Financing within the pool industry ??

cueaddicts

cueaddicts

AzB Gold Member
Silver Member
I don't know that I've seen this topic discussed and it has me very curious. This question is really directed at the movers and shakers within the industry. [Room owners, tournament organizers, league operators, equipment makers/suppliers, etc.]

You hear all the time now how the banks aren't loaning any money...and it's hard for businesses of all sizes to get access to funding in these times for growth/expansion.

Are banks loaning money for pool/billiard related endeavors? With seemingly so much retraction going on lately....is anyone expanding or looking to expand? Basically, is financing problematic for this industry?

You can PM me if you wish to not respond here in this thread.

Thanks!
 
I own my own pool hall Everything in the building was mine. I had been open for 5 years I was definitely a successful. I had an opportunity to buy a building with a bowling alley in it. no lady just wanted out of the bowling alley. I went to the bank Told them my situation. all my savings was tied up in the business. my c.redit is excellent. They looked at me like I was crazy. That's when I lost all hope. This deal for me Was 1 of those lifetime opportunities gone..
 
That's a very good question, cueaddicts.
When Steamer Cue Sports Ltd. wanted to expand their cue tip line, to include the new FourSkin tips, I went to my bank to arrange financing.
When I asked if they were interested in investing in FourSkins I was promptly arrested and my car was impounded.
Maybe others here have had similar experiences. :)
 
Sean,

Banks don't like to finance anything that can be easily liquidated behind their backs without their knowledge, but it can be done. Doing what you and I are doing, you know what I mean. Anyway, I have a big Line of Credit with my local bank for several years now that I never touch. It was A LOT of paperworks and very tough to convince them.

Good luck and keep trying. It's not impossible.
 
Given the track record of the pool industry, I don't think any bank is going to make a loan unless they have an on-going excellent relationship with the business. Bankers are under a microscope right now and the last question a bank president wants to answer is "You made a loan to a pool hall? One you've never done business with? Are you crazy?"

Don't believe what you read about the government encouraging banks to make loans. The other arm of the government (bank regulators) are saying "don't make any loan that you're not 100% sure will be repaid."
 
Great discussion points, guys. Thank you.

I'm not looking for funding right now myself. I'm just curious....what problems people in our industry might be running up against and how difficult securing business capital has been in this challenging market.

We all know banks are not much in the position to do what they historically do. Either they can't or they just don't because their biz has been fundamentally changed with regulations. What about private equity channels...i.e. not traditional banks? Anybody had any success with those?

Would people in the industry be able to grow their biz if they had better/more access to funding solutions?
 
Michael-Hoang said:
Sean,

Banks don't like to finance anything that can be easily liquidated behind their backs without their knowledge, but it can be done. Doing what you and I are doing, you know what I mean. Anyway, I have a big Line of Credit with my local bank for several years now that I never touch. It was A LOT of paperworks and very tough to convince them.

Good luck and keep trying. It's not impossible.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The easiest time to get a line of credit is when you don't need it. The hardest time is when you do need it.
 
cueaddicts said:
Great discussion points, guys. Thank you.

I'm not looking for funding right now myself. I'm just curious....what problems people in our industry might be running up against and how difficult securing business capital has been in this challenging market.

We all know banks are not much in the position to do what they historically do. Either they can't or they just don't because their biz has been fundamentally changed with regulations. What about private equity channels...i.e. not traditional banks? Anybody had any success with those?

Would people in the industry be able to grow their biz if they had better/more access to funding solutions?
Click to expand...

The very basic problem with "pool" in general is the lack of participation, and I even dare to say the big decline of participation. It's really simple: no players = no buyers = no business. In our industry (selling cues), it's even worse. We have a whole lot more of supplies with a whole lot less demands now versus 8-9 years ago - a lot more new cuemakers/manufacturers producing new products with less players to potentially buy. So our market is way over saturated.

It's all about the numbers. I don't care what industry it is, whether it's banking, casinos, investing, everyone makes their decision mainly based on numbers. Show their underwriters the numbers that they can verify, and they will make their decisions accordingly.

But until we solve the basic problem above, it's not going to do us any good. For example, if you have a hundred million credit line available to buy and sell (since you are in this buying/selling industry, I am speculating that this is what you are talking about), will there be enough buyers to give you a decent returns for your money, after all expenses? The answer is probably not.

To summarize all the nonsense that I have been saying, solve the basic problem with pool and the money will come.
 
classiccues said:
Only if they could buy brains and liquor licenses. :p

JV
Click to expand...

Not sure which liquor license you mean, but I wouldn't recommend Off-Premise liquor license. It's not worth it, for me.

The margin is way, WAY bigger in the on-site consumption such as night clubs, bars. I would do that.
 
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