Gazette photo by Andrew Wallmeyer Joel Evans (left) and Billy Kirchoff enjoy a smoke outside of Brine's Bar & Grill Monday night. The Stillwater residents said the state's six-month-old smoking ban hasn't kept them from visiting their favorite Minnesota bars. Bar owner Gerry Brine said he believes the ban hasn't had much of an impact on his business. "I think it was breakeven for us," he said.

Now that the smoke has cleared, many local bar and restaurant owners say the six-month-old statewide smoking ban has helped, not hurt, their business.

When Minnesota lawmakers proposed the ban a year ago, many bar owners along the western banks of the St. Croix River said they feared such a move would chase much of their clientele into Wisconsin, where they can still light up with impunity. While some said they have seen a drop-off in business, others are singing the ban's praises, especially those who make a significant portion of their sales from food.

"I certainly haven't seen a decline in business, that's for sure. If anything, it's boosted business," said Jeff Chilson, who owns the Mad Capper Saloon & Eatery in downtown Stillwater.

"The very few (smokers) that we may have lost who said, 'The heck with it, we're going across the river,' well, I think we probably gained four to five times the amount of people coming across the border this way who don't want to deal with that and would rather eat in a smoke-free environment," he said.

Chilson estimated his business is up 10 to 20 percent overall, with sales split evenly between food and alcohol. Any decline in beer and liquor sales has been offset by an increase in food sales, he said.

Bar and restaurant owners up and down the St. Croix Valley said much the same, with the smoking ban's impact proportional to the percentage of their business that comes from alcohol.

On one side of the spectrum is Phil's Tara Hideaway, where owner Phil Barbatsis estimates only about a fifth of the Oak Park Heights roadhouse's sales come from alcohol.

"To tell you the truth, I think it's been great," said the longtime smoker. "This is a very small place, so if you've got one or two people smoking, the whole place smells of cigarettes. We've had a lot of new people come in who couldn't or wouldn't before. ... I think it's been real, real good for us."

On the other side of the coin is Ed Schmidt, who owns the Harbor Bar in Stillwater, which doesn't serve any food other than the occasional frozen pizza.

"We're down a lot. Hopefully, with the weather change some of our business might come back, but you can't blame people for going across the river. Who wants to smoke outside when it's 30 below zero?" he said.

Schmidt said the bar's location, on the corner of Owens Street and McKusick Road, gives him an added challenge, because he isn't allowed to serve alcohol on an outdoor patio, like his downtown competitors are.

"I suppose I could ask the city to change the rule, but I think the chances of that happening in Stillwater are nil to none," he said.

While that is equally true for Meister's Bar & Grill, located at the corner of Fourth and Churchill streets, Steve Meister said his family's bar has always done a decent food business, and he's looking to increase that as a way to make up for lower bar tabs.

To celebrate the bar's 60th anniversary, he is offering 60-cent burgers and coney dogs for all of March and April, partly to get more people in the door at mealtimes.

"When it comes down to it, people are creatures of habit," he explained. "Hopefully some of this business will continue after April, but only time will tell."

Closer to Hudson, Wis., bar and restaurant owners said they, too, have seen some significant changes in their business, but not necessarily for the worse.

At the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland, located a stone's throw north of the Interstate 94 bridge, co-manager Ericka Evans said she's seen a noticeable increase in their dinner business.

"We've actually gotten more business since the ban. It seems like it, anyway," she said. "A lot of people say they're coming back more because we're now non-smoking."

In Bayport, a few miles up Highway 95, Woody's Bar & Grill has lost some of the happy hour business that used to come from the nearby Andersen Corp. window factory.

"The smoking ban has changed things up a little bit, but it's not hurting us in any way, shape or form," said Mary Tickner, who manages the bar.

"We don't get as much of the Wisconsin Andersen crowd at happy hour. They can't smoke at the factory, so now they're going straight to Wisconsin after work. But our late-night and weekend business is steady, maybe even up, and we're definitely seeing more people come in for dinner, and they're a lot more willing to bring their kids in here when they do," she said.

Back in Lakeland, Borderline Bar & Grill owner Rodney Graf fears some of the patrons he lost when the smoking ban went into effect on Oct. 1 may never return.

"We definitely felt a decrease in business in the first two or three months. We fought it by putting heaters outside, and that helped a lot, but our sales were still down," he said. "I'm too close to the border. It's too easy for people to cross the bridge and go to Wisconsin if they want to smoke."

While some Wisconsin legislators are pushing for a statewide smoking ban, Graf said he doesn't expect to see one anytime soon.

"They have a very strong restaurant community over there, and they usually get their way," he said. "Yeah, I've heard talk of a Wisconsin smoking ban, but I'm not going to hold my breath."