The ground
Bars work in St Louis
St Louis has a deep bar scene, spread across neighbourhoods that each carry their own character. Soulard draws people for its historic brick streets and its Mardi Gras run. The Grove packs a strip of bars into a few blocks. Cherokee Street, Benton Park, Tower Grove and downtown all carry their own crowds. Search demand follows that geography. People search by neighbourhood, by night, by occasion and by what is on. The bars competing for those searches range from single owner operators running one room to groups running several venues across the city. Paid search in this trade is worth watching because the intent is close to the door: someone searching for a bar tonight is often deciding within the hour. That is the demand available in St Louis, and it is steady across the week with clear peaks around weekends, holidays and the city's big calendar events.
