06/23/2026
To our dearest Club XYZ friends! We regretfully have to announce that this coming weekend will be the last for Club XYZ. This comes as a complete surprise for us, despite the landlords demands outside of what Club XYZ could comply with. He included in the last lease a rent increase based on the CPI that the business couldn't absorb. Daniel Schuh, owner of the property and the landlord is evicting us with less than one weeks' notice. He is homophobic, a tyrant, and a proud as***le.
Over the years the business owner, Richard/Raz, has made improvements to the building, including recently a new AC unit a year ago and rebuilding an outdated electrical panel that he failed to do when instructed to do so from his insurance provider and the business insurance provider. When the AC unit was replaced, it shorted out the outdated electrical panel which almost caught the building on fire. The owner of the business has also because of the landlord's inability to do his job, maintained the electrical, plumbing and the HVAC. The owner of XYZ has also replaced outdated equipment over the years so the business could operate accordingly.
The lease provided gives him the right to evict us within 10 days and he is doing just that. How nice of him to not comply with the notice until after our pride weekend.
We are trying to figure out some way to liquidate the physical assets of the business by next Tuesday. If there is anyone out there that knows someone who can help facilitate an auction, would be appreciated. We Do Not Want The Landlord To Take Possession Of Our Space Without Giving Us Time to Find Storage or Sale Off!
The landlord has made any relationship with his tenet difficult since he took possession of the property, making threats, using homophobic slurs, not acknowledging that he had a viable tenet that paid rent on time, maintained the business to not be a nuisance to the immediate surrounding community.
He has dismissed the business owner, he has undermined the business owner, he has even actually told folks he owns Club XYZ.
Club XYZ has become over our last 22 years, a cornerstone of Knoxville's LGBTQ community, providing a safe place to gather well beyond the boundaries of Knoxville.
To our employees and cast, thank you for your time with Club XYZ, your contributions, talents and resilience through the ups and downs we will forever be grateful of.
To all of our customers since October 2004, thank you, thank you, thank you! We are truly sorry this has come to this kind of a conclusion, we have always hoped that we could go on our own terms, but Daniel Schuh isn't interested in our q***r community. He is more interested in his collection of empty properties. When Richard/Raz objects to the way Daniel speaks to him, Daniel becomes dismissive, makes threats, then that only leads to a failure to communicate professionally.
Daniel Schuh has never made it easy to rent from him since he took possession of the property, which led to a contentious relationship. Richard has tried despite Daniel's constant refusal to work together. As a small business with an overhead that takes careful navigation, Richard has done a great job keeping Club XYZ open all these years, especially through personal issues and national trends.
To Daniel Schuh's "Gay Friends" he has closed your favorite "Dive Bar". That last part is a direct quote from the landlord.
Happy Holler is what it is today because Club XYZ took a chance on an area of town that was considered not safe, now Happy Holler is a thriving part of Knoxville due to Club XYZ. Daniel Schuh has benefited from the work XYZ put in to changing minds and make the area attractive for others to open their small businesses.
Join Us This Coming Week For Our LAST DANCE! This Coming Saturday Night Will Be Our Last Night Open!
