Bill's BBQ

Bill's Barbecue, an institution in Richmond, Virginia institution, recently closed its doors after over 75 years in business. President Obama's promised things were going to change, but we're not better off than we were four years ago. Bill's Barbecue in Richmond couldn't take four years of President Obama. Can we afford for more?

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  News & Politics

[snurglersons]

I love how a couple of days ago the top comments on this video, including mine, that told the truth of why Bill's closed have led to this video no longer displaying the top comments. You can only run from the truth for so long. Bill's BBQ was notorious for health code violations, filthy restaurants, bad service and really bad BBQ. 82 years is impressive, but the final 10-15 were a death spiral and the competition and free market in Richmond buried them a long time ago.

[snurglersons]

the business was a richmond institution at one time. key word "was". over the past 20 years they were destroyed by very quality competition and becoming notorious for filthy restaurants and health code violations. Only so many times can you have stories in the paper about band-aids and rat paws showing up in sandwiches and keep customers. Their locations on the Boulevard have seriously looked abandoned for close to a decade.

[dragon5fhg]

Not to be an ass but why ae you watching this video or even anything related to mitt romney if you like obama?

[tekcomputers]

Yes, and people would rather have Buzz and Ned's BBQ sitting in a tent, than the crap Bill's served.... hell people still stand in line for it. I do know better BBQ than Buzz and Ned's still.... however, that isn't the issue.... the issue is that Bill's served a worse product than their competitors (including Buzz and Ned's). THAT is what did them in. You simply cannot sustain a business on legacy and nostalgia, and that is what Rhonda tried to do.

[Whitney Pyant]

Obama supporter here

[tekcomputers]

The Free Market killed Bill's, not Obama. We, the vast number of Richmonders who spend money at local businesses, who chose to spend our money at other establishments other than Bill's are telling you that We did not stop spending money at Bill's because of the economy, WE stopped spending money at Bill's because we could spend it at other BBQ restaurants in the area which had better food.

[tekcomputers]

Yes, obviously if Obama is to blame for Bill's failure, he is also to blame for all the successful BBQ joints here in the Richmond area. It's Obama's fault that many of us Richmonders would rather carry our money to Alamo, Buzz and Ned's Que's, Famous Dave's or Extra Billy's rather than Bill's. Those that like Bill's like Bill's based upon what it was like in the 50's and 60's.... They need to join us here in 2012. The market doesn't care about what the place was like 50-60 years ago.

[tekcomputers]

Obama had nothing to do with, stiff competition from Buzz and Ned's, Extra Billies, Alamo and Famous Dave's is what closed Bill's.... most of Bill's competitors had award winning BBQ, most of them are also thriving in the same time that Bill's was failing. Bill's issue was not being able to adapt and compete, and as such, the free market of better BBQ killed Bill's. Yes, they were around for a long time, but legacy alone cannot sustain a business.

[Whitney Pyant]

Was Obama policies also at fault for the resturants health code violations as well? Also not mention there was another resturant open and they are still going strong

[Whitney Pyant]

I guess you miss what I said. This place was going out business along before Obama went into office. They had serious amount of health code violations and not to mention the bad reviews about the food. Judging by the looks of this place it has no been update since the 50s

[Evan Smith]

OK.... so 4 years into the Obama admin. and Bush is still in your window of excuses and im still curious where is any of your source for the health violations? Also its fairly clear that this place was built strong to resist larger chains. So if you still really you think it must be anything other than Obama I feel a great deal of pity for my country to see such ignorant people destroy its values.