soyale
Well-known member
Not a room owner. Having a room of my own is more of a pipe dream than a reality. I have no business experience and have opened this thread purely in the sport of discussion.
Theres’s a thread over on the main forum about pool rooms in downtown areas. A major consensus is that the sheer amount of square footage necessary to comfortably fit multiple tables pretty much makes the business model obsolete in todays market.
Table time, drinks, food. Thats what you read about over and over and over again as far as bringing money in. I’ve seen table time vary between $3.50-$22.00 /h with little discernible difference in what you’re paying for. As an average consumer, it might be confusing enough to be a complete turn off. You might feel low class trying to get in on the cheap or you might feel ripped off paying top dollar.
Where does the guy who wants to practice 6-8 hours a day even go? Let’s say it takes 5 years of consistent play (lmao) to get tournament ready. 5 days a week, 6-8 hours a day, 5 years... nobody can afford that. And the rooms can’t afford to care whether he can afford it or not.
This is just a reminder that i am NOBODY, with no knowledge on opening or running a pool room.
The “pool room” as we know it from when pocket billiards was used to pass the time while folks pooled money on horse races, doesnt seem to have progressed much further than that. You want to sell billiards? Better sell food and alcohol as well so you dont go under. Now you’re a goddamn kitchen and a bar for no reason and all you really care about is pool.
This brings me to my point. Is it at all reasonable to cohabit a space with another business ?
When i was young, my mother owned a quilting shop in a small town. It was run out of the old building supply building and had plenty of space. She rented maybe a quarter of the space to a similar business that dealt specifically in needle work and thread. It was mutually beneficial and made the cost of renting that enormous space viable.
I’ve just been thinking lately about businesses that already require a lot of square footage. Often times it seems folks end up with a space that is bigger than they need just so they can have a space that is big enough in the first place.
So, you wanna open a pool room. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a pool room / ____________ ?
Furniture dealerships, for instance, have a ton of space. That’s a terrible example because the average pool player isn’t going to spend much money on furniture very often, but you see what i’m driving at.
I apologize if i’ve stepped out of my lane, or undermined the grueling task of running a pool room. My only intention here is to spark a discussion amongst men more intelligent than i.
Theres’s a thread over on the main forum about pool rooms in downtown areas. A major consensus is that the sheer amount of square footage necessary to comfortably fit multiple tables pretty much makes the business model obsolete in todays market.
Table time, drinks, food. Thats what you read about over and over and over again as far as bringing money in. I’ve seen table time vary between $3.50-$22.00 /h with little discernible difference in what you’re paying for. As an average consumer, it might be confusing enough to be a complete turn off. You might feel low class trying to get in on the cheap or you might feel ripped off paying top dollar.
Where does the guy who wants to practice 6-8 hours a day even go? Let’s say it takes 5 years of consistent play (lmao) to get tournament ready. 5 days a week, 6-8 hours a day, 5 years... nobody can afford that. And the rooms can’t afford to care whether he can afford it or not.
This is just a reminder that i am NOBODY, with no knowledge on opening or running a pool room.
The “pool room” as we know it from when pocket billiards was used to pass the time while folks pooled money on horse races, doesnt seem to have progressed much further than that. You want to sell billiards? Better sell food and alcohol as well so you dont go under. Now you’re a goddamn kitchen and a bar for no reason and all you really care about is pool.
This brings me to my point. Is it at all reasonable to cohabit a space with another business ?
When i was young, my mother owned a quilting shop in a small town. It was run out of the old building supply building and had plenty of space. She rented maybe a quarter of the space to a similar business that dealt specifically in needle work and thread. It was mutually beneficial and made the cost of renting that enormous space viable.
I’ve just been thinking lately about businesses that already require a lot of square footage. Often times it seems folks end up with a space that is bigger than they need just so they can have a space that is big enough in the first place.
So, you wanna open a pool room. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a pool room / ____________ ?
Furniture dealerships, for instance, have a ton of space. That’s a terrible example because the average pool player isn’t going to spend much money on furniture very often, but you see what i’m driving at.
I apologize if i’ve stepped out of my lane, or undermined the grueling task of running a pool room. My only intention here is to spark a discussion amongst men more intelligent than i.
