This is the time people are getting out. I got out some time ago because it just wasn't worth it in my areas. If you want to get into the bar business, you need to get in really low at someone's expense, and you don't want that to be family.
Your ability to pack a bar that size can also flip on you over night. At 27, you can fill it effortlessly. At 37, you're relying on hot bartenders to fill it for you because your friends are now married and have 2 kids, and while they might stop in for a few, they aren't closing the place down. That was huge for me getting out in my small-medium size metropolitan area. When you can't pack it with your own social circle, it's uncomfortable, and even if your staff can, it isn't nearly as enjoyable to be involved as it once was.
If you live in some booming town in the south, or west, it's a different dynamic. In the NE and mid-west, where we are bleeding young people, particularly educated ones with money to spend, it's not a growth business