar, recognized for its mosaic walls and checkered floors, originally opened in 2009.

“Ask anybody in Jax about Birdies and they’ll have a story for you,” one user shared on Twitter upon hearing about the closure. “[It was] one of the most popular small businesses in the whole city.”

Yelp reviews lauded the dive bar for being a place to dance and grab cheap liquour drinks.

“It's a little seedy, but the drinks are the cheapest in the area, hands down,” one review said. “It's also one of the few places to dance in Riverside.”

Before Jessica and Matthew Smith married in October, they fell in love at Birdies.

“We fell in love there, took our engagement photos there and have celebrated anniversaries there,” Jessica Smith said. “But this goes beyond just us — Birdies brings so many different groups of people together.”

Emily Bloch: ebloch@jacksonville.com