Yes...Flushing is in Queens.
Fargo Billiards is closing?
- Thread starter AF pool guy
- Start date
a well run business that is down for a year that has been going successfully for a few or more years should be able to weather the bad period without going broke and closing down. there usually is other reasons for closing as well. perhaps one off those made the decision for them.
or perhaps just because some think it was well run and making a good profit it wasnt.
or perhaps just because some think it was well run and making a good profit it wasnt.
Then you weren't paying attention. Others did predict that very thing, and they spent billions of dollars preparing. After several near misses, we got covid.
Here's another prediction: there will be another, even more deadly pandemic, in your lifetime.
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I see the maggots didn’t take too long to land on the corpse of Fargo Billiards.
From all reports, Fargo Billiards was the finest pool room in America. Great ambiance, great food, great beer, great pool, and great people. Tournaments, leagues, and lessons and it was all a passion of love by long standing, and highly regraded AZ member, Mike Page.
As I recall, Mike used to travel a fair bit. And at every stop he’d visit local rooms and note the bestest features and qualities of each room. And finally, in a retirement of sorts, he took on creating his perfect pool room.
So now, the Harvard MBAs wax poetic about the failure of the business with scant knowledge of the particulars and zero knowledge of the people involved. But that is as it is on AZ.
For Mike, his wife Adele, and the staff at the late, great Fargo Billiards I offer my heartfelt condolence upon your closure. It was always my dream to eventually make it out your way and bask in what was certainly pool heaven on Earth.
Lou Figueroa
From all reports, Fargo Billiards was the finest pool room in America. Great ambiance, great food, great beer, great pool, and great people. Tournaments, leagues, and lessons and it was all a passion of love by long standing, and highly regraded AZ member, Mike Page.
As I recall, Mike used to travel a fair bit. And at every stop he’d visit local rooms and note the bestest features and qualities of each room. And finally, in a retirement of sorts, he took on creating his perfect pool room.
So now, the Harvard MBAs wax poetic about the failure of the business with scant knowledge of the particulars and zero knowledge of the people involved. But that is as it is on AZ.
For Mike, his wife Adele, and the staff at the late, great Fargo Billiards I offer my heartfelt condolence upon your closure. It was always my dream to eventually make it out your way and bask in what was certainly pool heaven on Earth.
Lou Figueroa
It's always said when a pool hall closes.
For better or worse, Yelp matters and Fargo's Yelp rating was pretty bad: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fargo-billiards-and-gastropub-fargo
For better or worse, Yelp matters and Fargo's Yelp rating was pretty bad: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fargo-billiards-and-gastropub-fargo
jrmuckadoo
Registered
This could not have been said any better!
Fargo Billiards was the premier poolroom in the country.
I've started and owned a poolroom, played competitively and traveled the country playing in many poolrooms.
Mike Page is a Godfather.
Tinman and I would Pilgrimage to Fargo Billards (4 hrs from the Twin Cities) and bootcamp up for several days almost yearly.
The last time we went out, Mike set us up in a private room and took care of us for the weekend♡ It was one of the classiest moves I've experienced in pool.
Mike Page had a vision and it was an awesome room!
When you look at what he created with Fargo Billiards and followed up with Fargo Rate, I'd put him on my Mount Rushmore of pool promoters/influencers.
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
I think I read 23K sq. ft. Any ideas what the heat and air is a month? I know zero about it, but it had to be a huge nut. The question in my mind is what happens to the building. I've said this before, a few times, during the Great Depression there was a headline "Pool Hall Burns, 5000 Men Homeless" -- while funny, this is no joke. We, and everyone else, are losing very important pieces of our lives.
PoodlePuncher
Registered
Fargo (town) never shut down for Covid.
I was up there in August for a funeral, and all the bars and restaurants near West Acres were packed.
it was awesome.
That being said, from what i've seen over the years, Fargo is a fickle place, and location is key.
if you're too far from the popular destinations, you'd better have a dedicated local following.
--Edit--
Looking at the map, i was staying right down the street from that place, and didn't even know it existed.
my brother in law shoots pool, and never even mentioned it...
Thats not good.
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Anyone who relies on Yelp for information other than the address and phone number is ignorant and confused. That doesn't mean Yelp doesn't matter, of course. There has been a court ruling that Yelp is entitled to demand payment from businesses in order for good reviews to be posted and bad reviews suppressed. The judge said it was just "hard ball" and quite legal.
Maybe Mike didn't play ball.
I see the same type of stuff scrolling down the google reviews :
This is sad news. Is Mike still on here?
Terrible reviews here. Most of them about poor customer service. I've owned and operated four successful rooms over the years and customer service always came first! I told each new employee that no customer should wait more than a minute or two to be served when they come to the bar or the counter. If you are busy then let the customer know you will be right with them. If you fail to do this you won't be working here very long. This was rule #1 for all my employees! The fact that this was mentioned over and over again in the Yelp reviews is very telling to me. No one likes to be ignored! You can have all the amenities in the world but if you fail to take care of your customers they won't come back, or just leave instead.
In my second book I have a primer on how to open a successful poolroom/sports bar and I believe the advice given in there will still work today. After this pandemic is over, there will be a lot of vacant space out there. In fact there already is. It will be a prime opportunity to rent or buy space at discount prices, and people will be looking for places to go after being cooped up for so long. For those existing businesses there should be a rent abatement in place while they are closed. If you aren't paying rent and have no employees to pay there is no reason why you should go out of business. That's my take on things right now.
For me personally, I don't know if I'm ready to open another place at my age. It's a seven day a week job after all. Financially I'm fairly well set and i don't need the extra income. But I can't help thinking about it when I see the perfect place sitting vacant in my neighborhood. Nice open building, plenty of parking and in a high profile location. I kind of like the idea of opening a small private room with maybe eight tables, only open at night (maybe open at 6 PM) and stay open until 2 AM or later. The customers would have to be members to get in and there would be a small initiation fee to join. Limited menu (finger food like pizza, burgers and chicken wings), beer and wine only (cheap license and easy to control) and only a few employees. I would have the best equipment and a very comfortable atmosphere to play in. It would not be cheap to play here, maybe $20/hour per table. But that's not that expensive a night out for two guys with good jobs. Maybe with food and drinks they will spent forty bucks each. My instincts have always been good in business and I'm sure I could make it work and turn a profit. It would be more of a hobby then a business, but it would have to make money. If I could pull a grand profit a week that would be fine. More of a little side business to have fun in. I might even start to play a little again.
Interesting, out here in Cali we've been shut down for the most part. Restaurants have to seat folks outside on patios.
One of the big problems is, cities like LA hate to give out pool room permits. Hollywood Billiards had all the permits, hard liquor, pool, 24 hour operation and entertainment. No pool room in the city had all those permits. To your point Covid has put a big hole in commercial retail and there maybe a window to obtain beneficial lease rates.Terrible reviews here. Most of them about poor customer service. I've owned and operated four successful rooms over the years and customer service always came first! I told each new employee that no customer should wait more than a minute or two to be served when they come to the bar or the counter. If you are busy then let the customer know you will be right with them. If you fail to do this you won't be working here very long. This was rule #1 for all my employees! The fact that this was mentioned over and over again in the Yelp reviews is very telling to me. No one likes to be ignored! You can have all the amenities in the world but if you fail to take care of your customers they won't come back, or just leave instead.
In my second book I have a primer on how to open a successful poolroom/sports bar and I believe the advice given in there will still work today. After this pandemic is over, there will be a lot of vacant space out there. In fact there already is. It will be a prime opportunity to rent or buy space at discount prices, and people will be looking for places to go after being cooped up for so long. For those existing businesses there should be a rent abatement in place while they are closed. If you aren't paying rent and have no employees to pay there is no reason why you should go out of business. That's my take on things right now.
For me personally, I don't know if I'm ready to open another place at my age. It's a seven day a week job after all. Financially I'm fairly well set and i don't need the extra income. But I can't help thinking about it when I see the perfect place sitting vacant in my neighborhood. Nice open building, plenty of parking and in a high profile location. I kind of like the idea of opening a small private room with maybe eight tables, only open at night (maybe open at 6 PM) and stay open until 2 AM or later. The customers would have to be members to get in and there would be a small initiation fee to join. Limited menu (finger food like pizza, burgers and chicken wings), beer and wine only (cheap license and easy to control) and only a few employees. I would have the best equipment and a very comfortable atmosphere to play in. It would not be cheap to play here, maybe $20/hour per table. But that's not that expensive a night out for two guys with good jobs. Maybe with food and drinks they will spent forty bucks each. My instincts have always been good in business and I'm sure I could make it work and turn a profit. It would be more of a hobby then a business, but it would have to make money. If I could pull a grand profit a week that would be fine. More of a little side business to have fun in. I might even start to play a little again.
At one time I was thinking of buying a room but after negotiating with a couple of owners, I couldn't make any sense out it. Two of the rooms I was interested in, they wouldn't certify the income.
The pool palaces, Hollywood Athletic Club and Hollywood Billiards are long gone. We never knew how good we had it.
Not sure that is a great indicator. Saskatoon is now about that same "metro" population of 250K. 30ish years ago when the Snooker Shack was first acquired by Al we would have been 1/2 that. Note that the Shack was operating for many years before Al bought it, not sure how many but I played there in the late 1980s.
30+ (40+?) years in a small city and going strong.
Dave <-- sorry to hear about Fargo Billiards
I'm stickin' by my take. Very few places, at least in the US, can/will/do support a place the size of FargoBilliards. I'm talking places way bigger than Fargo, ND. Still surprised they lasted this long. BTW, that SnoookerShack looks really nice. Doubt i ever go there but would for sure if nearby.
Small market's are a tough go, that's for sure. And the Shack is a special place. I got the impression that Fargo Billiards was also a special place, I am sorry to hear of it's troubles.
Dave