Corner Billiards closing?

hanisch said:
jude,

carom cafe in flushing does not own those other rooms. the room in harlem shares the same name because they asked permission to do so. the other rooms you mention received input by the owners of carom cafe, however they are currently owned by entirely different people. furthermore each of those other rooms are independently owned. again, the owner of carom cafe (there is now only one owner of carom cafe, namely michael kang) does not own any of those other rooms you mention.

william
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Thanks for the info. It really doesn't matter who owns these clubs. My point was simply (as stated above) that there's been new activity throughout New York City that we tend to not pay attention to because these rooms aren't in midtown. Who knows? That might change. And, as I stated earlier, I have no knowledge of it whatsoever. I'm just saying that if I were a billiard club owner, I would be hot for some Manhattan real estate right now.
 
briandlau said:
I know. I was correcting slipsky.
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God I wish I took that cell phone picture of you playing last night. I'd post it, then bump it to the top of the thread list every hour on the hour.

- Steve
 
Jude, A) $2 million tells me they plan to a long while. My guess is that the lease is at least 10 or 15 years. I heard the ABC owners are real estate savvy so they will probably always keep an eye out for a great deal in a great space but NYC prices are super expensive and I think even with all there know how, when ABC East closed that had to sting and make them a bit hesitant about a two room situation. On the other hand, since there the only quality game in town a second room could be looked at as an ABC dynasty in NYC.

B) Soho is a run down hole. As are all the other Manhattan rooms except for the East 86 St. room but that one is small, very small, and as said before, Slate is a night club. If there ever was a room with amazing potential it's Soho. I was at Soho recently and was shocked how run down it was. I asked them why they stoped the tourmements they had years ago in the 'pit'. They said it drew a bad crowd. I think they are prime examples of many room owners that don't care about the game of pool at all. They just look at it as a business and keep there overhead low, unlike the ABC owners who seem to go for top quality in all areas and embrace the game in many ways and appeal to all. You would think with the changes with ABC and Corner, room owners would see that this is the time to spend some cash and be competitive and get some of the Corner customers but they seem very content to just keep at there current pace. The same with Corner over the past year. I was there last night (Thurs.) and was amazed how run down it was. Everything was in lousy condition.

C) Masters is a short subway ride but I heard from many that the tables aren't that good. I haven' t been there so I can't say first hand.

D) With the demise of rooms in NYC and the comments from 'cueand cushion' in St Louis, and many knowledgeable folks here' pool and quality rooms face an interesting future. Not all that rosey in my opinion.
There must be a statistic showing the total number of rooms in the country 10-15 years ago as opposed to now. Might be a bit schocking.

Brooklyn Jay, Many great points but I beg to differ with you on one.
Pool leagues are huge as far as revenue goes in a number of areas.
First the weekly fee multiplied by the number of players then by the number of leagues and thats for 52 weeks. Plus reg. fees 3 or 4 times a year. Second, add to that all the food and drink/alcohol and equipment sales and also practice time by players while playing in the leagues. It's a big number and its critical to a clubs survival on the level of ABC.

One of the things I loved about Corner is that in it's heyday it had a great lower Manhattan vibe. Layed back yet still a good place to play with some good players and the food was good. It will be interesting to see what the new ABC will be like in a very different neighborhood. I heard the owners said they will absolutly stay with being a top quality playing room for players and not compromise on that. They realize they must appeal to non players as well. This is what they have always done. Its a hard job appealing to all and theres always some complaints on one side or the other but they always go with a classy/comfortable room as a foundation so come this Oct. or Nov. as long as they don't pack more tables in, its going to be exciting to see what they create.
 
Steve Lipsky said:
God I wish I took that cell phone picture of you playing last night. I'd post it, then bump it to the top of the thread list every hour on the hour.

- Steve
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lol... next time buddy. with the glove, i looked and played like a champ. i wore it with pride.
 
To Slim J

The BCA keeps stats on number of rooms and stats of each. Tables per room, average square footage, whether food or alcohol is served etc. From what I read of the stats is that the nationwide number of pool tables is UP. There are more places to play pool now than ever before. Its the other stats that show where the industry is going. 9 foot tables are down. 7 foot tables are up. Alcohol free rooms down (less than 30%), rooms with full menus and bars are up. Rooms without retail are down, rooms with pro shops and retail sales are up. According to "Profile of a Billiard Room" put out by the BCA, the number of NEW rooms opening is down but the number of LARGE pool rooms opening has been growing for a while now..since 1993. The income from pool has been stagnant.. but not growing. Income from Alcohol and retail has been steadily growing and income from food since 1995 (peak year) has been declining. Add all this together and you get a picture that "pool rooms" will become "entertainment centers" in the future as owners have to find more inventive ways to earn income. It is important to point out that all these stats do NOT take into account all the bars that have a couple of 7 ft tables in them. This saturation of bar box pool takes customers out of the big pool rooms. The BCA doesnt really poll bars, night clubs or restaurants that have pool tables in them. It is anybodys guess what this effect has on larger pool rooms and the future of pool. Sorry if I rambled.
 
the cost of tourneys and enrollment fees seems like a lot.

Itd be nice if some places had like the Derby City Classic had with individual prizes for running 100 balls in straight pool. Or things of that nature. Since I dont consider myself a seasoned player or a touring pro I do feel like I am capable of stepstone accomplishments towards a complete billiard arsenal.

Or like weekly challenge trickshots, preset 9-ball runs. Sure there would be players that dominate but it wouldnt be as intimidating as entering a tournament.
 
briandlau said:
lol... next time buddy. with the glove, i looked and played like a champ. i wore it with pride.
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Steve, I'm 1-5 this season. I'm willing to try anything to get a win. I'm volunteering to wear it :)
 
hobokenapa said:
Steve, I'm 1-5 this season. I'm willing to try anything to get a win. I'm volunteering to wear it :)
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Tim,

One can't choose to wear the glove. The glove must choose you.

:D

- Steve
 
holy crap.

i just visited abc for the first time.
nice room.
clean.
equipments in really good shape.
but $8.50 an hour...
...PER PERSON...
on a Wednesday?

Like. Wow.

I'm not being cheap but that's $17 an hour for two people.

On a Wednesday!

The room's nice but not $17 an hour nice.

You'd have to play sets for $50 just to cover the time.

And I don't think that $17 an hour is going to fly downtown. I don't think the downtown crowd is going shell that kind of money out for pool.

Again, nice room but OUCH.
 
Thats when the power play deal comes in a guess. I hope they keep that after the move.

Monday - Friday we have an afternoon PowerPlay for $26 which allow one to play from 12 noon to 6pm or anytime in between those hours. That is for the table with a max number of 5 people. We also have a weekend PowerPlay for $34 for the table from 11am-6pm Saturday and Sunday.
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seiyaryu55 said:
Thats when the power play deal comes in a guess. I hope they keep that after the move.
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Do you have to sign up for the PowerPlay? What's it cost?

M-F isn't doable - Day job.
The weekend deal seems nice.
 
Oh man this is bad news, where in the heck am I going to play when I go to NY in a few weeks? I always played at Corner, I never really thought to look elsewhere.

If I'm going to be downtown, where do you guys recommend? Corner was always nice and peaceful in the afternoon, never too crowded (I guess that's why they closed) and prices seemed OK, your right about the floor though, some tables seemed a little off.

I really liked the atmosphere at corner, I have trepidations about ABC coming downtown. I shouldn't judge them since I only visited ABC once, but it seemed like a 20 somethings hang out, lots of kids from college, more of a place to hang out.
 
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SlimShafty said:
Oh man this is bad news, where in the heck am I going to play when I go to NY,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, since I only visited ABC once, but it seemed like a 20 somethings hang out, lots of kids from college, more of a place to hang out.
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new york downtown. soho is a half mile further down from corner. great space but their clientele is so off-putting, it makes playing there a hideous event. go during the day when said clientele are not yet playing(they play at night).

broadway billiards at 21ST in between broadway/5th. it's a dive, but the walk down the stairway is worse than it's bite. 24/7
 
bruin70 said:
new york downtown. soho is a half mile further down from corner. great space but their clientele is so off-putting, it makes playing there a hideous event. go during the day when said clientele are not yet playing(they play at night).

broadway billiards at 21ST in between broadway/5th. it's a dive, but the walk down the stairway is worse than it's bite. 24/7
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Thanks for the info, I never saw Soho billiards before, I thought I walked around just about all of those streets near there, I remember walking by a place a year or so ago in the village but it looked like it might cost gobs of money just to get in, I don't remember the name though, didn't look like many tables but it looked very upscale.

I don't know what your idea off-putting is, but maybe I will fit right in:D as long as it's not like Slate or ABC, I'll be happy. For some reason all the places I loved to play keep closing:-( or turning into clubs. If I want to go out a hang out with friends thats fine, but when I want to play pool, I just want to play pool, no hook ups or business meetings, no gangs of kiddies, no pinball machines, no bowling alleys, Just pool. Nothing else, and places like that are all gone or closing.

I'll be checking out Soho when I go, it's at least a very convenient location for me, and I would guess a lot of people who went to Corner will go there. I had no problem with the clientele at Corner, it seems like different world from ABC and the upper west side.
 
I went to soho this past weekend and it is night and day compared to what it was ten years ago. It is a dump now...stains on tables, plastic racks! C'mon plastic racks?????? Im a guy and I thought the bathroom was disgusting and you know we don't have to touch anything. I got the skeeved out having to turn the faucet on. For those of us in the city with no wheels not many convenient options out there. I guess I try Broadway this weekend.
 
bruin70 said:
new york downtown. soho is a half mile further down from corner. great space but their clientele is so off-putting, it makes playing there a hideous event. go during the day when said clientele are not yet playing(they play at night).

broadway billiards at 21ST in between broadway/5th. it's a dive, but the walk down the stairway is worse than it's bite. 24/7
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Soho is on Houston between Mulberry and Mott. I used to live in the 2nd floor apt right about the entrance to Soho billiards and there used to be all types of people hanging out there. The convenient location and high rent was no longer worth paying for...
 
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