Are all the pool halls going out of business???
- Thread starter bigpocket
- Start date
This basically sums it up, though I personally would not even include the "smoking ban" as a reason. As Jay wrote, you can smoke outside the room vs ruining everything and everybody by smoking inside.
The issue of Pool Halls closing is due to the cost of doing business today, without having a substantial % of revenue from other sources (i.e. food & beverage, alcohol, etc.) It's about revenue, income and profitability - Not Smoking. Forget that subject. Banning people from polluting and poisoning others should not even be a topic, let alone a debate.
For todays Room Owners, it is extremely tough to make your nut every month strictly by selling table time. They must have other sources of revenue. These room owners that think one commercial refridge and one of those microwave/fryer POS things that unfreezes the Costco food are not going to make it.
Anyways, blaming the smoking laws on their business failure has become the fashionable excuse for room owners. It's been debated here ad nauseum, and someone will reply to this with all the rooms that failed "because of the smoking ban".
I would heavily advertise the concept of Enjoyng Pool in a "Clean, No-Smoking Pool Hall" and attract people who didn't go much, if ever, because the place was a nasty, smoky, stanky pool room dive.
Yep, stanky.
Pretty much guarantee you that the right promotion would attract more new customers then the little polluters who think they don't want to hang out there anymore since they can't kill themselves while they play.
No, it's not a right. And before long it won't even be a privilege, except in the privacy of your own home.
The Room Owners who actually believe they lost business because of a Smoking Ban? They lost considerably more customers through the years because of the smoke.
Las time I was in JOBs, it was actually hard to breathe in there. I got home, threw my clothes in the closet and went to sleep. The next morning my entire closet full of clothes smelled like smoke. The smoke smell was so strong just in my shirt and jeans that it polluted the entire closet. Even my pillow had a smoke stink from my hair!
I was visiting Nashville for a month and never returned to JOBs. And I wanted to play at least 5 times/week. I'm not the minority. Smokers are. And their numbers are decreasing. Of course it is, they're all dying of cancer.
</rant>
-von
The issue of Pool Halls closing is due to the cost of doing business today, without having a substantial % of revenue from other sources (i.e. food & beverage, alcohol, etc.) It's about revenue, income and profitability - Not Smoking. Forget that subject. Banning people from polluting and poisoning others should not even be a topic, let alone a debate.
For todays Room Owners, it is extremely tough to make your nut every month strictly by selling table time. They must have other sources of revenue. These room owners that think one commercial refridge and one of those microwave/fryer POS things that unfreezes the Costco food are not going to make it.
Anyways, blaming the smoking laws on their business failure has become the fashionable excuse for room owners. It's been debated here ad nauseum, and someone will reply to this with all the rooms that failed "because of the smoking ban".
I would heavily advertise the concept of Enjoyng Pool in a "Clean, No-Smoking Pool Hall" and attract people who didn't go much, if ever, because the place was a nasty, smoky, stanky pool room dive.
Yep, stanky.
Pretty much guarantee you that the right promotion would attract more new customers then the little polluters who think they don't want to hang out there anymore since they can't kill themselves while they play.
No, it's not a right. And before long it won't even be a privilege, except in the privacy of your own home.
The Room Owners who actually believe they lost business because of a Smoking Ban? They lost considerably more customers through the years because of the smoke.
Las time I was in JOBs, it was actually hard to breathe in there. I got home, threw my clothes in the closet and went to sleep. The next morning my entire closet full of clothes smelled like smoke. The smoke smell was so strong just in my shirt and jeans that it polluted the entire closet. Even my pillow had a smoke stink from my hair!
I was visiting Nashville for a month and never returned to JOBs. And I wanted to play at least 5 times/week. I'm not the minority. Smokers are. And their numbers are decreasing. Of course it is, they're all dying of cancer.
</rant>
-von
Johnnyt said:
We lost two pool halls here in Columbia, MO over the summer. The same guy owned both of them, and he blamed the smoking ban for a decline in business that led to the closing. Some were skeptical as to whether this was the real reason for the closing, but the fact remains that Columbia, which has a pop. of about 90,000 and nearly 40,000 students at any given time, does not have a real pool hall now. 
Pool will rise again! And poolrooms too. Just like the Phoenix, Pool repeatedly rises from the ashes and is resurrected.
I've got a solution.......EVERYONE QUIT SMOKING.And this is coming from someone that smokes and is quite tired of smoking.Quiting soon,trust me.
it's only $$$$$$$$$
I sure hope you're right Jay.
It's hard to ignore the dominant trend away from the "old poolhall" and towards the more profitable biz of glitzy "sports bars / night clubs" offering music, video, food, liquor, ambiance etc... If it boils down to money and profits (and it always does) the old pool halls are doomed to be few and far apart. Self service coin op tables require less expense, space, less attention by mgmt. and appear to be just part of the overall mix of a sports bar. The younger crowd wants a snazzy place to drink, eat, meet and flirt and then maybe beat some balls around on a barbox.
Wish I had a solution to suggest to save the old style pool halls.
Too many players support their local pool hall by buying one 75 cent Pepsi per nite then gripe about the modest tattered room.
View attachment 49891
jay helfert said:
I sure hope you're right Jay.
It's hard to ignore the dominant trend away from the "old poolhall" and towards the more profitable biz of glitzy "sports bars / night clubs" offering music, video, food, liquor, ambiance etc... If it boils down to money and profits (and it always does) the old pool halls are doomed to be few and far apart. Self service coin op tables require less expense, space, less attention by mgmt. and appear to be just part of the overall mix of a sports bar. The younger crowd wants a snazzy place to drink, eat, meet and flirt and then maybe beat some balls around on a barbox.
Wish I had a solution to suggest to save the old style pool halls.
Too many players support their local pool hall by buying one 75 cent Pepsi per nite then gripe about the modest tattered room.View attachment 49891
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Wrong
This is a market place issue. A business owner has the right to run HIS place the way he sees fit within the limits of the law. Cigarettes are not illegal. If you do not wish to be around smoke (and I understand) dont go there. The market place will then determine the out come of the business.
If non smoking pool halls are in such a demand where are they? Just because you may think not smoking is a good Idea it does not give you the right to determine what direction the owner of a business takes.
maxeypad2007 said:
This is a market place issue. A business owner has the right to run HIS place the way he sees fit within the limits of the law. Cigarettes are not illegal. If you do not wish to be around smoke (and I understand) dont go there. The market place will then determine the out come of the business.
If non smoking pool halls are in such a demand where are they? Just because you may think not smoking is a good Idea it does not give you the right to determine what direction the owner of a business takes.
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Where is that ban at?Johnnyt said:
Would someone please enforce it in Brevard county!! I am sick of playing for 1-2 hours and then having to go shower and change clothes before I can go anywhere else. And the smell of it when I hit the showers comming up out of my skin and hair is sickening. All the places around here you can see a cloud of it across the rooms. Eyes burning,
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Let's place the blame where the blame belongs. The reason why pool is going into the crapper is because it's not a computer game. When I was a kid, we had pong. That's it. Maybe an Atari. My dad took me to the golf course to learn to play golf. Every so often, my brother took me to the pool hall. When I got older, I went to the pool hall.
Nowadays, everything is about convenience. Login and play. Either it's Xbox, Wii, PS3, or it's internet poker, or internet whatever.
Clean up the pool rooms. Take your kid to play pool. Pool rooms should be approaching Church groups. Remove cursing from the pool halls, get rid of the gambling (or at least keep it out of sight), and get kids and families into the rooms. If you can get a kid to love the game, you've got growth. The PGA has a program called The 1st Tee. Maybe the BCA should get a movement called "On a Roll" or something else.
Nowadays, everything is about convenience. Login and play. Either it's Xbox, Wii, PS3, or it's internet poker, or internet whatever.
Clean up the pool rooms. Take your kid to play pool. Pool rooms should be approaching Church groups. Remove cursing from the pool halls, get rid of the gambling (or at least keep it out of sight), and get kids and families into the rooms. If you can get a kid to love the game, you've got growth. The PGA has a program called The 1st Tee. Maybe the BCA should get a movement called "On a Roll" or something else.
Not at this rate
But I do agree after 28 years in one place. I don't know if you saw another post but will inform you that the Cue-Phoria in Carson City closed. Bobby Hunters old place. All equipment for sale. I think some tables already sold. It was hard to tell looking in the window. You might check with his wife.
jay helfert said:
But I do agree after 28 years in one place. I don't know if you saw another post but will inform you that the Cue-Phoria in Carson City closed. Bobby Hunters old place. All equipment for sale. I think some tables already sold. It was hard to tell looking in the window. You might check with his wife.
nfty9er said:
I have talked to Julie. Thanks.
For what it's worth, Sammy Jones told me over the weekend that he is opening a new room on Laurens Road in Greenville, SC. Sports bar type, with a full kitchen, etc. Dont' know how many tables or what kind yet. I'll be talking to him again this coming weekend, I hope.
Why ban smoking just ban cigarettes etc. Oh ya that would cost the governement to many tax dollars
.
My question is how can you sell a legal product and then tell people not to use it. You can drink alcohol in two places in private and in licenced establishments, so why not sell smoking licences to places that wish to have smoking and those that don't need not purchase one.
Hold on thats way to smart for any North American government and it actually considers what the people want.
Bern
Just ban death sticks I mean cigarettes and solve the problem.
.My question is how can you sell a legal product and then tell people not to use it. You can drink alcohol in two places in private and in licenced establishments, so why not sell smoking licences to places that wish to have smoking and those that don't need not purchase one.
Hold on thats way to smart for any North American government and it actually considers what the people want.
Bern
Just ban death sticks I mean cigarettes and solve the problem.
I figured out ten years ago that going to 6 or 8 good bar boxes with two nine footers and beer & wine could be a money maker. I just didn't want to deal with the punk kids and drunks. Yes I was a little punk kid 50 years ago...that's why I didn't want to deal with them. Do as I say not as I do. Johnnyt
All this anti-smoke talk has got me hawngry for a smooth delicious
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Jake (proud smoker)
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Jake (proud smoker)