On Saturday, almost four years to the day Jeff Jenkins opened the late-night club 2720 in Hot Springs, he’s celebrating the end of the road with a big bash. There’s a retrospective video planned, g-force is DJing midnight until 2 a.m. and Debbi T, the first DJ Jenkins hired at club, will also be the last, spinning until the wee hours.
“For years we rock ‘n’ rolled,” said Jenkins, 29, today by phone. “We always made our profits from tourists. We were the number one recommended place by local hotels and restaurants. When the economy fell off and gas prices went up, trips here got tough, and there’s not enough locals to support a place this big with tourism down like this.”
So Jenkins is cutting his losses, packing up his audio and lighting equipment (which he maintains is the best in the region) and returning to Little Rock, where he grew up. He plans to take it easy for awhile, before opening a new late night club in Little Rock. As soon as early next year, he hopes.
Through a local club owner, he’s already got an angle on one of those much in-demand Class B private club licenses that allow clubs to remain open until 5 a.m, he said.
Jenkins wouldn’t reveal a location or a name, but said the new space will be in the 18,000 to 22,000 range with multiple levels. He also said the event planning and concept will be similar to 2720. The decor, on the other hand, will be different, but similarly simple, modern and clean, he said.
More concrete, he said, are his plans to open FX Pros, a high-end audio and visual effects showroom, likely in the Heights before the end of the year. There, he’ll sell intelligent lighting, VJ equipment, high-end stereo equipment and the like.
There’s a long note from Jenkins on the 2720 MySpace page that touches on the club’s troubled early history, reviews some performance highlights and thanks all the spot’s major players.