barTabatha Takes Over · Season 5, Episode 2 · Aired April 11, 2013
VIP Nightclub
Riverside, California
This one survived. It remains in business.
What happened after
Official site (vip-nightclub.com) lists current operating days/hours (Wed-Sun, 3:30pm-2am) at 3673 Merrill Ave; Yelp shows 190 reviews.
What happened on the show
This season five episode took the format to VIP Nightclub in Riverside, California, another of the show's non salon subjects. The takeover method carried over to the nightlife setting: Coffey embeds in the business, delivers her blunt assessments, restructures the staff, and stages a renovation reveal. Because no synopsis survives for this installment, we do not reconstruct the specific incidents. The documented facts are the format, the season's continued reach beyond salons, and the setting, a nightclub on Merrill Avenue in Riverside taken through the overnight process. Coffey's premise held off the salon floor, that a struggling venue reflects its leadership, and that an honest reset was the goal of the visit. The show's argument held after dark as well, that a venue's problems trace back to how it is run.
After the cameras left
VIP Nightclub is open. Its official site lists current operating days and hours, Wednesday through Sunday into the early morning, at the Merrill Avenue address in Riverside, and Yelp shows a couple hundred reviews. The live official site with posted hours makes this a high confidence survivor. The Riverside nightclub came through its takeover and continues to operate years later.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.