Wet Willie's calls a cab and closes after 22 years

No more sex on the beach, Charleston. Wet Willie’s has called it quits. A Facebook post this morning announced that the frozen daiquiri bar has shuttered after 22 years on East Bay Street. Imagine what those slushy machines have witnessed … a bleary Thursday in 2002 comes to mind. (So much blue vomit.)

Intern Samantha Connors went by to get a look and reports that the drink machines have been dismantled and signage is coming down.

Joe Ann Brandt, the co-owner of Wet Willie’s says the closure, while sudden, was due to decreased bar traffic. “The location hasn’t been good for a while,” Brandt says. “The crowd that enjoys going out has moved to other locations.” Brandt says Keith Jones, owner of Stars and Amen Street, has bought out their lease. Jones declined to comment on the deal.

As for another Charleston Wet Willie’s, Brandt says the idea isn’t off the table. “We’re opening locations in St. Louis, Mobile, and Greensboro,” she says. “But if we could find another location here, we’ll open. We have so many loyal customers, both local and tourists.”

Incidentally, Brandt and her husband, Wet Willie’s CEO Bill Dickinson, are both psychologists. They got into the Shock Treatment drink-selling business in 1990 opening their first Wet Willie’s in Savannah. Today they have 14 locations across the Southeast.