By Lora Grindlay, The Province April 22, 2015 8:30 AM
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Former Vancouver strip club owner Brandy Sarionder found dead
Brandy Sarionder is shown in her office at Brandi’s Show Lounge in 2007.
Photograph by: SAM LEUNG , PROVINCE
The woman who brought an aura of class to Vancouver’s high-end strip club scene was remembered Tuesday as a kind and generous person.
Brandy Sarionder, who ran the exclusive downtown Brandi’s Show Lounge for years, was found dead in her Coal Harbour apartment on the weekend.
Friends began hearing the bad news on Sunday morning, several days after her death. She was 50.
A friend told The Province that the years since she was ousted from the Hornby Street club in 2010 have been tough for Sarionder.
“She was broke and in a nearly homeless situation,” said the friend.
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“She was just depressed. She had no money. She was about to be evicted. It’s horrible.”
The friend said Sarionder had asked him for a loan six months ago to cover her $3,000-a-month rent. She needed $25,000, but her friend couldn’t afford to help.
He said she had been working toward setting up a new strip club and had her eye on numerous downtown locations, but she was having difficulty finding investors.
“She was a very, very sweet lady. She was very kind and extremely generous,” said her friend.
“She really knew how to treat people.”
BRANDI'S: HOW AN EMPIRE THAT STARTED WITH TWO GOLD COINS GREW INTO A CELEBRITY HOTSPOT
When she ran Brandi’s, Sarionder played host to sport stars, movie stars, the wealthy, gangsters and leaders of countries the world over.
Her pricey luxury brand of strippers made her lounge the place to go for movers, shakers and the simply curious.
Her friend said Sarionder died with a treasure trove of stories about her customers. She once said actors and directors used to run into each other in her club, and she knew many customers who later became politicians, but never named names.
She is survived by an estranged daughter who lives in the U.S.
Sarionder announced she was leaving Brandi’s in December 2010. She refused to say why, but management said she was fired.
At the time she said: “That was my baby. It’s done. I’m not there anymore ... I’ve seen loyalty at its best and disloyalty at its worst.”
She ran the club with a focus on good times and presenting public nudity as an art form.
She said: “Only in some cultures is there a stigma against nudity. Our thing was to entertain businesspeople doing business. ... I’ve earned a degree in criminology, psychology and sex therapy.”
Sarionder bought into the business in 1989 and opened it as Brandi’s in 2000.
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