And Then There Were None

People dont like to admit it but the smoking ban hurts.

Dont believe me? Visit the room owners section.

+the economy sux and a night of drinks and table time can add up fast.
 
TXsouthpaw said:
People dont like to admit it but the smoking ban hurts.

Dont believe me? Visit the room owners section.

+the economy sux and a night of drinks and table time can add up fast.
Click to expand...

The fact still remains that there are rooms that are surviving the smoking bans. Why is that? They are adapting to the situation instead of giving in to it.

The economy IS a big factor, but like I said in my earlier post - that's a signal to invent more avenues of income and more opportunities to make money instead of losing it. The proprietors that are able to do that will survive. The ones that don't do that will not survive. That's just the nature of the beast within the entire billiards industry these days.

Room owners are going to be hard hit because of the rising fuel costs which will jack up the costs of everything they need to provide for their customers. Usually when you start seeing rooms close as rapidly as they are now, it is the end result of a trend that has been occurring within the entire industry for about 2-3 years, but that's for another thread.
 
Like Blackjack, I call B.S. on this! Nationally, only 20-something % of people still smoke, and more are quitting every day! That's a good thing. It also says that there is a HUGE audience out there, to draw from, of nonsmokers. Add to that, I personally witnessed California's smoking ban, as I was in a very popular pool bar in San Diego, the day the ban went into effect. There was an APA tournament that day, with over 150 players. The smokers just trooped outside, 20 at a time, and had their smoke. Nobody complained, nobody *****ed...because it was the LAW. That was 8 yrs ago, and that bar is still going strong.

Instead of coming up with a negative list of reasons why rooms are closing (you can add unrealistic and insensitive room owners to the list), why don't we come up with a positive list of why people still come to the successful rooms.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

TXsouthpaw said:
People dont like to admit it but the smoking ban hurts.

Dont believe me? Visit the room owners section.

+the economy sux and a night of drinks and table time can add up fast.
Click to expand...
 
john schmidt said:
i actually think when the economy is bad that playing pool and drinking is the one thing that survives because its cheap to do.
looking back over history has shown that through depressions world wars etc pool has survived. polrooms can and do make profit i know plenty of roomowners doing fine.
you have to know what your doing,have good local,treat customers well and have the right rent but its more than doable.just my opinion as im not a roomowner.
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Your right John, a bad economy was good for pool, movies and such, but pool isn't a dime a rack or fifty-cents an hour anymore. Movies aren't a dime and gas is through the roof. We did't have TV's to stay home and watch all the movies we want. We didn't have computers to sit in front of and play games on. This time the worse the economy gets the worse it is for pool. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Your right John, a bad economy was good for pool, movies and such, but pool isn't a dime a rack or fifty-cents an hour anymore. Movies aren't a dime and gas is through the roof. We did't have TV's to stay home and watch all the movies we want. We didn't have computers to sit in front of and play games on. This time the worse the economy gets the worse it is for pool. Johnnyt
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but then that pretty much applies to all forms of entertainment, not just pool.

i agree that increased gas prices are a problem but i find that many ppl just car pool to the pool hall now. and there are pool halls that dont seem to be affected by this. as far as i know, there havent been any pool halls closing in toronto except for maybe 1.
 
What I'm getting from this thread so far is that the ban on smoking didn't close any rooms if you are a non-smoker and it did if you are a smoker and actually go to poolrooms. Fact is of rooms that had smoking before the ban have lost 30% of their business. Some have found other ways to make up for it. Some are just making less, and some went out of business. Again go to the room owner section and hear the truth.

Others with vested interest in APA and the like say pool is doing great. It will catch up to them also. Again go to the poolroom owners section and ask how many can survive on leagues. Sure it helps the bottom line a little but a poolroom can't survive without regulars and new walk ins that come back. Others deny anything is wrong and maybe it will get better when that blockbuster pool movie comes out. I'm done. Johnnyt
 
all im saying is that pool aint exactly pulling NFL numbers. Why should we go out and alienate our clientele. beggers cant be choosers.

And i know someone will chime in with an "i know somebody who has" but how many people START going to a pool hall because its nonsmoking. As compared to smokers who have left in droves and forced rooms to close.
 
I think the rise of other gambling outlets has hurt. Lotto, poker, casinos have taken the gamblers away.
 
I like to smoke a fine cigar and play pool. Even the cigarette smokers would balk at my cigar smoke. Well, now they don't have my smoke to complain about.
 
tucson9ball said:
Unfortunately pool is not a necessity, so most people play less.:(
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I was skeptical, so I looked it up:

Necessities
1. Air
2. Water
3. Food
4. Pool
5. Clothing
6. Shelter
 
Plenty, actually! Just based on the cross-section of people who post on here, almost ALL of them (myself included) enjoy the nonsmoking poolroom much more than they did the smoke. If you can't walk outside, to deal with your tobacco addiction for a minute or two, who OWNS that problem?

johnnyt says to go to the room owners forum to hear what they have to say. I say, imo, it is only the smoking room owners who are posting and complaining. The nonsmoking room owners don't have time to post, because they're "taking care of business"! :rolleyes: LOL

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

TXsouthpaw said:
how many people START going to a pool hall because its nonsmoking. As compared to smokers who have left in droves and forced rooms to close.
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you have a valid point

TXsouthpaw said:
.......how many people START going to a pool hall because its nonsmoking. As compared to smokers who have left in droves and forced rooms to close.
Click to expand...

Years of heavy smoke have already driven many nonsmokers away. Some will eventually drift back, some have taken up other pursuits. Regardless, very seldom will they instantly flood in to fill the void left by people whose main reason to come to a pool hall was to smoke. The people that had smoking halls with pool tables are in trouble. The people that had pool halls that people smoked in should be OK.

Were I an owner of any business that smoking had been banned in the first thing I would do is clean it top to bottom and then have the folks that recondition hotel rooms come in and make the place smell smoke free. You aren't going to have an easy time attracting nonsmokers to a place that smells like an old ashtray. Treat your new customers like the gold they are too. One thing that hurts many pool halls is that new customers are given the cold shoulder at best. Lost your smokers and you aren't keeping new customers that come in and could replace them? The blame falls squarely on the room owner!

What did the owners that were hit hard by the smoking ban do to combat the decline in business? I have been in business slumps and whined and belly-ached with the best of them, I have been in business slumps and took aggressive action to do something about it. Anybody really need to hear which course worked best?

Hu
 
All imo Of course

jason said:
Did you take all the strip club pages too? ;)
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No, that would be MY handiwork.
I think the youth and future poolplayers of today are content to stay home and play games on the computer, Ipod, Play Station, etc. or simply sit in front of the boobtube and watch endless cable programming.

The current economy & gas prices are taking a toll on everyone. The days of yore that John Schmidt are talking about no longer exist. When people sought refuge in poolrooms during times of depression, pool was 10 cents a game a beer & booze were bought with pocket change. It beat staying home staring at an AM radio or a 9" black & white TV.

Doug
 
Every thing goes through ups and downs. I used to be in the restaurant business and different styles come and go. For a few years fine dining will be at a high and then nothing. Same actually occurs with fast food and
the chain "sit down" type places.

Pool has its cycles. For the last 5 or so years it was coming down from a high point in the 80s and early 90s. Owners, players and just people in general are looking for reasons why the room isnt performing. Smoking
bans and the economy have effected it but I dont believe it has hit
as hard as some might think.

I know many people that would not go to the pool rooms or bars for a long time or at all that frequent the places now.

Economy has to be a bigger issue right now. We have had MAJOR increases in almost everything due to fuel costs over the past few years.

Still people want to have fun and are willing to spend money. However they want to do it in a place the is friendly and APPRECIATES their $$$$.
I see so many places that I just dont want to spend my $$$ at. They are rude or simply dont care.

Many owners open a business thinking that customers will build the business. Truth is that its the OWNER and establishment that have to build the business. Not many times can you simply open the doors and
be successful.
 
My 2 cents on the smoking ban...

It only hurts pool halls when it's applied half-assed. Up here the ban is province wide (so equivalent to state wide). No one can smoke in any bars, any pool halls, any restaurants, malls etc period. Basically, you either smoke outside or you stay home. Since most ppl don't want to stay home, they just get used to smoking outside.

This sort of province/state wide ban that encompasses a large georgraphical area and applies equally to all business types isn't going to hurt businesses simply because it doesn't leave the smoker with any viable alternatives. They basically can't take their business elsewhere, because there is no elsewhere to take their business to.

When smoking bans are implemented at a city or county level, that's a different story altogether. In that scenario there are viable alternatives someone could reasonably drive to, and that does hurt business owners.

Serge
 
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tap, tap, tap! My sentiments exactly, Hu! You have to be proactive, not reactive! frankncali makes some good points too, about owner's attitudes! Rep to you both!:D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

ShootingArts said:
Were I an owner of any business that smoking had been banned in the first thing I would do is clean it top to bottom and then have the folks that recondition hotel rooms come in and make the place smell smoke free. You aren't going to have an easy time attracting nonsmokers to a place that smells like an old ashtray. Treat your new customers like the gold they are too. One thing that hurts many pool halls is that new customers are given the cold shoulder at best. Lost your smokers and you aren't keeping new customers that come in and could replace them? The blame falls squarely on the room owner!

What did the owners that were hit hard by the smoking ban do to combat the decline in business? I have been in business slumps and whined and belly-ached with the best of them, I have been in business slumps and took aggressive action to do something about it. Anybody really need to hear which course worked best?

Hu
Click to expand...
 
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I agree with hejests. We have 4 competing poolrooms in a 25 minute radius. If we all had to go non smoking because of a state law I think we would do just fine. If any one of us allowed smoking (and managed to break the law) I think it would hurt our business. I am waiting for the state of Florida to pass this law, for my health and that of my customers. I do not have the guts to go non smoking when none of the other rooms do. We'd be out of business asap.
I don't think non smoking is what is hurting business: I think it is the difficulty of our sport and the short attention span of the younger generation. As someone mentioned it takes a long time for one to get good at pool. Young people would rather play video games and poker than take the time to get good at pool.
We poolroom owners need to offer great equipment, great service and a friendly safe atmosphere to continue to stay open.
 
Smorgass Bored said:
No, that would be MY handiwork.
Doug
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I won't tell anyone in this private message that you took the "clinic" pages as well. ;)

Oooops...wrong button.
 
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