BUFFALO, N.Y. — Michael Ray Jackson knows exactly what Club Marcella’s is going through. It happened to him not too long ago.
Back in 2020, a shooting that took place outside of his club, The Groove Lounge, sent two victims to the hospital and prompted the city to leave a similar notice on his door to the one Club Marcella received Sunday, mandating its closure.
“I thought it was ludicrous,” Jackson said. “What does that got to do with the inside of the building?”
After a 30-year-old man was shot in the Club Marcella bathroom early Sunday morning, marking the fourth shooting at the club this year, it faced a similar fate. The club is entitled to a hearing within 60 days where its ownership will have the opportunity to work with the city to determine if it can reopen and under what conditions.
Jackson and the ownership at The Groove Lounge took their case to the State Supreme Court and ultimately won, allowing the lounge to reopen.
But once it did, Jackson said they’ve aimed to operate in a new way by changing the club’s status to private. Only a pre-approved list of members are allowed in.
“You will have to be screened,” Jackson said. “You had to go through the application process. You have to have your photo ID. You have to get a card. … We want to just get the people that we want to be here, that represents our character and represents where we are trying to go with our future directions.”
Jackson said he believes a similar crowd travels from club to club in Buffalo and causes violence, meaning without this system, the suspects at Club Marcella’s incidents could have been on their way to his establishment.
The extra steps he and the staff at The Groove Lounge are taking could be a route Club Marcella considers in the near future, as the closure notice remains on their door and there aren’t many other options left.
“We're not here to please everyone,” Jackson said. “We are here to make everyone feel safe and enjoy what we’ve got.”