Shooters II

The hot spot in durham, tends to not really get busy until late in the night. Key features (other than spacious area and dancefloor) are a mechanical bull and a «Self-​service» cage for dancing.

I came to Durham to visit Duke for Grad School. I wanted to see how the nightlife was and many people told me to go to Shooters. I got there and waited in a line for approximately 15 minutes before being asked for my ID which is completely valid. However, they were uninterested in my ID and wanted to see my student ID from my college. Then I entered into the bar and found out that because I was not a Duke student I would be charged a double cover. I was SHOCKED. I have never in my life been in a bar where a Student ID is better than a valid State ID. It is also ridiculous that an out of town visitor can’t get in for the same price of a student at the local school. After that I walked over to Devines where there was a karaōke night going on and they were extremely nice and welcomed us into the town.

More of a barn than a bar. What a shame that this tacky place is still a student favorite in an otherwise progressive and modern town.

What the fuck is this? A hot new bar in New York? A progressive cowboy themed park? So unique, so different, get me on the list. Serious why do they create their waiting line when THERE IS NO ONE INSIDE. Shooters literally can’t handle Duke and is selfish and exploits the lack of bars at Duke. You think you’re cool? Because good job, you’ve implemented a riding bull and a cage. Serious management needs to grow up and understand what the bar market is. Not worth the wait for the 70 year old DJ and 2013 music. Never mind the $ 5 cover. If you’re looking for a good time, you might as well go to Home Depot.

YEAH SHOOTERS. Best and most fun bar in Durham. Make sure you drink a lot before going or hop on on of their drink specials ($ 2 coors on Saturdays) get your dancing shoes on as well as the music selection is up to date and hip! They also have a cage– very classy (and a mechanical bull!) get ready for a late night to dance the night away

Didn’t even attempt to go in from how grossed out I was by the staff and building itself. I’d rather sit in 35 degree weather than go in there. No Thanks. If you want to have fun go to Charlotte for that. much better.

I debated for hours — Who deserves my first Unilocal review?!
Hands down Shooters is one of the best-​run establishments in the world and I am proud to award it my first review. 5 stars, at that!
Where do I begin?
–Amazing atmosphere.
–Amazing location.
–Amazing drink specials.
–Amazing customer appreciation.
–Amazing price (if you are anyone of relevance you will get in for free).
–Amazing music.
–Innovative business culture.
I would also love to take the time to thank some of my favorite humans.
1. Thank you to Kim Cates who is a truly respectable business woman. Whenever you have left your cell phone, ID, Duke Card, or car keys at the establishment she will be kind enough to collect them for you, place them in her office for safekeeping, and keep all other valuables away from loony thieves.
2. Thank you to Jerry Cates for always driving the Shooters bus to pick up those in need. Safety on the roads in #1!
3. Thank you to Bubba for operating the Bull with an amount of skill that only comes after years and years of experience.
To this day I still wear my I LOVE SHOOTERS t-​shirt which has been adopted as a wardrobe staple.

Please be advised, they do not allow babies inside Shooters.

$ 5 cover if you’ve got a Duke ID, $ 10 otherwise.
Drinks are cheap, but be sure to bring cash, unless you plan to spend at least $ 15 minimum on drinks. It gets super packed super quick — aka it gets super hot and there are sweaty bodies everywhere. AND people on the dance floor are SUPER RUDE! They push and shove more than any club I’ve been to. There’s a questionable wooden staircase that leads upstairs to a place where you can be a creep and watch the crowd from above. There’s also a mechanical bull that you can ride for $ 5. There’s a narrow counter to stand/​dance on, but take caution because you’re prone to falling off — in fact, one girl DID fall. There’s also a cage that you can climb up to – think stripper cage.
This place wasn’t as bad as I expected — though I lowered my expectations A LOT based on others’ experiences. It’s supposed to be a place that you have to go to AT LEAST once — it’s trashy, primarily for undergrads, and great for cheap drinks. But I definitely WON’T be coming back anytime soon.

I actually enjoy the place. The music could be better, the space is large, drinks are cheap, there’s a bull, a cage, and side bars to dance on.
My problem is with the management. Whilst I understand there are plenty of young undergrads that frequent the place, there is no need to be disrespectful to patrons. The guy that takes the cover is always miserable. The bartenders are miserable. The one upstairs, mind you I have been bartending for 8 years, didn’t pour any vodka in two of our drinks and despite that I left 4 dollar tip. When I politely asked him (because I am older and probably more sober than the young bucks running around) he got an attitude with me. The bar upstairs was EMPTY mind you. After standing there about to request a refund he finally decided to put the alcohol in my vodka soda. I mean are they that BROKE? I PAID for the alcoholic beverage, what do you get by shorting me?
In addition to that, if you need to pay cover bring CASH. There is NO ATM and the rude OWNER was nasty about it in that they had an ATM that broke and it was too expensive to fix. Their solution, charge people 15 bucks for cover. Yes you have to buy drinks, leave your ID at the counter, and then come back with a handwritten slip saying you paid. SMH.
The efficiency of the place is miserable! Other than that I really like the atmosphere (dance floor, most of the music, and spaciousness) and cheap drinks. The bouncers and guys walking around in red shirts are generally friendly too.
Another major minus is the unruly undergrads, especially the females that will literally put two hands on you and shove you out of their way. That I can handle, in efficiency in this day in age with service is a different story.
Bathrooms are NASTY but that is to be expected.

So this is the SEQUEL? I can’t imagine what the original Shooters was…
Let me start with the plusses, because they will be short, brief, and the rest can be endlessly enumerated:
–large space
–two floors (2^nd sort of a mezzanine area for anthropological types who prefer to observe buffoonery)
–cheap beers
The rest, which will become immediately obvious should you choose to visit:
-$ 5 cover charge
–bottleneck near the bar (and I’m not talking about beer)
–difficult parking situations
–undergrads who swamp the place around midnight
It’s a giant dance club. For some, that is their scene. De gustibus non est disputandem.
Also, there is a giant cage to dance in and a mechanical bull. You can decide which column each belongs to, plus or minus.

Shooters will forever remind me of my college years. This was the dirty place everyone would go to on so many weekends for so many years. As bars go, the place is what you’d expect, but maybe a bit bigger. You’ll see tons of Duke kids, plenty of them dancing on the bars… or in the cage on the ceiling… or against the glass.
There’s an upstairs with it’s own bar that’s a nice place to chill if you want to get away from the crowd and people watch. Oh — I forgot to mention there’s also a mechanical bull if you’re adventurous. Shooters’ best night, in my opinion, is Wednesday. When i went there, it was an older, smaller crowd comprised of late junior and a bunch of seniors so you really know everyone you’re with. And then super cheap pitchers ($ 3 when I was there) and beer pong? Let’s go!
Shooters will forever hold a place in my heart as a Duke alum, but if you don’t go to the school, I wouldn’t recommend it. My only issue with it was really the lines — so avoid them at all costs!

This place was. interesting. To review this place, I am taking out of my mind every club experience I’ve ever had.
There is a cheap cover charge of $ 5 if you’re over 21. If you’re under 21, you must enter through the back door and pay a higher cover. Inside, you’ll find a mechanical bull and a cage, if you’re feeling a little crazy. Music was typical stuff you hear on the radio, plus some songs more on the country-​ish side. Consider your surroundings, okay? Haha. There were a lot of nice boys who were more than willing to booze you up, so I have no idea how much the drinks go for.
The lower floor gets SUPER JAM PACKED, even on slower nights (i.e. right before finals). Remember to take a breather every once in a while upstairs or outside.
If you’re actually on here reading reviews about this place, I wouldn’t be too mindful about the ones talking about age. There are a TON of Duke grad students that go, too, as well as the men’s basketball team. In the end, it’s all about having fun, right?

As a Duke alum, tt pains me to give this low a rating to an establishment as near and dear to my heart as Shooters, but I’m not writing this for the college crowd. To be honest, if you’re an undergrad and you feel you need to check Unilocal to learn about /​before deciding whether to come here, you should not go.
So, you can pretty much expect Shooters to be packed to the gills with undergrads every Thu through Sat night from about 11 – 2. Wednesdays are not quite as crowded, but they usually have beer pong and this event is pretty popular with upperclassmen.
The drinks are cheap and the place is home to a cast of characters — both on staff and also among regulars. There is usually a cover charge of like $ 5. There is a mechanical bull, 2 pool tables, several hanging cages, a few bars that are constructed purely for dancing upon, and a big upstairs area for creepers to lurk.
Dance floor is big and definitely gets sloppy late at night. It is open on 1 side, surrounded by the dance-​on-​top-​of-​them-​able bars on 2 sides, and enclosed by a MIRRORED wall on the other side, you know, so you can check out just how hot you look after getting down to to the likes of Rihanna etc for the past hour.
Most red-​blooded Duke alums love to wax nostalgic their time about Shooters (what little we remember at least). Everyone has a story (or a dozen) that they WOULD tell you about a night here, but it’s one of those «what happens at _​_​_​stays at _​_​_​place»). Even folks I knew from college who still live in the area have moved on (fortunately!) to bigger and better things. The place certainly serves its purpose for undergrads well, but you deserve better.
In general, if you’re over the age of 22* and have any respect for yourself, please don’t go here. Actually, no, I’ll give you one free pass to check it out, just so you can see what all the fuss is about. After that though, just say no. There are plenty of other solid bars like a block away.
*exceptions permitted for grad student proms, reunions, engagement parties, wedding after-​parties, and any other similar rare but necessary born-​again-​freshmen type of endeavors

Shooters loves Duke students. Shooters caters to Duke students. Duke students go to Shooters because (1) as far as I know, it is the only place in Durham to dance, unless something’s going on at Casbah, which hasn’t really won over a crowd yet (2) cheap drinks! (3) that’s where all the Duke people will be when it’s happening (usually Saturday nights) and (4) Shooters loves Duke students.
As far as I can tell, the Duke students at Shooters are primarily freshmen and seniors. The freshmen are in their just-​received-​my-​first-​taste-​of-​freedom phase and go there frequently because it’s in walking distance of East Campus. Sophomores are a little less thrilled and have found their social niches to party on West Campus. Juniors are abroad and starting to turn 21, so they venture out to new places. Seniors realize they’re in their last year of lots of freedom and little responsibility, and they recognize it is the last year of their life in which is is acceptable to get drunk, go to a place like Shooters every week and dance in a cage, and they’re frantically trying to make the most of it.
I have no idea what it’s like during the summer when Duke isn’t in session, but presumably there are still some summer school students and probably more locals.
So just know what you’re getting into if you come here. If you want quality drinks, to hear what your companions are saying, nice bathrooms, and you don’t want to be around drunk Duke students, don’t come here.

Shooters is really really good at what it does: provide a huge dance floor, cheap drinks, and slutty students. Sure, it’s a dive, but if what you want is drunk skanks and foam parties, mechanical bulls and dancing cages, and all that ensues… do it.

Jekyll Susan gives Shooters 1 star, Hyde Susan gives it 5 stars. Avg: 3 stars. $ 5 cover.
Yeah, it’d be really nice if Durham had a club for people born before the fall of the Berlin Wall (hey hey, I remember that! :(oh, b/​c I’m old). But us pre-​Wall Fall babies only have Shooters. The music is top 40 bump ‘n grind. Decent dance floor that is guaranteed to be disgustingly crowded.
So set your expectations reaaaaaal low, go with a good/​fun group of friends (who are good at keeping secrets), and dress light b/​c it’s gonna be a sweaty sauna of horny, underage bodies grinding against each other.
Cocktails are overpriced & WEAKSAUCE, so I recommend doing shots (I will give the best advice to my future kids!) or getting Bud Light. Don’t wear clothes that are too nice as you will get other people’s sweat & drinks on it. Bring $ 5 cash for the bull, it’s a must.
The staff are actually really nice, I once lost my phone and Jekyll Susan went back on a Thursday night to discover not only had they found it, but they stored it in a safe place. Very nice of them.
Also, be on the watch for guys/​girls who ask you «what year are you in?» by countering with a «how old are you?». Guys be warned, you’re probably gonna be scammed majorly for a ton of drinks. The girls are like vultures around the bar.
Shooters reminds me of all the clubs I went to when I was in undergrad. It’s actually pretty fun if you have people your own age to hang out with so everyone can relive the days when you could party until 3am and somehow make it to your 8am class the next morning feeling just dandy. *sigh*

Oh, as a new transplant I was lured in here with the promise of mixing with some grad students. Little did I know what I was getting into. I’ll give you 7 reasons to check out another bar. First of all it’s an 18 and up club. I believe those were the places I avoided when I was 16. Secondly they charged a cover, really honey? I don’t pay cover in the city, why would I in Durham? Thirdly, they checked my purse to make sure I wasn’t smuggling in mini bar sized alcohol. At first I thought they were making sure I wasn’t carrying a loaded weapon, but that might be legal in this state. Apparently the little kiddies who can’t get served at the bar bring their own in. Um, guys, just drink at home and then go out. When we finally made it in the joint, I became distinctly aware that I had entered a cowboy themed rodeo. The old western look, complete with, fourthly, the mechanical bull. If you ever have seen the Fry’s electronic store in Palo Alto, CA
you’ll understand what the theme is. The creepy mannequins dressed in cowboy outfits surveying the dance floor. Yes, and hopefully by then you realize you must reach a minimal level of inebriation, which brings me to my 5^th point. The female bartenders were certainly not interested in serving you if you weren’t a guy, I would try the bar in the back for better service. So by this time you should realize that 6, there is cage to display your sultry moves and get cornered by, 7, an aggressive college undergrad who is clearly unaware that the SLN spoof dance move was clearly a spoof (or perhaps he was too young to even get the reference.) Now if that’s not convincing enough, then you’ll certainly be the type of person who would enjoy this place, so have at it!

Shooters… I’m slightly embarrassed to even be writing this review as this is a well known local joint in Durham for undergrads, BUT in my defense it is also a well known local joint in Durham for «older» students who still yearn for the a taste of the good olé days… The days completely void of responsibility and self-​respect.
So go in there with very VERY low expectations and never under any circumstances go there sober.
Shooters = mechanical bull, a dancing cage, and a whole lotta cheap liquor. It’s one of those spots where you walk in and immediately feel compelled to yell, «Let’s do shots! Who wants to do shots?!» Not the Lemon Drop shots you’d normally do, in celebration of a co-​workers birthday, just to prove to yourself, and everyone else in your business casual clad group that «you could still hang» with the best of them. No, this place brought you back to 21, when Adiós’ and Long Island Ice Teas were the drinks of choice, and where only one of three shots would do. Cuervo. Jäger. Goldschläger.
You see at Shooters its totally acceptable to lick salt from your filthy hands, knock back a shot of tequila, and then shove a lime into your mouth, a lime that was passed to you with the same hands that wiped down the bar, touched our money, and most likely other things…
«It is our Mission at Shooters to provide our customers with the best in Local and Regional Entertainment. Our staff is here to make sure that when you leave our establishment, that you have had an entertainment experience in an atmosphere that is the best in the Triangle… Sincerely, The Owners and Staff»
As long as you know what you’re getting when you go there, Shooters can be a good time… And their mission is right about one thing — You definitely get the best in «local» entertainment…

Anyone who doesn’t like Shooter’s (II) deserves to spend their evening at the Applebees bar where they belong.
No, it’s not the right place for every occasion, but if you’re looking for a sweaty mess of an evening you can’t beat the bull, or the $ 3 beers, or watching some jackass of a Duke girl let herself be taken by 5 guys at once in the corner. The highlight of the Duke undergraduate experience, Shooter’s is reliable and surprisingly tough on IDs.
Have to love a place that will watch you throw up 2 feet from the entrance and then part the line for you to get back in.