Went to a remodeled pool hall today, 13.50 per hour?

judochoke said:
So I found out that a pool hall near me, that I went to visit 1 year ago, was reopened with a new owner. The one and only time I was there a year ago, the tables were so dirty and nasty, that I only lasted 30 minutes, before I left in disgust.

so I was pretty happy to learn that a new owner had taken over, and had cleaned the place up, and had recovered the 9 diamond 7 foot tables. I thought wow, this could be my new home. The web page said 6.50 for a solo player per hour. Wow, perfect.

so I walked in today, ready to practice for a hour or two, and the nice girl at the front desk it’s 13.50 a hour to use a diamond table???

I said sweetie, your web page says 6.50 for a solo player? She said not anymore, as the diamonds have been recovered. I said I have two places that only charge 8 dollars per hour for diamonds?

I really wanted to give them my hard earned money and to help them on there journey, become a regular maybe.

but no way am I paying that price. Then I called there house pro for lesson prices, (not saying his name)and he says 100 a hour?

felt like saying dude, your not mark wilson or a famous pro, 100 a hour? So I struck out twice. 😩😩😩😩😩
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Maybe they have a practice club where you can pay $100/month and play unlimited off peak or something. A lot of rooms are doing that now.
 
The tables were recovered? Oh boy.

Their rate is more than 4x what I pay for 9' Diamonds, 5x more than GCs, that get recovered every ten months with Simonis 860 HR.

I wish them luck. They will need it.
 
Was it really the price,or did you forget your I'd ?

😀😃😉😄😁😆😃

Valley Bar boxes are 1.50 or 2.00 a game around me so 13 a hour is a frkn bargain for the suckers I play😛
 
A lot of places will offer discounts or free time during certain hours for league players. Some will offer free time if you spend a certain amount at the bar on food and/or drinks.

You can also ask if they have a monthly membership deal where you pay $X/month and get to play for free from like open to 6pm
 
That’s insane, unless it is the Taj Mahal.

Honolulu is one of the most expensive places in the USA and nobody charges anything near that.

Since Brian’s isn’t completely going yet, I play at the Velvet Touch pool hall.

There are three or four 9’ Diamonds, one French 9’ table, two heated 3-cushion tables, eight 9’ Gold Crowns, one 9’ Chinese 8-ball table, and one 7’ Diamond.

I can play on the 9’ Gold Crown for over five hours and only spend around $20.

The tables have brand new cloth and are cleaned nightly and the balls are polished every night.

They do not sell food or alcohol.

They have two vending machines with non-alcohol beverages and snacks.
 
judochoke said:
So I found out that a pool hall near me, that I went to visit 1 year ago, was reopened with a new owner. The one and only time I was there a year ago, the tables were so dirty and nasty, that I only lasted 30 minutes, before I left in disgust.

so I was pretty happy to learn that a new owner had taken over, and had cleaned the place up, and had recovered the 9 diamond 7 foot tables. I thought wow, this could be my new home. The web page said 6.50 for a solo player per hour. Wow, perfect.

so I walked in today, ready to practice for a hour or two, and the nice girl at the front desk it’s 13.50 a hour to use a diamond table???

I said sweetie, your web page says 6.50 for a solo player? She said not anymore, as the diamonds have been recovered. I said I have two places that only charge 8 dollars per hour for diamonds?

I really wanted to give them my hard earned money and to help them on there journey, become a regular maybe.

but no way am I paying that price. Then I called there house pro for lesson prices, (not saying his name)and he says 100 a hour?

felt like saying dude, your not mark wilson or a famous pro, 100 a hour? So I struck out twice. 😩😩😩😩😩
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I assume they rent by table instead of by the person. That would make it a nice deal if there were 4 players on the table, but one player practicing by themselves is ridiculous. Many places still have a $10 per person all day rate during the afternoons. Unless they have a waiting list for tables in the afternoons in this joint which I’m sure they don’t, that’s just silly.
 
I only have this problem with their pricing.

The pricing was advertised at $6.50 an hour for a solo player. Then, the tables get recovered so the prices go up to $13.50 an hour. So essentially, the pool players are paying the maintenance cost for the tables??? IMHO, this maintenance should be paid for by the owners of the pool hall. Most businesses have maintenance costs.

So, this leads me to this question. When the pool hall has made enough money from the new prices to cover the costs of recovering the tables, do the prices go back down to where they were before? If not, then the customers are doing more than they have to to keep the tables playable.

Again....just my humble opinion.

In a couple of the places I play at around my area they have a flat rate for daytime play (from opening up to 6:00 pm). You pay six dollars and play all day until then. I haven't found anything as fair as that where I've gone to play pool.
 
$13.50 is double what I’ve ever paid. Afternoons I pay $5 Canadian ( $4 US )for quality 9’ Pool table or 12’ Snooker table. However free billiards at the Legion and community centre...and at home.

I have no idea of the Pool Hall’s break even point but I’m somewhat well off and I’d still never pay that much. Was the place busy when you were there? Seems even the person who pays 13.50 is less likely to stick around for a second hour.

Perhaps the pool hall is aiming to be upscale...replacing ‘The Hustler’ posters tacked to wall with the same posters put in a frame.

Maybe they will ‘drop’ the price to $11 or so and it will seem reasonable after $13.50.
 
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I've owned a retail business for 30 years. I started as the low price (but working harder) guy to buy the market. There were 27 competitors in 1992 and I have outlasted all of them in my little 50,000 market. I'm now the premium priced guy and making money $$$.

Paying all of the bills on Friday will prove if they are priced right or not....
 
MitchAlsup said:
Debt turns into inflation, and we all suffer the consequences
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Not to throw shade on your comment, but inflation is caused by too many dollars chasing too few goods (classic economic definition). We’ve been throwing too much money at people who don’t produce anything. Looks like from now til the end of the year, we will have inflation rates we haven’t seen in years.
 
HawaiianEye said:
That’s insane, unless it is the Taj Mahal.

Honolulu is one of the most expensive places in the USA and nobody charges anything near that.

Since Brian’s isn’t completely going yet, I play at the Velvet Touch pool hall.

There are three or four 9’ Diamonds, one French 9’ table, two heated 3-cushion tables, eight 9’ Gold Crowns, one 9’ Chinese 8-ball table, and one 7’ Diamond.

I can play on the 9’ Gold Crown for over five hours and only spend around $20.

The tables have brand new cloth and are cleaned nightly and the balls are polished every night.

They do not sell food or alcohol.

They have two vending machines with non-alcohol beverages and snacks.
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I saw a place just like that in Dallas Texas. Billy Incardona was one of the principles. The place was in a kinda heavy commercial area best I recall and still had the chinese restaurant sign out front. It had seven tables instead of fifteen or so but it was also around twenty years ago and the nine foot Diamond were set up to take dollar coins. Only selling very limited snacks, you could bring your own beer in. I looked at the place, realized that it had to be a honey trap of sorts. Billy was ready and willing to play anybody that came through the door, betting pretty high! Catch was Billy misjudged his current skills and the road players were a black hole instead of a source of income. The place closed shortly!

Asking seriously, what keeps the room you described open? It would have to have a 100% use more hours of the day than I have ever seen a pool room have and I don't think it would fly then.

Hu
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
min one of the most expensive places to live in USA, NYC. Where s great sandwich could be $20.00.
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When the pride parade happens in NYC, paraders support the pool room. In volume numbers.
You can't get that kind of foot traffic unless its a prom or something in other countries.
 
ShootingArts said:
I saw a place just like that in Dallas Texas. Billy Incardona was one of the principles. The place was in a kinda heavy commercial area best I recall and still had the chinese restaurant sign out front. It had seven tables instead of fifteen or so but it was also around twenty years ago and the nine foot Diamond were set up to take dollar coins. Only selling very limited snacks, you could bring your own beer in. I looked at the place, realized that it had to be a honey trap of sorts. Billy was ready and willing to play anybody that came through the door, betting pretty high! Catch was Billy misjudged his current skills and the road players were a black hole instead of a source of income. The place closed shortly!

Asking seriously, what keeps the room you described open? It would have to have a 100% use more hours of the day than I have ever seen a pool room have and I don't think it would fly then.

Hu
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It has been open for years and is not in a seedy part of town.

It is way downtown and only a mile or so from Waikiki.

It is not too well known as far as I know. I usually see the same faces pretty much whenever I get a chance to go on Sunday mornings.

Alcohol is not allowed. I saw a couple guys bring in a 12-pack of beer a couple weeks back and the counter guy quickly jumped their asses and made them take it back to their car.

They have several cameras set up and the guy at the counter can see everything going on inside and outside the pool hall.

How they stay open...I don’t know. With the virus going on, every other table is covered. You may walk in and find a table or two open, but you usually have to call first to make a reservation if you want to ensure you have a table.
 
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