If I had the money and equipment to open a room...

jdxprs

jdxprs

Banned
I would take the game of pool into the 21st century. If you build it, they will come! But you can't build a football stadium for baseball players.

Give people what they want in this day and age!

I would like to set up a room where every table had a computer with a webcam and internet connection attached to it. The webcams would record on a 1 hour loop onto the computers hard drive. If someone made a great shot, they could rewind and watch it on the monitor. If they wanted to share their game of pool, or great shot with friends and family, they could log on and upload it to Facebook.

On the non-pool side, I would offer reasonably priced food and non-alcoholic drinks. The business would be BYOB (charging a cover charge of course) so that I could get the more adult crowds for leagues and stuff on week nights and tournaments on weekend nights.

I would have an area with 6 to 10 50" LCD t.v.'s hooked up to satellite TV and xbox 360 and playstation 3. On Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, I would have video game tournaments with games like Madden Football and Call of duty, to bring in younger kids and family members.

I would advertise through all local high school newspapers, local internet websites, and of course the new best way to get the word out, social networks. Another great advertising move is to have the local Mcdonalds give away coupons for 1 free hour of table time with any purchase.

For pool table time, I would charge $10 an hour regardless of the number of players. The room would have 15-20 tables. I would also offer monthly memberships for $150 for frequent customers so that they don't have to pay for their hourly play.

For the x-box and playstations, I would charge $10 an hour plus a $20 deposit in case games or the game paddles are damaged.

Anyone want to bankroll me? LOL.

This is my dream. Maybe some room owner out there might think some of these ideas are good and take a shot on them. Good luck.
 
New room

jdxprs said:
i guess nobody liked my idea.
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That's not true. I liked it, I just didn't like that I liked it. That is, put your room idea on one side of the street and Ames Billiards (just pool, mister) on the other side and your place is going to be the winner. It's the world we live in- but I don't have to like it:)
 
you do understand that the point of the video games is two fold right?

first, it makes immeadiate money. secondly, it gets young kids into the house. every kid that is at my house, and there are a LOT because of my children, wants to play pool on my table. and we HAVE TONS of video games.
 
Rooms

jdxprs said:
you do understand that the point of the video games is two fold right?

first, it makes immeadiate money. secondly, it gets young kids into the house. every kid that is at my house, and there are a LOT because of my children, wants to play pool on my table. and we HAVE TONS of video games.
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I get it. That's probably what rooms of the future will look like-at least the immediate future. Pool rooms have generally relied on something else to help pay the bills whether it be bowling, a bar, or video games. More and more the focus is shifting to the 'something else' and away from pool, though. Times change and, like you said, 'you've got to give them what they want'. It wasn't that long ago that what they wanted was pool. Good luck with your ideas. The webcam idea sounds kind of cool. Sang Lee had one years ago in his billiard room. Maybe I'll try just one and see how it goes. Small steps.:p
 
jdxprs said:
i guess nobody liked my idea.
Click to expand...


You idea is idealistic, and if you had money to burn, you idea would work. But than I will assume you want to make a living off this venture? Get a return on your investmet. So being perfectly honest I would say forget it.

I was a freelance photographer for 20 years. The most common thing I heard was "COULD I GET A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK", and may reply was yes, and it will cost "X", and I need Payment up front.

When they asked for COULD I GE A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK, if meant in most cases for FREE. Few ever came up with the money for the photo, and most were pissed off I expected payment for my work.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
You idea is idealistic, and if you had money to burn, you idea would work. But than I will assume you want to make a living off this venture? Get a return on your investmet. So being perfectly honest I would say forget it.

I was a freelance photographer for 20 years. The most common thing I heard was "COULD I GET A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK", and may reply was yes, and it will cost "X", and I need Payment up front.

When they asked for COULD I GE A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK, if meant in most cases for FREE. Few ever came up with the money for the photo, and most were pissed off I expected payment for my work.
Click to expand...

i believe the ideas i have would work, and i'd be able to make a living off of it, however, with two young kids to feed, i don't have the balls to walk away from my 6 figure income job.
 
Ideas

jdxprs said:
i believe the ideas i have would work, and i'd be able to make a living off of it, however, with two young kids to feed, i don't have the balls to walk away from my 6 figure income job.
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It's not really about 'balls', IMO, it's more about recognizing your responsibilities and having the character to not take risks when others depend on you. I 'went all in' 20 years ago to own a pool room when I didn't need to feed anyone but myself. If I'd had your responsibilities, I wouldn't have done it, and I still wouldn't today.
 
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CocoboloCowboy said:
You idea is idealistic, and if you had money to burn, you idea would work. But than I will assume you want to make a living off this venture? Get a return on your investmet. So being perfectly honest I would say forget it.

I was a freelance photographer for 20 years. The most common thing I heard was "COULD I GET A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK", and may reply was yes, and it will cost "X", and I need Payment up front.

When they asked for COULD I GE A COPY OF THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK, if meant in most cases for FREE. Few ever came up with the money for the photo, and most were pissed off I expected payment for my work.
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Ha-ha...I don't know how many times people that knew me said--"I'll take a copy of your book" and were stunned when I asked for money. Finally I told anyone that asked for a copy of my book that they could get it on Amazon....no sales.....

Anyway, I actually like most of his idea's for the pool room, though the pricing is not right for the pool tables. But I do like the idea of the computer loop taking video. I really think that would bring in some business.

And as far as "This is Ames Mr." goes....that idea is black-and-white in a 3D world.

Bob
 
Any Ideas are worth looking into :-)

Any Ideas are worth looking into :-) Thanks !

jdxprs said:
I would take the game of pool into the 21st century. If you build it, they will come! But you can't build a football stadium for baseball players.

Give people what they want in this day and age!

I would like to set up a room where every table had a computer with a webcam and internet connection attached to it. The webcams would record on a 1 hour loop onto the computers hard drive. If someone made a great shot, they could rewind and watch it on the monitor. If they wanted to share their game of pool, or great shot with friends and family, they could log on and upload it to Facebook.

On the non-pool side, I would offer reasonably priced food and non-alcoholic drinks. The business would be BYOB (charging a cover charge of course) so that I could get the more adult crowds for leagues and stuff on week nights and tournaments on weekend nights.

I would have an area with 6 to 10 50" LCD t.v.'s hooked up to satellite TV and xbox 360 and playstation 3. On Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, I would have video game tournaments with games like Madden Football and Call of duty, to bring in younger kids and family members.

I would advertise through all local high school newspapers, local internet websites, and of course the new best way to get the word out, social networks. Another great advertising move is to have the local Mcdonalds give away coupons for 1 free hour of table time with any purchase.

For pool table time, I would charge $10 an hour regardless of the number of players. The room would have 15-20 tables. I would also offer monthly memberships for $150 for frequent customers so that they don't have to pay for their hourly play.

For the x-box and playstations, I would charge $10 an hour plus a $20 deposit in case games or the game paddles are damaged.

Anyone want to bankroll me? LOL.

This is my dream. Maybe some room owner out there might think some of these ideas are good and take a shot on them. Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
I think it sounds pretty good, but you didn't mention anything about getting kids on the tables (besides the webcams). What about giving free lessons to kids, or partner with local businesses to host tournaments where the winners get stuff around town, free video games at the GameStop for example.
 
krupa said:
I think it sounds pretty good, but you didn't mention anything about getting kids on the tables (besides the webcams). What about giving free lessons to kids, or partner with local businesses to host tournaments where the winners get stuff around town, free video games at the GameStop for example.
Click to expand...

great ideas, but from what i've seen, you put kids near pool tables and they want to play. trust me, i have a ton of kids in and out of my house daily and they ALWAYS want to play.
 
jdxprs said:
great ideas, but from what i've seen, you put kids near pool tables and they want to play. trust me, i have a ton of kids in and out of my house daily and they ALWAYS want to play.
Click to expand...

True, but then your table is free.

If you're charging $10/hr (plus the $20 deposit) for video games and $10/hr for pool, the kids are going to have to make a decision how they spend their money. Actually... now that I type that out, the pool is more attractive since the kid needs $30 in his pocket to play video games for an hour versus $10 for pool for the same amount of time... GENIUS!
 
thommy said:
I'm guessing your six figure job doesn't involve dealing directly with the public on a daily basis:grin:
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lmao. no it doesnt. but i have in the past, and i know it can be frustrating. i have a gift for gab and can usually handle things pretty well though.
 
I like some of your ideas but I'm sorry to say the business model you described doesn't offer a high enough return on the investment required without liquor sales. Without a bar you are doomed for failure. BYOB and a cover...no way!!! A good pool hall with a bar will sell at least $60k beer, wine, liquor at about a 60% GM. The the great preforming bars do up wards to $150k and above. Assuming you want a minimum of (16) tables. Plus all of the electronics you are describing will cost you $250k minimum. Next question, are you buying or leasing the space? The land value really will make or break the deal. In downtown Houston for example land is selling for $25 to $100 / square. An acre is 43,560 squares times $25 per is a $1,000k minimum. To build a 7,000 Sqft space you are talking another $60 per square minimum equals about $500k. So far we are up to $2,000k and we haven't sold a single hour of pool yet.

So let's assume that you are leasing since you don't have the funds to buy an acre property and design and build the facility. Then you have TI to contend with. On a 7,000 Sqft space you can figure build out will cost $20 / square minimum but if you want the place looking nice and well furnished prolly more like $30 / square. So you are talking $175k to $210k TI. Now depending on how you structure the lease the landlord will either offer you free rent for your TI or they will amortize the TI cost out over the term of the lease. Since you are a start up business they will more than likely not want to take a risk on you. So TI will be your cost up front with rent discounts. But that's money out of your pocket now.

So to lease the space and build your dream will cost you about $500k.

So the real question you need to ask yourself is how much top line sales will you do each month to cover at what level of GM to cover overhead, interest and leave you enough money to survive on. And I'm here to tell you it will not work without liquor.
 
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I like most of your ideas, but the actuality of them is a bit more complicated. For example, charging people to play video games on your XBox will land you a lawsuit more expensive than your entire pool room. Private home use and commercial profit are two entirely different things, and the latter is quite expensive. Liquor licenses aren't cheap and usually you need at least one Bouncer to help keep the peace. Controlling underage drinking with BYOB is a nightmare.
The webcam idea is nice, but hard drive space, server space, and internet bandwidth will all limit the actual usefulness.
I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, and I realize that you don't actually intend to build this dream room - I'm just pointing out that great ideas are often too expensive or logistically impossible. If it were easy we'd all be doing it!
 
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