A pool buddy of mine opened a small room with 10 eight foot Gandys and 2 nine-footers...all leased. He skipped on the beer/wine license; he was next door to a pretty lively bar and thought he'd scoop up clients from there (not a bad idea, but it didn't work). He was losing his a$$ pretty quick and finally got the license. All too late to recover from the nose dive. He was an E-5 still in the Army (pretty big cojones to take that kind of financial risk)...his wife left with what little remained in their bank account and he basically defaulted on the lease. This was all during the Color of Money boom, too.
Seems like most pool rooms that hang on were well-established...and lucky. My favorite room in Wilmington, NC thrives on the back of an inexplicable bowling boom. Full service bar, good restaurant and 20 Diamond bar boxes and 10 nine foot Blue Label Pro Ams. Always twice as many bowlers as pool players, although they have a HUGE league turn out. Ewa Mataya Lawrence comes in to throw big APA events frequently.
I can't figure out how a room can get set up and survive these days...my room here in VA closed after the owner doubled the rent. It was a bit of a dive, but great people, lots of fun to shoot and plenty of one hole action. The property owner was convinced the crime in the area was due to the place, so he priced them out of the place.
