You referring to the MBC or this place that just closed? I talked to a couple people that went to this newest spot and they said when he was there all he did was jack with the waitresses and drink. I don't even know if Rodney actually bought in or not. If he did he bailed pretty early.
Archer's Place, Marietta Ga...??
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
?? not sure what you mean here.
Davenport got out and Archer let it turn into a dump. See a trend?
I'm talking about his original place in Georgia, the MBC. Kim was one of his two partners. He was in for about 20% and the original owner (who sold it to Johnny) stayed in for something like 20%. Johnny had the majority share of 60%.
I spent many hours a day in my rooms, playing pool with the regulars, giving some tips to the beginners and just checking to make sure people were enjoying themselves. I learned from some pretty sharp business people growing up in Dayton. Take care of your customers and they will take care of you. I worked that counter too, every night of the week until closing time!
I'm 100% certain I could run a successful room today, but have no ambition to start a new one now. I've got a good enough pension in place that I don't need to. Thank you
I knew Davenport got out. But it seems like it was in operation for what, 20 years? Figured they were doing something right..
The Pool Room, which was the original name before Johnny and Kim took it over was an awesome poolroom with more room between tables than any room I’ve ever played in. We made a point to go there every time we came to Atlanta to see the Braves, and we were never disappointed. Once it exchanged owners and became The Marietta Billiard Club, it gradually went downhill from that point on.
I’ve no idea what their expenses were, but It took some serious neglect / mismanagement to screw this room up.
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IIRC it was a room under a different name, The Poolroom i think, before Archer/Davenport got it. Think they had it for around 10yrs. Kim got out and then it closed some time later. There's a guy that used to post on AZ that worked at the original spot. Said it was downhill after he sold it to Arch/Dav. All the nice fixtures and woodwork was done by previous owner.
I don`t know, that sounds low. My place was over 40%
But why? Pool table revenue is the most profitable income a pool room can have. Something like 95% of pool table revenue is profit. Beer sales and food do not come close to that.
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MBC had the makings to be THE room of GA, and probably a must visit for road players.
I came to GA in 2009 to do my residency training. Even being dog tired from having 4 days off a month, I’d drive over an hour each way for ‘church.’
It was in a strip mall and the place was the size of a large grocery store. The motif was perfect, good food, massive bar. You walk in, it’s lit perfectly. Cases in displays. Trophies on the wall from Johnny and Kim. Large counter, not having to go to the bar to get a tray of your Centennials, which were all I remember seeing. Ample room around the tables, places to put drinks and stools on the other side of the barrier so they were never in the way. I never met an ahole all the times I went.
Most of the tables were fairly poorly maintained Olhausens, which were right up front. GCIV’s lined the room but came across as almost an afterthought. Certainly not the feature table. Cloth looked like it was only cleaned off 1-2 times a week. There were 2 tight pocket tables up front.
It was always either dead, or “sorry it’s league night.”
You get a few “sorry it’s league nights” after driving that far and being that tired, I’ll go somewhere else. Like seriously?
What could have been for that room.
I’m saddened to hear about Archer’s. I’m not sure what target market was supposed to be. I’m 45. Not young, not old and consider myself just a normal guy. I’ll go to the lowest of dives and still have a good time, but my last visit there… it was hard to describe.
I’m not going to throw shade, but I’ve only one other time had the ‘I’ve got to get the hell out of here’ feeling, and that was at another room when a banger ‘hey man, what’s up’ed’ me after I guess he thought I was looking at his date. I white knuckled the butt of cue with my hand in the case until I got in my car, then a police auction blacked out crown Vic from across the street turned on to the same street as me. I’m glad the unofficial speed limit on 75 in Atlanta is reasonable and prudent and a Corolla S handles better than it should for what it is.
It had potential, but I’m not sure if it had a vision or plan. More like if you build it, they will come, but the reasons to come for ‘normals’ grew fewer and fewer.
I came to GA in 2009 to do my residency training. Even being dog tired from having 4 days off a month, I’d drive over an hour each way for ‘church.’
It was in a strip mall and the place was the size of a large grocery store. The motif was perfect, good food, massive bar. You walk in, it’s lit perfectly. Cases in displays. Trophies on the wall from Johnny and Kim. Large counter, not having to go to the bar to get a tray of your Centennials, which were all I remember seeing. Ample room around the tables, places to put drinks and stools on the other side of the barrier so they were never in the way. I never met an ahole all the times I went.
Most of the tables were fairly poorly maintained Olhausens, which were right up front. GCIV’s lined the room but came across as almost an afterthought. Certainly not the feature table. Cloth looked like it was only cleaned off 1-2 times a week. There were 2 tight pocket tables up front.
It was always either dead, or “sorry it’s league night.”
You get a few “sorry it’s league nights” after driving that far and being that tired, I’ll go somewhere else. Like seriously?
What could have been for that room.
I’m saddened to hear about Archer’s. I’m not sure what target market was supposed to be. I’m 45. Not young, not old and consider myself just a normal guy. I’ll go to the lowest of dives and still have a good time, but my last visit there… it was hard to describe.
I’m not going to throw shade, but I’ve only one other time had the ‘I’ve got to get the hell out of here’ feeling, and that was at another room when a banger ‘hey man, what’s up’ed’ me after I guess he thought I was looking at his date. I white knuckled the butt of cue with my hand in the case until I got in my car, then a police auction blacked out crown Vic from across the street turned on to the same street as me. I’m glad the unofficial speed limit on 75 in Atlanta is reasonable and prudent and a Corolla S handles better than it should for what it is.
It had potential, but I’m not sure if it had a vision or plan. More like if you build it, they will come, but the reasons to come for ‘normals’ grew fewer and fewer.
I have noticed that going from a pool hall to a liquor bar is the last step before closing. It works for a while because there is so much money selling liquor. The problem is that pool halls are so big and expensive to lease that they do not make profitable bars.
Because you have a fixed amount of table time that you can sell, based on the number of tables you have and the hours you are open. It makes all the sense in the world to try and add incremental income over the top of the existing table time that you get, even if its not at the same margin. And if you have hours with little to no table time ringing the register, getting something from another source would be very important.
It’s a square footage thing and the rental revenue per square foot. A 9-foot pool table requires nearly 300 square feet per table. In that same space, you could have at least six 4-top dining tables. That one pool table might bring in $200 a day in table rental revenues, if filled most hours of operation. You could bring in at least 2X that in 1 hour from diners / drinkers occupying those dining tables.
Reading that, I have to say I'm not surprised the place was not run very well. I do hope he finds success.
“one thing our place has more things of fun in it”???
He needs to have someone proof read before posting. Sad to read his stuff.
“one thing our place has more things of fun in it”???
“one thing our place has more things of fun in it”???
well, a pool table is a thing of fun