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It looked like the doors at Cactus Jack's might have closed forever earlier this year, but Jordan Landry is giving the city's largest nightclub new life.
The big building at Fifth Avenue and Lansdowne Street has been revived, and after a soft opening last week, Landry is looking forward to things picking up steam. Locals can expect the club to pick up pretty much from where it left off.
"I think I'm going to keep it the same," he tells KamloopsMatters. "I don't think it was broken."
"Kamloops needs something like Cactus Jack's downtown."
With the return of Cactus Jack's, that means another stage in the city's live music scene and a venue that can hold upward of 550 people. Landry says he's already been talking with Kammerce Promotion's Drew McLean about bringing in bands that can fill the floor. Ideally, he's aiming for three or four shows a month. He says names are floating around, but nothing has been set in stone yet.
"He's definitely hustling, and we have some dates picked," says Landry.
The general format is fairly simple: CJ's is open Wednesday to Saturday 10 p.m. to 2 a.m, targeting the 19-to-24 crowd. Wednesday will be country night, with $2 beers (once the kegerator gets installed later this month) and free entrance to anyone in a cowboy hat. On Thursdays, he'll be targeting the TRU crowd, with college night (and again, soon-to-be-arriving $2 beers). Fridays and Saturdays will be the usual mix of Top 40, dance and hip hop from a DJ he says was recommended by the TRU cheer squad.
Locals might remember Landry in a different position than local dance club purveyor; he was a Kamloops Blazer right winger on the '95-'96 team, playing with the recently retired Jarome Iginla, among others. Landry turned to the nightclub business after retiring from hockey in 2012 in Fresno. After leaving the Fresno Falcons he spent five years in the central Californian town in the nightclub business, and he's decided to bring that experience up north.
"I heard it was up for sale in March of this year," he says. "I have some history of owning a nightclub, so I thought I'd pursue the purchase of it."
