St. Louis is now Smoke Free

cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
Just another update

Considering the economy, I have little to complain about since Jan 1st. The smoking ban has at least brought back some customers that left, made the occasionaly player come in more often and brought in a few stragglers here and there to try out pool again without the smoke. There's not a waiting list to get in the door but definitely better than it was. Still optimistic as of March 23rd.
 
P

premiumbilliard

Registered
Craig, we just repainted our ceiling and it made a HUGE difference in both appearance and the smell. It is a drop ceiling, we used an airless sprayer. 1 coat primer, 1 coat paint. Not as bad as everyone said it would be. Completely erased 20 years of smoking evidence. PM me if you need help.
 
cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
The clean up continues.

Spent the last few weeks painting the ceiling tiles. What a big difference it makes. Just rolling it on to pass the time. Labor is free so it keeps me out of the daily pool hall drama. Business is still better than expected. Very grateful. We are actually adding another night of 9 Ball league. Big plus. Will post some pics on here soon.
 
J

jwpretd

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I dunno man...

First, we get optimism from you back in January. Then in March we get this:

cueandcushion said:
Considering the economy, I have little to complain about since Jan 1st. The smoking ban has at least brought back some customers that left, made the occasionaly player come in more often and brought in a few stragglers here and there to try out pool again without the smoke. There's not a waiting list to get in the door but definitely better than it was. Still optimistic as of March 23rd.
Click to expand...

And now barely three weeks later you're saying:

Business is still better than expected. Very grateful. We are actually adding another night of 9 Ball league. Big plus.
Click to expand...

You're supposed to be broke and out in the streets by now. You do realize, don't you, that you're disappointing tens of smokers everywhere with this constant optimism and reports of business looking up?

Best of luck (and business) to you. :)

(And, by the way, I do smoke. And I much prefer non-smoking bars and pool halls. Texas sucks in that regard.)
 
P

pooladdiction

shut up and rack em
Silver Member
jwpretd said:
First, we get optimism from you back in January. Then in March we get this:



And now barely three weeks later you're saying:



You're supposed to be broke and out in the streets by now. You do realize, don't you, that you're disappointing tens of smokers everywhere with this constant optimism and reports of business looking up?

Best of luck (and business) to you. :)

(And, by the way, I do smoke. And I much prefer non-smoking bars and pool halls. Texas sucks in that regard.)
Click to expand...

I'm also a smoker and much prefer the bars in IL since the smoking ban has been in effect. I would prefer smoking outside anyways and really like the fact my clothes don't smell like an ashtray when I get home(I don't smoke in my house either.) . One possible suggestion for you would be, if you have a patio area a cheap heated enclosure during the winter months might help business. I know our team captain picked our current bar we play at specificly because they had a heated enclosure for smokers. Either way, I'm glad to hear business is well. Best of luck!:)
 
cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
Before and after progress...

Beforepicture-1.jpg


ceilingcolors-1.jpg
 
J

jwpretd

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That's amazing. It must make the room feel a whole light brighter. Your customers must love the difference, especially women.
 
cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
jwpretd said:
That's amazing. It must make the room feel a whole light brighter. Your customers must love the difference, especially women.
Click to expand...

It is still very much a work in progress. Our place is 7500 square feet and I have about 30% of it done so far. It will take a long time before everything is done. Having to move and update some electric every time I open a ceiling tile is a constant slow down. And a bad ankle that will only go up and down a ladder so many times a night.

I noticed women players were the first ones to stay longer after the smoking ban. Women are a lot more sensitive to smoke and getting their clothes smelly. Especially women that dry clean everything. Women always notice improvements quicker than guys do. My personal feeling is that women are the key to success in a room like ours. If women feel it is clean and safe they will come there for dates, stay longer, come back with girlfriends etc. Tell their friends etc. That has already started. Women are not the endangered species in our room they used to be.

The players were pretty negative about the painting at first but now give a lot of positive feedback. At least when this is done I will never have to do it again. Maybe paint a tile here and there after roof leaks will be all. Well worth the effort.
 
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Paul Schofield

Paul Schofield

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We have been using this stuff for more than 25 years. We use it to remove nicotine from walls, furniture, window frames, pool tables, and anything else you can think of. You don't need gloves. Just take a rag and spread it and let it sit for a couple of minutes and the nicotine just wipes off without effort.

Made by Chemspec.
 

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cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
Update on St. Louis Smoking Ban

Business has been up dramatically since the smoking ban. Lost maybe 2 or 3 customers that were heavy smokers. Mostly kids and women are coming in more often. Dont have the exact numbers yet but maybe up 20%? Best year since maybe 2007 or so. Two pool places up the street got the smoking exemption. Both went under. So lots of factors besides smoke are guiding pool thru this economy. Adding the digital jukebox and dart boards has helped with younger crowd. Advertising on Facebook also has helped with bringing in younger people. Best of luck to all the other room owners at this difficult time of pool. Hope to hear some updates from others these days. This forum section is definitely a lot slower than 5 years ago.
 
M

Mark Griffin

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
St. Louis and smoking

Craig,
I think that is great news. And I agree, there are more factors than smoking bans that affect business.

Years ago (1969), I started painting a couple of walls in a pool hall I owned.
I noticed a lot of 'interest' and actually saw an increase in traffic.

Every six months or so (for a couple of years) I tied to paint that wall.
The impact was a lot more noticeable the first time - but it showed me that 'action creates action'.

If we can help you in any way, let us know.
Perhaps some BCAPL leagues???

Mark Griffin
 
cueandcushion

cueandcushion

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO
Silver Member
I agree about the painting. I have been repainting and scrubbing our entire drop ceiling. I can only get a few tiles done every night but people notice the constant improvement. Putting new armrests on the chairs, reupholstering chairs. Adding Q Claws on the spectator chairs. It all adds up with little improvements. I have most of this year already planned out with 10 projects of making our room better. First one was the new Diamond Ball cleaner. Next is refinishing and refurbishing an older Diamond Table. New light fixtures. Adding Aramith Tournament Balls. A lot of TO-DO lists to keep me busy all year long. Painting the ceiling is the longest one. Started last March, lol. About 75% done now with that.
 
The Renfro

The Renfro

Outsville.com
Silver Member
I am not sure that new centennials might not trump the Aramith Tournament balls for 1 reason... The numbers are smaller on the Tournament set..

While it doesn't matter at all to me it seems that a larger number of people are color blind than I ever realized.... I found out with the help of a new ball set that 2 of my friends were color blind and I had known them for years....

I took in a new set of centennials to where we play since management there couldn't manage a case of hemorrhoids much less care to maintain equipment and both of them lit up like Christmas because they could FINALLY see the numbers easily........
 
jacob

jacob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mark Griffin said:
Craig,
I think that is great news. And I agree, there are more factors than smoking bans that affect business.

Years ago (1969), I started painting a couple of walls in a pool hall I owned.
I noticed a lot of 'interest' and actually saw an increase in traffic.

Every six months or so (for a couple of years) I tied to paint that wall.
The impact was a lot more noticeable the first time - but it showed me that 'action creates action'.

If we can help you in any way, let us know.
Perhaps some BCAPL leagues???

Mark Griffin
Click to expand...



Wow! That is a good idea. BCAPL leagues at Cue and Cushion. I would like to see more of that league in St. Louis
 
Q

Quesports

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mark Griffin said:
Craig,
I think that is great news. And I agree, there are more factors than smoking bans that affect business.

Years ago (1969), I started painting a couple of walls in a pool hall I owned.
I noticed a lot of 'interest' and actually saw an increase in traffic.

Every six months or so (for a couple of years) I tied to paint that wall.
The impact was a lot more noticeable the first time - but it showed me that 'action creates action'.

If we can help you in any way, let us know.
Perhaps some BCAPL leagues???

Mark Griffin
Click to expand...

Truer words were never spoken. I have been involved in painting contracting for over 30 years. I have done many projects at large chain stores in malls and they always experience an increase in foot traffic during and after the projects. Seems like the people like to see businesses that are renovating and also tell friends about it as well, so word gets around. The other thing is people really do want to be in a nice clean environment and that is what new paint creates. If you are trying to seal back the smell of cigarettes nothing beats oil based Kilz but be careful with it in enclosed rooms, the fumes are highly flammable much more than the product itself. I have read true accounts of painters being enguled in flames when rooms were ignited by careless behavior...
 
RackemBilliards

RackemBilliards

Player, Room Owner
Silver Member
Leagues

jacob said:
Wow! That is a good idea. BCAPL leagues at Cue and Cushion. I would like to see more of that league in St. Louis
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. We added BCAPL about 8 months ago (as well as APA and TAP) and it's been great. In my opinion, pool today is about catering to the two far ends of the spectrum. We have lifelong serious players that will play for the rest of their lives as long as there's a place to play, and we have league players. The general population of casual players in between is the group that has shrunk, at least here. Not that the BCAPL players aren't serious about pool, most are, but they also see league night as entertainment and social time spent with their friends. They are appreciative of the efforts made to provide a quality place to play, and they support our business while they are here. We're still new in the league business, but it's been very enjoyable and we'll continue to make improvements for them in the future.

Dave Smith
oldschoolpool.com
 
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Donny Lutz

Donny Lutz

Ferrule Cat
Silver Member
Real perspective?

Rocky247 said:
Maybe you will get a REAL perspective after reading this!
http://www.freep.com/article/201105...g-ban-drag?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Click to expand...

Or maybe a "real" perspective might come from folks who have experienced quite serious health problems from second hand smoke. Keep in mind, too, that there are fewer and fewer cigarette smokers every day (many actually quit and of course many die). And you can't ignore the fact that many establishments are doing well since the smoking bans. Smokey venues are becoming a thing of the past, thankfully.

Donny L
BPIA/ACS Instructor
 
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