How to Own a Poolhall?

cueball2010

cueball2010

AzB Gold Member
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I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday.
  • How many tables do you need to get started?
  • How much capital to get started?
  • What to know if you want to buy an existing Poolhall?
  • Do you need any special talents? (Like a car salesman)
There must be some Poolhall owners here. How sweet is your life?
 
cueball2010 said:
I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday.
  • How many tables do you need to get started?
  • How much capital to get started?
  • What to know if you want to buy an existing Poolhall?
  • Do you need any special talents? (Like a car salesman)
There must be some Poolhall owners here. How sweet is your life?
Click to expand...
Where are you located?
 
The op is a clueless dreamer. There is NO way i'd open one UNLESS: i owned the building. No fkn way i'd pay rent. If you own the building and the business sux you sill have some equity. Would also have to be more of a sportsbar with tables to make any $$. A true old-school 'hall really has little chance of surviving. Possible under certain circumstances but rare.
 
cueball2010 said:
I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday. ...
Click to expand...
An owner who plays all day is an owner who goes bankrupt.

The only person I know who got paid to play pool all the time was the manager of a small pool hall. He worked the evening/night shift, and he was usually playing on the front table. I was told that the owner of the place, which was mostly a restaurant near campus, kept the pool part open to irritate his wife. I think I saw the owner in the pool hall only a few times walking through to get something from a storeroom, and I was there a lot -- I lived next door.

You have no experience. Get some experience. Work as the desk man in a pool hall. Learn to maintain the tables and fix the cues. Learn to keep the place clean. Learn how to eliminate the customers who will cause problems. Learn how liquor licenses work, and how beverage distributors work. Learn how to cook hamburgers and the requirements for food service in your area. Learn how to use social media to advertise.

And when you are ready to open, you have to have enough money in the bank to stay open for six months assuming no income from the room.

I almost forgot. Pool halls have no inventory of table time. I've seen more than one guy on the desk who used his pocket instead of the cash register. One in particular worked in a 30-table room that had a custom computer system to keep track of table time. The desk guy, who didn't seem like the tech type, figured out the system and how to get around it. I think the owner eventually checked the receipts for the nights when there was a waiting list and they were more like 75% of full. That's a steep tax.
 
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cueball2010 said:
I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday.
  • How many tables do you need to get started?
  • How much capital to get started?
  • What to know if you want to buy an existing Poolhall?
  • Do you need any special talents? (Like a car salesman)
There must be some Poolhall owners here. How sweet is your life?
Click to expand...
Yeah it has it's up sides...but having owned a room from 2017-2023 I will mention the issues.

- Your pool playing friends will expect special consideration...in fact they may be the worst behaved of the pool playing regulars.

-Employees may love working at a pool hall because they can hit balls for hours and give free things to their buddies. Real hard to get reliable help who will work until 3am and not rob you blind.

-The general public sucks. No concept that Simonis cloth on a 9 foot is $450 installed. Billiard cloth...worse.
They will soil every table within the first 3 months. You will learn how to clean an entire table.
IV drugs in the bathroom.
Missing 8 and 9 balls.
Property destruction for no reason.

- I survived the covid shutdowns....flourished actually....but know government at all levels despises a pool hall.

-You aren't ever "off". Problem comes up,it is yours to solve. Better be mechanically inclined and good at drywall/painting.

-Pool players...especially retired ones are the cheapest form of life on earth. They want 1 hour or less special, even when there's already an 8 dollar play all day. ..Half orders of home cooked food for half price...and a glass of tap water.

Upsides
-It's a cash business and you sell time....do the math.
-Losing money in a pool hall is a fantastic thing if it offsets what your day job pays if you make good money.
-You play a part in promoting pool as it should be in your area, but you get an up close view of how pool goes nowhere, turns into something unrecognizable or just dies.

I worked full time days in my medical job and 4 nights a week....17 hour days for years. Not for anyone without the drive to get there.
 
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NatesPaints said:
I really want to start a pool hall as well... And a School For Pool! Sounds like a dream to me . I am in the mountains of Colorado, and we don't have anything around us like that at all.... Build it, they will come?
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There was a pool hall that opened a year or three ago -- maybe in the Carolinas? -- that was geared toward serious players. It had maybe eight tables. It closed within six months. I think they depended on memberships and were not prepared to make zero money for months and months after opening.

A more modest version of that is a small club with maybe three tables and members only. available 24/7. I've seen several of those work OK, usually in industrial areas to get the rent right.
 
cueball2010 said:
I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday.
  • How many tables do you need to get started?
  • How much capital to get started?
  • What to know if you want to buy an existing Poolhall?
  • Do you need any special talents? (Like a car salesman)
There must be some Poolhall owners here. How sweet is your life?
Click to expand...

You need at least 6 tables to get started, 12 is better.
3×-6× 8-foot tables compared to 9-foot tables.
8-foot tables for league, 9-foot tables for "high Rollers."

You need the capital to buy all the tables, furnish the building, have 2-years of operating expenses, and equip the building for pool aficionados, their drinking habits and food tastes.

You NEED TO BUY THE BUILDING--do not let a lease holder squeeze you to death--its is easy enough for *.gov to do that.

You need to be the:
front register operator,
the security team,
the face to the police,
the face to *.gov,
the cleaning crew,
the maintenance crew,
the league operator,
the accountant,
the financial planner,
the legal team,
the bar tender,
and cook.

Figure 12-16 hour days for at least 2 years, until your finances allow you to employ your first employee.
 
Have around 12 small bar boxes with big easy pockets. The tables should all be pearl white with pink cloth. Along one side have a salon with manicure stands, large mirrors and yoga classes.
It will be all women at first until the word gets out then guess who’s coming? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
 
cueball2010 said:
I've never owned a Poolhall. It seems like a dream...Getting paid and playing pool all day everyday.
  • How many tables do you need to get started?
  • How much capital to get started?
  • What to know if you want to buy an existing Poolhall?
  • Do you need any special talents? (Like a car salesman)
There must be some Poolhall owners here. How sweet is your life?
Click to expand...
I think Jay or Baby Huey could probably give the best information on this.
 
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