The owners of Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria—a new bar and restaurant set to open in Five Points South this summer—have announced that their establishment will close and cease operations effective August 25.

Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria ceasing operations

Earlier this year, Birmingham transplants Scott Charby and Wade Brooks announced plans to open Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria, a new establishment set to double as a taco restaurant during the day and an LGBTQ+-friendly bar and event venue in the evenings. Located in the former Hush Lounge space at 2012 Magnolia Avenue at Pickwick Place in Five Points South, Opulence was meant to help fill the void of LGBTQ+-friendly spaces in Birmingham following the closures of Our Place Lounge and The Quest.

Due to several roadblocks—including a lack of funding—Opulence will not be opening. The owners shared the news in a post shared on social media, stating:

“Unfortunately, we have some bad news to share. After trying to locate some additional funding or a partner to help bring Opulence to the Birmingham community, we have made the difficult decision to close out the business and cease any operations effective August 25th.

I want to take this time to thank the Birmingham community for the warm welcome when we originally announced our plans to open Opulence—and also apologize for the mistakes that were made during the launch process and how that impacted the community and our staff.

I am sad that our vision for Opulence will not see the light of day. I do hope that someone else in the community takes the opportunity to open a new safe space for the LGBTQ+ community in Birmingham. That was always the most important piece to us.

If anyone is interested, the space will soon be available to lease from the Property Management company. Please feel free to reach out to them if [you] have any interest in moving forward with something in the space.

I am truly sorry that it all ended this way. We had the best of intentions, but weren’t able to get tings across the finish line.”
Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria

Although Opulence will not be opening in Five Points South, the historic neighborhood has seen several new openings in recent months, including:

Sad to see Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria close? Tag us @bhamnow to let us know.