After years of financial worry, Chapel Hill’s iconic He’s Not Here has embraced its casual, beer garden image and, according to its management, made a turn around.
Soon, the business known for its laid-back atmosphere and distinctive blue cup will add new ownership to its list of updates.
But bar manager Fleming Fuller said the bar is doing well again, and Kitzmiller wanted to return to his retirement, his Canadian home and his veterinarian wife — so he put the business on the market.
“Sales are up, we’re profitable again, he came out of retirement and got us here,” Fuller said.
The bar is listed for sale on BizQuest.com. An initial ad was placed on Craigslist and taken down to give the realtor time to review the flood of interest it generated, Fuller said. The bar’s asking price is $165,000, and the BizQuest ad lists its gross revenue as $400,000.
Fuller said though official numbers are not yet back from the accountant, he estimates that the bar’s sales increased between 20 and 30 percent in the past year.
Fuller said that the turnaround happened partly because of changes he himself recently made, like installing new murals and playing up the bar’s appeal as a beer garden.
“With Kitzmiller working on his 40th year owning the bar, it was time for a change. He noticed that, we noticed that, and he will remain someone who shaped students’ social lives for decades,” John Bruner, the assistant manager of the bar, said in an e-mail.
Fuller said Kitzmiller has returned to Nova Scotia and is enjoying his retirement, and he is not available for comment.