Article from the San Francisco Chronicle dated April 22, 2007.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/22/BUGU9PB30Q1.DTL
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S.F. Billiard Shop Behind The 8 Ball
David Lazarus - San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, April 22, 2007
From the shop he manages on San Francisco's Howard Street, Gamaliel "Gumby" Gomez sells pool tables, cues, balls, racks, chalk and just about anything else you might need for what was once known among kings and commoners alike as the "noble game of billiards."
That is, he'd be selling them if he had any customers. It's not unusual for whole days to pass without a single person walking into the store, Sequoia Billiard Supply, the last such business in the city.
On a recent morning, the only activity in the shop came from Gomez's little pug, Thomas, who stood near the front window beside an Imperial pool table that normally sells for $2,395 but is now going for the fire-sale price of $1,795. Thomas barked idly at passers-by on the sidewalk.
"There was a time we could sell five or six tables a week," Gomez, 45, told me. "Now it's maybe one a month. We're just treading water."
It's worse than that -- they're sinking. Thanks to the Internet and cut-rate competition from cheap (and often cheaply made) overseas imports, billiard-supply retailers like Sequoia are fading quickly from the U.S. commercial landscape.
Veronica Rutledge, 60, who owns Sequoia with her 62-year-old husband, Harvey, said she expects to close the company's outlets in San Francisco, San Carlos and Dublin when their respective leases expire over the next couple of years.
"We've been in business a long time," she said. "But you can only fight things for so long."
The looming demise of Sequoia underlines the challenge faced by many small businesses at a time when people can purchase virtually anything online, usually at lower prices than at brick-and-mortar shops.
Bookstores are often viewed as one of the Internet's biggest victims. With online sites like Amazon.com able to undercut prices by a significant margin and offer almost any title from warehoused inventory, many bookstore owners say they simply have no way to compete.
Billiard-supply companies face a similar dynamic -- made all the more difficult by the gradual decline of pool as an American pastime.
"Kids just haven't gravitated to this sport," Rutledge said. "Instead, they've got their pudgy fingers on their Xboxes."
As we spoke, she pulled out a recent flyer she'd received from Costco. It included an online special for a higher-end pool table -- "A truly timeless masterpiece that will stand gallantly in your home for many years to come" -- that normally sells for $4,299.99.
Costco was offering it for just $3,299.99, including shipping. "Try to compete with Costco," Rutledge said ruefully.
A Google search turns up a variety of other online retailers offering what appear to be good-quality pool tables -- many with free shipping -- for under $2,000.
At Sequoia's San Francisco store, Gomez said he can try to match prices like that, but it's not easy. A pool table near the counter that appears to be of similar quality to what Costco was offering sells for almost $10,000.
On the other hand, all of Sequoia's pool tables are made in America. The listing for Costco's "Venetian" table doesn't say where it's from.
Gomez said he relies these days on occasional sales of luxury pool tables to keep things afloat. Not too long ago, for example, he said he received a visit from a Google employee who'd become a newly minted millionaire and simply had to have a pool table for his home.
But not just any pool table. The Google guy required the classiest, fanciest pool table in the store. Gomez said he sold the customer a restored antique table for nearly $30,000.
"That was enough to keep us going for another month or two," Gomez said.
At Len's Billiard Supply in San Jose, owner Len Rovai said his sales are now about half of what he's averaged in past years.
"These past two years have been the worst I've had in 40 years," he said.
Like his counterparts at Sequoia, Rovai, 77, blames cheap imports and the impact of the Internet. "People come in here and tell me they can get the same cue online for $40 less," he said.
Rovai also cited increasingly congested housing conditions in the Bay Area. In the South Bay especially, more and more condos are being built.
"You can't put a pool table in a condo," Rovai lamented. "There's no room."
Experts say your basic 4-by-8-foot home pool table needs a minimum space of about 12 by 16 feet. That's to accommodate 58-inch cues that aren't constantly poking holes in your walls.
Rovai's finally had enough. This fall, he intends to sell his business to David DiSalvo, who manages the shop. "I've been a fighter all my life," Rovai said. "But I don't have the years left to ride this out."
DiSalvo, 54, acknowledged that he'll be purchasing a business that's struggling for survival. But he said a focus on service rather than sales should see him through.
"Len's been selling pool tables for 40 years," DiSalvo said. "There's always going to be a need for repairs."
Similarly, Sequoia's Gomez said he spends the bulk of his time these days on the service front, mostly fitting new tips on old cues. San Francisco doesn't have many pool halls left, he observed, but a lot of taverns still have a table for patrons. This keeps demand fairly steady for cue maintenance.
Serious players stop by from time to time to poke through Sequoia's selection of cues, which range in price from $40 to $1,400. They can test them out on a pool table in the store, perhaps play a game or two if they've brought a pal.
But Gomez said the really serious players often don't bother with retailers. They go directly to custom cuemakers (who are typically members of the American Cuemakers Association and can be found via the group's Web site, cuemakers.org).
It's not uncommon these days, Gomez said, for pool newbies to visit the store and ask lots of questions, maybe even seek some help with their technique.
"They get the education," he said, "and then go buy online."
Rutledge, Sequoia's co-owner, is resigned to the store's fate. But she doesn't hide her sadness.
"You're losing a little piece of the heart and soul of America," Rutledge said. "We may be small, but we've always been there for our customers."
David Lazarus' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
He also can be heard Saturdays, 4 to 7 p.m., on KGO Radio. Send tips or feedback to dlazarus@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/22/BUGU9PB30Q1.DTL
This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/22/BUGU9PB30Q1.DTL
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S.F. Billiard Shop Behind The 8 Ball
David Lazarus - San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, April 22, 2007
From the shop he manages on San Francisco's Howard Street, Gamaliel "Gumby" Gomez sells pool tables, cues, balls, racks, chalk and just about anything else you might need for what was once known among kings and commoners alike as the "noble game of billiards."
That is, he'd be selling them if he had any customers. It's not unusual for whole days to pass without a single person walking into the store, Sequoia Billiard Supply, the last such business in the city.
On a recent morning, the only activity in the shop came from Gomez's little pug, Thomas, who stood near the front window beside an Imperial pool table that normally sells for $2,395 but is now going for the fire-sale price of $1,795. Thomas barked idly at passers-by on the sidewalk.
"There was a time we could sell five or six tables a week," Gomez, 45, told me. "Now it's maybe one a month. We're just treading water."
It's worse than that -- they're sinking. Thanks to the Internet and cut-rate competition from cheap (and often cheaply made) overseas imports, billiard-supply retailers like Sequoia are fading quickly from the U.S. commercial landscape.
Veronica Rutledge, 60, who owns Sequoia with her 62-year-old husband, Harvey, said she expects to close the company's outlets in San Francisco, San Carlos and Dublin when their respective leases expire over the next couple of years.
"We've been in business a long time," she said. "But you can only fight things for so long."
The looming demise of Sequoia underlines the challenge faced by many small businesses at a time when people can purchase virtually anything online, usually at lower prices than at brick-and-mortar shops.
Bookstores are often viewed as one of the Internet's biggest victims. With online sites like Amazon.com able to undercut prices by a significant margin and offer almost any title from warehoused inventory, many bookstore owners say they simply have no way to compete.
Billiard-supply companies face a similar dynamic -- made all the more difficult by the gradual decline of pool as an American pastime.
"Kids just haven't gravitated to this sport," Rutledge said. "Instead, they've got their pudgy fingers on their Xboxes."
As we spoke, she pulled out a recent flyer she'd received from Costco. It included an online special for a higher-end pool table -- "A truly timeless masterpiece that will stand gallantly in your home for many years to come" -- that normally sells for $4,299.99.
Costco was offering it for just $3,299.99, including shipping. "Try to compete with Costco," Rutledge said ruefully.
A Google search turns up a variety of other online retailers offering what appear to be good-quality pool tables -- many with free shipping -- for under $2,000.
At Sequoia's San Francisco store, Gomez said he can try to match prices like that, but it's not easy. A pool table near the counter that appears to be of similar quality to what Costco was offering sells for almost $10,000.
On the other hand, all of Sequoia's pool tables are made in America. The listing for Costco's "Venetian" table doesn't say where it's from.
Gomez said he relies these days on occasional sales of luxury pool tables to keep things afloat. Not too long ago, for example, he said he received a visit from a Google employee who'd become a newly minted millionaire and simply had to have a pool table for his home.
But not just any pool table. The Google guy required the classiest, fanciest pool table in the store. Gomez said he sold the customer a restored antique table for nearly $30,000.
"That was enough to keep us going for another month or two," Gomez said.
At Len's Billiard Supply in San Jose, owner Len Rovai said his sales are now about half of what he's averaged in past years.
"These past two years have been the worst I've had in 40 years," he said.
Like his counterparts at Sequoia, Rovai, 77, blames cheap imports and the impact of the Internet. "People come in here and tell me they can get the same cue online for $40 less," he said.
Rovai also cited increasingly congested housing conditions in the Bay Area. In the South Bay especially, more and more condos are being built.
"You can't put a pool table in a condo," Rovai lamented. "There's no room."
Experts say your basic 4-by-8-foot home pool table needs a minimum space of about 12 by 16 feet. That's to accommodate 58-inch cues that aren't constantly poking holes in your walls.
Rovai's finally had enough. This fall, he intends to sell his business to David DiSalvo, who manages the shop. "I've been a fighter all my life," Rovai said. "But I don't have the years left to ride this out."
DiSalvo, 54, acknowledged that he'll be purchasing a business that's struggling for survival. But he said a focus on service rather than sales should see him through.
"Len's been selling pool tables for 40 years," DiSalvo said. "There's always going to be a need for repairs."
Similarly, Sequoia's Gomez said he spends the bulk of his time these days on the service front, mostly fitting new tips on old cues. San Francisco doesn't have many pool halls left, he observed, but a lot of taverns still have a table for patrons. This keeps demand fairly steady for cue maintenance.
Serious players stop by from time to time to poke through Sequoia's selection of cues, which range in price from $40 to $1,400. They can test them out on a pool table in the store, perhaps play a game or two if they've brought a pal.
But Gomez said the really serious players often don't bother with retailers. They go directly to custom cuemakers (who are typically members of the American Cuemakers Association and can be found via the group's Web site, cuemakers.org).
It's not uncommon these days, Gomez said, for pool newbies to visit the store and ask lots of questions, maybe even seek some help with their technique.
"They get the education," he said, "and then go buy online."
Rutledge, Sequoia's co-owner, is resigned to the store's fate. But she doesn't hide her sadness.
"You're losing a little piece of the heart and soul of America," Rutledge said. "We may be small, but we've always been there for our customers."
David Lazarus' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
He also can be heard Saturdays, 4 to 7 p.m., on KGO Radio. Send tips or feedback to dlazarus@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/22/BUGU9PB30Q1.DTL
This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle.
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nothing stays the same ! similar to how Apples Ipod single handedly changed music purchase and playback forever!