Blush Ultraclub Winnipeg To Close In January 2010
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It has just recently being announced that Winnipeg’s Blush Ultraclub will be closing in January 2010. According to sources however, there are plans to re-open the location 2 months later in March 2010 as a Sports Bar (in place of a Nightclub). This will be the second major Winnipeg nightclub closing in as many months after the recent closure of Vivid Nite Club. Your last chance to enjoy Blush will be New Years Eve 2010 (Details To Come!)
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If anyone has any more information regarding this story, please Contact Us or Comment on this article below. As more information becomes available, this post will be updated.
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There is no question that since it’s opening approximately 2 years ago, Blush Ultraclub has being a major influence and hot spot for Winnipeg Nightlife. Situated in the heart of Winnipeg’s downtown and directly across the street from the MTS Centre (corner of Hargrave and Portage Ave), Blush aimed to provide Winnipeggers with a big city nightclub feel without having to leave town. When Blush finally opened after much hype and anticipation, most of Winnipeg was in awe. Blush invested millions in their state of the art nightclub and it showed.
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Coming in at over 19,000 square feet spread amongst 2 floors and a basement, Blush is the largest nightclub in the city (*depending on criteria*). Not only is the club massive in size, but the interior atmosphere is also incredible featuring plenty of luxurious seating, 4 full bars, a huge dance floor, lots of LCD TV’s, a full size stage, and extravagant VIP sections.
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Over the years, Blush has hosted some of Winnipeg’s largest and most successful events. Whether it be international acts such as Armin Van Buuren, Emerson Drive, MSTRKRFT, Raekwon, Girlicious, Flo Rida, & Vanilla Ice or events such as the Redbull Thre3 Style DJ Championships, Aboriginal Music Awards, Foam Parties, Commerce Socials and some great concert after parties, Blush always seemed to do a good job.
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Be sure to try and visit Blush before it closes! A great opportunity would be this Friday, December 4th for Bad Boy Bill. Also check out the videos below of some great events Blush has hosted over its life!
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Thank you Blush for a great couple years!
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Armin Van Buuren @ Blush 2008
Video Credit: Mahalliner @ Youtube, Mixhard
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Girlicious @ Blush 2008
Video Credit: AccessWinnipeg.com
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Joey Stylez @ Blush Aboriginal Music Awards 2009
Video Credit: k3rry10 @ Youtube
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Photo Credits: http://blushultraclub.ca/
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Share you feeling about Blush closing below! Do you like the idea of a Sports Bar taking over? Did you like Blush itself? What was your favorite event at Blush?
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Wow I had no idea Blush was closing! Thanks for the info and good article. I went to blush a few times when it had just opened and agree that among nightclubs in Winnipeg it has the nicest interior decor (by a long shot I would say). Sometimes the place would be packed to the walls, sometimes the place seemed really dead (maybe because it was so big). Seemed like they couldn’t keep it consistently busy. I also think that Republic and Whiskey Dix probably took a lot of their business as they are both 21+ clubs also. I think the idea for a sports bar is awesome! People who work downtown love to go out for after work drinks etc. and a sports bar would be perfect for this.
I loved that Blush was located in the heart of dowtown, it had beautiful interior, and hosted great djs and events. I was not a fan of their security or service.
I think they should turn the place into a Supper Club. It could cater to downtown workers for lunch and afterwork, then clubbers at night. It would be such a huge waste of space to just turn it into a sports bar. And plus… Canad Inns is turning the old theatre on Donald into one, so we could potentially have two Supper Clubs in walking distance of each other.
I have to say in my opinion this article is totally missing the point. Blush is a beautiful venue but has to switch it up because it is dying. In the two years Blush has been open it has done nothing but become an “event” venue and they didn’t even do that well. The last year Blush has been host to some good acts including mstrkrft and emerson drive. However you can’t say it was a good bar because they had two good nights. City wide Blush has a terrible reputation for being the shitty place to go on a friday night. I personally attended one Friday that drew a mere 17 people through the doors. Saturdays which were supposedly their night you were lucky to find 300 people in a club built for 1000. Can you claim to be successful when compared to Whiskey Dix who during the turn-table tuesday campaign pulled in 500+ people weekly. If you can get crowds like that mid week I should hope Blush would be able to do the same on a Saturday night. You can’t blame them for switching to a sports bar, but I can’t help but think maybe they are kicking a dead horse. It seems like they will be in stiff competition with the tavern one block away which is consistently packed!
Best of luck to the Blush management on their new venture, hopefully it will be more successful. This being said I know among my friends we won’t be reminiscing about the good old days at Blush “Ultra” Club.
Sincerely,
Not all that suprised.
Blush could have been something. I have knowledge of who all was originally involved. Key owner (former Canad Inns partner) backed away the inexperienced remaining partners after the plans were bastardized. Could have been something at 700 seats and properly designed/functional.
Oh, P.S…. can anyone imagine the future clientele there with VLT’s, pool tables etc.???
I think that this is a good and bad idea. Blush needs to close now and do their renos now if they want to be successful as a sports bar. Then why not have your grand opening the day of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Have a huge party to celebrate the Olympics. Like come on give your head a shake. What is going on in March? Moose are done, Bombers are done, Goldeyes have not started yet. WTF. If they choose to open in March they will fail just like they have failed before. They just want to get as much money as they can out of people for news years and then they will close. Obviously they do not listen to reason. Putting in pool tables, VLT’s and some tables is not going to cut it downtown. You have the Tavern which is packed all of the time, you have Moxies, Rink Side, and Boston Pizza. I am not sure if Downtown needs another sports bar unless you are going to offer something that the other places does not have.
Maybe ownership needs to let go of whatever stupid ideas they have and listen to people that have worked in successful bars.
Yes blush has brought in some good acts, yes the building space is super large (1000 people) and yes it did bring in 300 people on Sat nights (that is good but looks bad cause of space) but they could not keep the people coming back week after week.
Making it a sports lounge will only work for a while, just long enough for it to pay for the renos and then it will die. They should just sell it and have someone that knows what they are doing buy it and make something great out of it.
If not then good luck with the renos and hopefully the winter will be long because once spring time comes people don’t go out that much.
Has anyone ever been to an ESPN Zone sports bar? (www.espnzone.com)
That is something that would work here that is different. I know ESPN is American so it’s likely not something that could happen here, but something similar to make it a destination, not just another place to go before or after a game.
A message to “Me” I can’t imagine the kind of clientele it will attract with VLT’s with Pool Tables- Why don’t you clarify for the crowd…. Blush- Good bloody riddance, a typical Winnipeg ending to another nighclub failure
Maybe if more of the “Clientele” that Me is referring to frequented there they would not be closing their doors only after a whopping 18 months in business.
The real fact of the matter is this… you simply don’t have enough of a downtown population that can even afford to go to a nite-club. And who outside of downtown wants to even bother? I say tear the f*ckin’ thing down and build yet another Tim Horton’s. You’re more likely to make more money for the said downtown square footage. Our downtown is like a third-world country and everyone knows that. Good-luck is all I can offer.