After 17 months at Hindley Street’s eastern end, Supermild has gone into liquidation.
Owner Sam Lisy shared the news on Facebook this morning. “With a very heavy heart I have to tell you that Supermild is officially no more,” she wrote. “I was a few minutes late to court yesterday and in my absence, the court ordered my company to be wound up ... the liquidators have wasted no time and we are out.”
Lisy tells Broadsheet she owed money to ReturntoWorkSA (a government arm that provides work injury insurance to businesses). When she failed to pay the debt she was summonsed to appear in court yesterday. But she missed the hearing.
“They only give you 15 minutes,” Lisy says. “With the bad weather ... and I had to get one child to school and then get to the city … I was a few minutes late to court, it’s that brutal. If I'd been on time I would have been able to adjourn it."
Broadsheet contacted ReturntoWorkSA for comment but a spokesperson said they "don’t make comment on individual cases".
The closure follows Supermild’s relocation from its original west end premises last year. The late-night icon ran for 16 years (12 under Lisy’s stewardship) in its original location. It was an indispensable part of Adelaide’s nightlife for a generation of revellers.
In April 2016, Lisy launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the costly relocation. The new venue opened months later, just down the street, in a loud and lively part of the strip.
“It's been going really well … despite the relocation costs being absolutely ridiculous,” Lisy says. “Somehow we managed to survive. We’ve had so much love and support … I’m gutted because I know Supermild meant a lot to a lot of people.”
When asked about her next steps, Lisy – who is known to staff and regulars as “Mama Supes” – said she would be focussing on her “actual children” now. “I’ve felt responsibility as a parent to a lot of people, but I'm a mum to three exceptional children and I have to focus on them now.
“I don’t know if I have any more fight left in me.”
“Thank you so much for your love and support over the years," Lisy wrote on Facebook. "I’m so sorry it has come to this.”
