I'm seeing free tables every week here. Average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $2800 a month. People are literally throwing them out to make room for tenants, basically. usually the cues and lights and accessories go with the table, some may resell their prized cues. Antiques also fall out of fashion, the younger generation just aren't spending on them, most of the antique stores went out of business.
Many are clearing out stuff from boomer aged parents going into retirement and downsizing. Years back it was really common to have rec rooms in basements, dining areas for guests. People used to have basement workshops and now they cant' fix anything even if they wanted to. Throw away society. now there are incentives to create suites due to what they call a rental shortage. Much is due to an imbalance of immigration and the crown not releasing any land to the public. Canada actually owns a lot of land. land prices went wild as a result to the point where people don't dream about buying a house, 2 million is out of range so they they hope to one day buy their very own pigeon coop apartment.
not very many pool halls as the rent is so expensive, hard to profit. the younger generation are stuck into social media traps which become addictive and they waste their spare time that way. Older generations did a lot more with their hands, gardening, car repairs, they usually owned a tablesaw. many learned as kids on home tables. now the basement is a mortgage helper suite so they got rid of the family table.
Of course there are always a few that want a nice new cue and appreciate the workmanship of an artisan but it's a market that did shrink. the small town hall I grew up in and around was full of gold crowns, two snooker tables, all gone now, only thing left is a couple bars that have coin op tables. Sad to see beautiful old snooker tables going to the dump, I don't think they will come back in great numbers. of course there are still serious players, just not so many entering the sport.
