Image is everything

The line-up began outside the new Storehouse Bar and Grill in Iqaluit well before it opened for the first time Tuesday at 5 p.m.

And many who continued to wait in line outside the packed bar as the night progressed agreed it was worth it.

“We were busy from the time we opened to the time we closed,” said Rainer Launhardt, manager of the Frobisher Inn, which built the new hangout.

The Storehouse is the stylish replacement for the Tulugaq Bar, which is being renovated this week to become a conference room and an extension of the Frobisher Inn dining room.

The new bar is bright, with a kitchen serving up bar fare, separate smoking and non-smoking sections, and a quiet lounge with leather chairs and a fireplace.

The upper level has an array of games ranging from pool and foosball, to a deer-shooting video game called “Big Buck Hunter.”

The decor includes a yellow 1950s snowmobile hanging from the ceiling, elk-horn chandeliers and a stuffed muskox head on the wall.

The bar boasts eight different kinds of beer, and, perhaps to give the homey restaurant a nightclub atmosphere, servers carried trays with flashing lights, and served drinks containing flashing red ice cubes.

Aside from a few minor computer glitches, Laundhardt said opening night was an overwhelming success.

“It went extremely well. Guests behaved and they liked the place,” he said.

A grand opening celebration will likely be held after the place has been open for a few weeks.

While Laundhardt couldn’t estimate how many people passed through the doors on Tuesday night, the constant line-ups outside meant the bar was almost always at full capacity.

And while he wouldn’t say how much money the place pulled in on its first night, he was confident it gave the Legion a run for its money.

“There is no comparison [to the Legion],” he said.

“I think we have set a much higher standard for Iqaluit.”