middleofnowhere
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There is an old joke about a guy going to a town with no car washes. He thought, wow what a great place to open a carwash. I would be the only one in town. After opening he learned why there were no carwashes in that town.
How to Own a Poolhall?
- Thread starter cueball2010
- Start date
All that is true but plenty of rooms have closed at least partly because of uncontrolled rent increases or landlord sold the building to developers.
If you are gonna start a room in a town like LA and you want to buy the building, you have to have a lot of capital.
The greatest impediment in buying an existing room, is the pool room owners.
They will BS you..............
Most of them will not hand over tax returns.
The greatest impediment in buying an existing room, is the pool room owners.
They will BS you..............
Most of them will not hand over tax returns.
What?
"I would like to buy your business."
"Let's look at the books."
"No."
"Good times"
middleofnowhere
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Yeah that can happen, but it doesn't usually happen overnight you know pretty much in advance when something like that's going to occur. Important thing is that you have no debt. Everything under that roof belongs to you Lock stock and barrel free and clear. You would hate to but you may have to move you can.
In the same respect what you describe the landlord doing such as selling the property to a developer can happen to you also if you own the building. At a point the property may not actually justify anymore housing a pool room.
A developer comes along and offers you a million + for the property, you will probably go out that front door so fast and tell him he can have a pool tables. That's just the way life works. There's never a guarantee.
There used to be a guy in Miami named Brownie. Some people on here may know who I'm talking about. He was somewhat famous for spinning the cue ball. He would bet all kinds of propositions. Weenie beanie used to bet with him very often when he was in town.
He's an old guy. He had about a dozen pool tables.Over the years I know him they were probably in at least three different poolrooms.
He can move a pool room faster than you could imagine. That a little refers to what I said in my other post about a formula to open a pool room.
Owning all your equipment outright with no debt storage somewhere maybe in a warehouse before you ever even have a location to put it.
All of the tables don't have to match they just have to be good commercial quality that you can pick up here and there over time. You give me a year I'll guarantee you I have everything required to open a pool room for like 20 cents on the dollar maybe less down to the last barstool..
These guys who go to the BCA show and make some deal with a pool table manufacturer and walk away like 150 Grand in debt before they've even started are guaranteed to fail. And then they open a room that's too big and elaborate like some kind of monument to themselves and then they go broke in 2 years.
A room that I sold which is now 42 years ago is still open and operating. It was 12 tables a beer service bar a few pinball machines and that was it only required 3600 square feet and I was open 24 hours a day. I just had to stop serving alcohol at 2:00 a.m.
This place was really a tight run operation. Small profitable one employee could run the whole place at any given time the rent was a reasonable. I had multiple clientele based on the hours. There was people that came in every day who probably never met other people who came in every day cuz they kept different hours.
My pool room was like something out of the past, like a room you might have walked into in a 1940s. I bought it it originally opened in 1959. When I bought it it didn't have a beverage license I managed to through some legal maneuvering put the beverage license in.
Which to be honest I knew I could do when I bought it the previous owner just didn't know how to go about it. In Fact he tried to sue me claiming that I stole his business but that didn't go anywhere.
I said quite a bit in the this posting but you can read between the lines and I see a pool room as a pool room. Not a palace not a monument just a place to come play the game and have some cold beer, low overhead if possible and easy to run as possible and no debt.
You're not going to get rich running a pool room as was said by someone in a previous posting here basically you're buying yourself a job, hopefully a good paying one. In my case that one little room was in fact by every definition gold mine.
My main point and I can't say it enough is no debt. You have to at any point if need be pack everything up put it in the warehouse and do it again somewhere else if you choose to. There's no guarantees in life.
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middleofnowhere
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I guess I got on the subject and I just can't stop. I have a friend who opened a very nice bar. Unfortunately he's dead now the bar is still there though. You would not believe what you can get for nothing if you start looking. He found a shopping center that was being demolished and they were able to go in there and salvage anything they wanted.
They got every single thing they needed to build the bar from wood paneling, barstools, bathroom fixtures. There was a lounge had been in the shopping center they were able to dismantle the bar and take it. This thing was beautiful it must have cost thousands when it was built.
They got all sorts of lighting fixtures and I just can't go on with everything that they they got out of that place but it was enough to build the entire bar for relatively nothing. New coolers might be the only thing they really had to spring for.
Start to finish from the time they started the project and he had a location three months the doors were open and he was like hardly nothing out of his pocket. I just throw this out there as food for thought.
They got every single thing they needed to build the bar from wood paneling, barstools, bathroom fixtures. There was a lounge had been in the shopping center they were able to dismantle the bar and take it. This thing was beautiful it must have cost thousands when it was built.
They got all sorts of lighting fixtures and I just can't go on with everything that they they got out of that place but it was enough to build the entire bar for relatively nothing. New coolers might be the only thing they really had to spring for.
Start to finish from the time they started the project and he had a location three months the doors were open and he was like hardly nothing out of his pocket. I just throw this out there as food for thought.
To own a pool room is buying a job. Unless the principles have good business skills do not bother.
middleofnowhere
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You see that commonly with businesses that get passed down to another generation. Some business that's been in the family for 40 years the next generation runs into the ground into.
The one thing that looks easy that isn't is nobody understands the number of hours that are actually put in. I had a friend was very wealthy who owned a trucking company and people used to always say derogatory things about him, this Rich sob and all that.
His wife could tell them when they owned one truck and they'd be out there 2:00 in the morning her holding the light as he is working to keep this thing running. Sometimes people just fall into something and are very lucky but generally it takes a lot of hard work that others never see.
Unfortunately, probably not, do some quick math, how many tables would you need being used just to pay rent/mortgage ? Start there, most successful halls are in/near bigger cities where there is more opportunity for clientele.
What are you saying? Write out what?
The area that I play in is pretty small and country. Not a big city by any means. It has 16 tables. The only other poolhall even remotely close is like an hr away.
Lot's of people claiming you have to do "everything" and "work 24/7" and make peanuts for income. But I am guessing they are doing much better than that because they have been open for over 14+ years. and.... . .
- I rarely ever see the owner.
- They open doors in the after noon, 7 days a week for 8-12hrs a day.
- Host TAP, APA, and BCA - Like 5 nights a week.
- Host 50 man tournaments 2x month.
- Serve good food & drinks.
I think a big city would be a great place to get started if you have the capital. If not then maybe a small town like mine. But I don't think all small towns will work. I just know that in mine, there is really shit around to do except play pool.
I don't have a lot of capital atm. Maybe enough to buy 5 Diamond tables and cover operation costs for 3 months in a space with no kitchen & bar, in a rented building.
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Jay H. said he HAD TWO Successful Rooms, both were long ago.
It's like book shops. I had a very successful used book shop in Washington and Bethesda MD for 23 years, and I only wish I'd had a dollar for every customer who came in and said, "I'd love to have a book shop. Nothing to do all day except sit around reading books."
middleofnowhere
Registered
Most of the time in a pool room you don't need all your tables. Daytime to usually not that good most the time certain nights of the week but can you have weekends. So the formula is that when you do have those peak hours you really like to be able to maximize your income and for that you need a certain number of tables.
My little room was was a gold mine, I was pulling 40, to $60,000 a year out of that little room for my self at a time when guys were supporting families on $7.50 an hour. I bought the room but would have liked to have had maybe 5 more tables if I was opening it.
My electric was not what you have to pay today, ins, was cheaper, help was cheaper. I bought cloth by the roll and covered my own tables. I have a feeling many rooms back 40 or 50 years ago may have made in their in those years dollars more money then a room may make today. Who can fade $6000.00 a month rent $900.00 a month electric, I couldn't even guess what the liability insurance would be and so on.
I should add, I'm a really an old man take what I say with a grain of salt maybe my ideas are outdated and nothing I say is relevant anymore.
Nope you were the guy who made a Pool Room worked, and made real money when Pool was in vogue.
Back in 1950’s BOYS @ BOYS CLUB OF AMERICA, would stand or sit wait their turn to Play Pool.
Not even sure local Phoenix Boys n Girls Club even still HAVE Pool Tables.
Heard rumor the Pool Table at Boy n Girls Clubs were put in dumpster.
Because of not interest in Pool, Computers, and Computer game became In vogue.
you, jay, and jerry machin are the only pool room owners that had business sense and made it owning a pool room.
and made it work not because it was just in the right spot for a time or lucky.
Those things are impressive, it sounds like that room has a great following, do you think you would be able to take some of his clientele? Will those leagues let you run them that close to another league operator? Get your ducks in a row before losing any bucks or dough.....
I was visiting Southern Ontario, and discovered a pool hall nearby with 16 tables, all 7'. It was very busy with all tables in play. I asked the bartender and he said it was league night. I asked which nights were quiet and he said every night was busy - leagues and tournaments. I hadn't ever seen that before.
If you have a location with a pool "community", I've seen that it can be a big success,
