Randy Heisner and Chuck Powers, who hope to open a new bar on South Kingshighway in a few months, have the perfect origin story for two would-be saloon keepers: For 20 years, they hung out together at the bar that used to be located on site.
For pretty much their entire friendship, the bar was Cotter’s Sports Bar, a low-key St. Louis neighborhood spot at 4610 South Kingshighway in Bevo Mill. As Heisner tells it, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the bar’s longtime owner sold it, but the new owner wasn’t able to make it work. The regulars were disgruntled, and then sad, as the place closed entirely.
Now Heisner and Powers are bringing new life to the small, standalone space, which they are preparing to open as South City Sports Bar. “We bought the building, and we’re putting our all into it,” Heisner says.
Heisner is a former manager of Molly’s in Soulard, and he says Powers also has extensive bar experience through his girlfriend, who owns a different bar in Soulard. They’re working on a full remodel of the place, adding new tables, new bar stools and two pool tables. They’re planning no fewer than 13 TVs (two 75 inchers, two 65 inchers and nine 55 inchers, Heisner says) and have ordered streaming services for all the major sports, including City SC.