Over the years, parts of the Shatner Building have been reconfigured and refurbished. This year, it’sGerts’ turn to get a makeover.

After upwards of three years of planning, SSMUand the Gerts staff are very excited to see the renovations so close to completion. The bar will be closed for the summer, re-opening in September, 2012.

“I think that students will like the renovations. I think it’ll be also a great opportunity to marketGerts to students who are coming into McGill,”SSMU VP Finance and Operations Shyam Patel said.

“Gerts will be rebranded a little bit. If we’re coming out strong in the first semester, I think more students will know about it. It’s going to be different, but we’re trying our best to make sure it’s comfortable and home-y as it is right now,” Patel said.

Gerts has undergone several renovations in its lifetime. The bar used to be located where La Prep and the SSMU student lounge are now, and the basement was occupied by The Alley, an alternative bar and cafe which was envisioned as a daytime hangout, and catered to McGill jazz lovers. By 1999, The Alley was closed and Gertswas moved downstairs in its place, to the dismay of  patrons of both bars. For a few years, there would be a lineup out the door on Thursday nights, but most other times of the week, Gerts was relatively quiet.

In the past couple years however, Gerts has become more successful and so SSMU decided it was time to spruce up the student bar a little. Former VP Finance and Operations (2010-2011) Nicholas Drew elaborated on the origin of the renovation plans which will take place this summer in an email to the Tribune.

“I sat on the operations committee led by then-VP (Finance and Operations) Jose Diaz. The committee wanted to do something with the bar that would engage students and revitalize its image. We thought it was time for a facelift,” Drew said.

To do this, “The Great Gerts Challenge” was created. Students submitted designs for the bar’s reinvention. After a committee approved the winning designs and consent was given by SSMUCouncil (for budgetary reasons), the redesign process started. The budget was approved last year, but the renovations would have been too rushed to complete this past summer, so they were delayed another year.

“This all happened toward the end of Jose’s term and throughout my term up until the present. During my term as VP (Finance and Operations), I worked with McGill to select an appropriate design and begin the planning of its construction,” Drew explained.

“When the Gerts Committee got the estimate from McGill, we were way over the $200,000 that SSMUcouncil approved the year before. I wrote a proposal to council to get additional funding and made a case to allocate double the amount given. After much debate, [we were] granted [about] $480,000 … and the plans were given a greenlight.”

According to Gerts manager Natasha Geoffrion-Greenslide, the renovations aren’t trying to do away with any of the hominess that characterizesGerts so well. The aim is to revamp the space without losing its flexibility so it can still accommodate a diverse clientele. The main goal is to make the space less awkward, both Geoffrion-Greenslide and Patel asserted.

“It’s an awkward bar to serve at. There’s too much space behind the bar where there doesn’t need to be, and it’s sort of divided into three parts,”Geoffrion-Greenslide said.

“It’s going to be more open. Right now the way it is, you have the middle section which is sort of the bar where you hang out, then you have the stage in the corner, and you sort of have a random side that just has seating,” Patel elaborated.

The stage will also be lengthened during renovations, along with an open style DJ booth. While the bar feels like it’s divided into three sections at present, it will have more of a horseshoe shape when the renovations are complete, and the kitchen is going to be expanded to increase the amount of food served.

When it first moved to its current location, Gertssuffered financially, losing approximately $1 million.

“There were a lot of reasons why this happened, but the following comes to mind: there was high management turnover at the bar, the pricing scheme wasn’t enticing a regular clientele, and the competition of Montreal’s nightlife contributed toGerts remaining a sinkhole in the SSMU operating budget,”  Drew wrote.

In the last three years or so, Gerts has seen a considerable turnaround. Patel attributes Gerts’recent success to the strategy used by his two most recent predecessors, Drew and Diaz before him, as well as the consistency that Geoffrion-Greenslade has provided as manager over the past two years.

“During [Diaz’s] term, Gerts was sort of taking a 180, and it was being revamped. So there were specials, food was slowly being introduced … I sort of followed what Nick did, and I think Nick followed what his predecessor did,” Patel said.

Patel also credited the daily specials and the constant student group bookings as big factors for bringing in new clientele.

“I think the specials [were] a big thing, so introducing specials five days a week, it helps. I think also Natasha’s a big part of why Gerts has turned around,” Patel said. “Natasha’s been very upbeat, her attitude’s amazing. I think something she’s done really well … are big events, likeOctoberhaus and St. Patrick’s Day.” He also cited student events held at Gerts like Trivia night as examples of the bar’s improved business.

“Understanding Gerts and its competitive environment was crucial. It had to complement the Montreal nightlife rather than directly compete. To ensure that it was frequented, we had to show students that coming to Gerts is a cheaper alternative to running events elsewhere.” Drew explained. “We instituted daily specials and encouraged students to run their events at Gerts. It was mutually beneficial since student groups could make money at the bar by collecting entrance fees and we would offer specials on drinks to make sure people would attend. Sales then flourished.”

Both Drew and Patel agreed that Geoffrion-Greenslade has been a major force behind the continued success of Gerts. Patel called her personality “refreshing,” and Drew wrote, “Natasha was great to work with. She knew the industry quite well from her previous bartending experience and was enthusiastic [about working] with students. She had a lot of unique ideas coming into the job. I think a lot of the reason Gerts succeeded was due to her warm presence and hard work.”

A McGill alumni herself (BA 2006, English literature), Geoffrion-Greenslide bartended at Gerts while in school, and admitted that she never expected to be back here. She came back to Gerts to help her old manager train some new employees, and eventually wound up taking over as the new manager.

“Gerts has changed a lot. I worked with four different managers [when I went to school here],” said Geoffrion-Greenslide, noting the new  consistency in terms of managment.

Geoffrion-Greenslide recognized the constant managerial turnover coupled with the annual turnover of the SSMU VP Finance and Operations position as a difficulty in terms of keeping the bar consistent. She commented that a lot of what she tried to do was to ensure ideas were followed through on from year to year, as well as to incorporate new ideas each year.

When asked about Gerts’ two largest events, Octoberhaus and St. Patrick’s Day, she laughed and explained that the bar goes through about a month’s worth of beer those days.

But a lot more than that goes into organizing those kinds of events. Bands are booked, extra tables and chairs are ordered and set up, and staff is constantly on the go. Compared to a typical day at Gerts, when the bar opens at 11:30 a.m. and closes between midnight and 3 a.m., the St. Patrick’s Day Friday event saw the doors open at 8:00 a.m., and they didn’t close until well into the early morning hours.

Gerts has been around for years, making it a campus staple, and some students even have parents who can reminisce about their days as a McGill student, hanging out at “Gertrude’s” (the official name of the bar). In the words of Geoffrion-Greenslade, “It’s a cool place to be. You see regulars, people hanging out after class, or at night.” These renovations seek to continue this tradition and keep Gerts moving in its current, positive direction.

Patel explains Gerts’ importance in a fittingly simple manner: “It’s nice to have a place on campus where you can go and just relax, where you’re not studying.”