Sure, if he sold high priced coffee to subsidize the pool tables.
What about Dave & Buster's...what's going on with that entertainment chain?
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Is Pool Appropriately Priced to Flourish?
- Thread starter 336Robin
- Start date
Sure, if he sold high priced coffee to subsidize the pool tables.
What about Dave & Buster's...what's going on with that entertainment chain?
I would agree with your statement although I think that owners do things to discourage more business from the people they have when they decide to not offer a value to their better clients. Im sure that everyone has seen instances that didn't promote business.
If we were to agree that pool were fairly priced everywhere or even in most places then what is the problem?
Exactly what is the problem? I don't see a problem. Just go play pool if you want. No problem at all.
This has come to me in thought recently as well. has anyone ever thought of starting a billiard club, where all the table are in great shape, weekly / monthly Tourneys, and so forth, but charging a membership fee to be a member, as this would keep out some unwanted guests and many wouldnt want to pay for this fee or annual membership. Advertise as the best pool room in the area, best tables, etc...................... as I get more and more frustrated with the pool hall and bars I have a choice to play at........ Im almost to the point of buying my second Diamond Table for the house because of the atmosphere and poor equipment.
..pricing and fees and so forth would need to be determined in a business plan
Just a thought when I read this after a long freakin Monday
..pricing and fees and so forth would need to be determined in a business plan
Just a thought when I read this after a long freakin Monday
Here in the Valley of the Sun most of the places to play pool, are bars,v and sports bars. Think only Kolby's in Tempe by the University of Arizona is close to what a pool room of yester year was.
Back to the bars, and sports bars they in the business of selling alcohol, as the alcohol, and food sales is what pays the bills, not quarters in a bar box, or hourly rate.
If you visit most of these places, and then watch the Spike TV Show Bar Rescue you can relate real fast why these business are not making it.
IMHO most of the owners are clueless how to keep customers, or attract customers. Most IMHO could learn a lot from watching Bar Rescue and correcting some of the problems the bar rescue expert identifies in the show. Simple stuff like a clean environment, and clean rest rooms is a place to start.
Several months ago I went by this fairly big sport bar with let's say over 20 tables, my reason for stoping was to pick up the local pool newspaper. First thing that hit me was the stench smell of old grease coming I assume from in the kitchen. Next I noticed the floors were filthy, and it was like 11 am so the place just opened, and apparently the owner don't care about the smell or appearance.
Got my paper, went back to the car saying to my self this is why I no longer bother to go to these places to play pool, or do tournments.
Most Bars with Bar Boxes charge 50 Cents a game, some are Free Pool with drink purchase opening until 4 PM, Big Table places like the Metro is like 7 bucks a day before 4 or 5 PM.
Back to the bars, and sports bars they in the business of selling alcohol, as the alcohol, and food sales is what pays the bills, not quarters in a bar box, or hourly rate.
If you visit most of these places, and then watch the Spike TV Show Bar Rescue you can relate real fast why these business are not making it.
IMHO most of the owners are clueless how to keep customers, or attract customers. Most IMHO could learn a lot from watching Bar Rescue and correcting some of the problems the bar rescue expert identifies in the show. Simple stuff like a clean environment, and clean rest rooms is a place to start.
Several months ago I went by this fairly big sport bar with let's say over 20 tables, my reason for stoping was to pick up the local pool newspaper. First thing that hit me was the stench smell of old grease coming I assume from in the kitchen. Next I noticed the floors were filthy, and it was like 11 am so the place just opened, and apparently the owner don't care about the smell or appearance.
Got my paper, went back to the car saying to my self this is why I no longer bother to go to these places to play pool, or do tournments.
Most Bars with Bar Boxes charge 50 Cents a game, some are Free Pool with drink purchase opening until 4 PM, Big Table places like the Metro is like 7 bucks a day before 4 or 5 PM.
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That would work just fine. Just get 100 people to pay $3,000 per year to join and you're all set. Then the next year find 50 more to replace the 50 that quit...and so on.
Good luck
I pay $65/month for unlimited play. The normal rate is $8/hour. I recently played for the day out of town, and spent over $50 on table time just that day.
The very casual players who might play for an hour or two are fine. The very serious players who buy a membership, or have their own table are fine. It's the people in the middle who are screwed.
The very casual players who might play for an hour or two are fine. The very serious players who buy a membership, or have their own table are fine. It's the people in the middle who are screwed.
A movie for you and a date is $18 avg these days... Most movies are around 2 hours... sooooo 4.50 an hour per person.... Forget the sodas and popcorn because you have food and beverages at the pool hall as well.... If you are above 4.50 an hour for table time you are overpriced.... Pool is entertainment... Granted some areas have higher ticket prices than others....
How much is a game of bowling where you are... 2 players 1 game takes half an hour...... 2.50 per player a game on non peak means $5 an hour non peak.... Thing is there is usually no peak they just based specials off the peak rate every day and every night....
If you are priced higher or the same there is no entertainment value... Especially when you factor in the special effects from the movies vs the stark reality of sucking at the pool hall...
How much is a game of bowling where you are... 2 players 1 game takes half an hour...... 2.50 per player a game on non peak means $5 an hour non peak.... Thing is there is usually no peak they just based specials off the peak rate every day and every night....
If you are priced higher or the same there is no entertainment value... Especially when you factor in the special effects from the movies vs the stark reality of sucking at the pool hall...
The issue is that most people just don't want to play pool. Or at least do not want to go play pool in certain places. I know of a couple of nice pool halls that do a pretty good business, and others that are mostly empty. And almost all are mostly empty during the days and even weekends before 9-10 pm. Not matter how good the room is.
There was a place that was all ages, had pretty good 9' tables and offered all day and all night specials where you could play for $12 all night even on a weekend from 6-closing time and $6 form open till 6. They still did not have much business in either case and closed down a few years ago.
The manager said pretty much soon as the indoor smoking ban hit, he lost like 80% of his business. They went from having waiting lists almost every night to having 6-12 people there on a weekend. Same thing I saw happen with every pool hall arond me that closed, almost all were all ages, no bar, soon as no smoking indoors law passed, they all dropped one after the other withing a few years.
Our room here has really fallen off with keeping up our tables, customer service, specials(pretty much none) for our in-house league. We have one practice table for free and only pay $1 more on top of our match dues each night. That's $7 on Monday and Wednesday for me so total pool cost is only $14 for those days...Friday night at this same place is $5 per hour for the table for league guys and gals if they want to come out...which we do and have for many years. Up until two years ago I hadn't paid for pool for nearly 10 years or more. So all in all not bad....What do I spend per week in pool, food, and beer? Well that's a different animal...Total probably $70 or more....But I'm not going to avoid having dinner or beers..that's my choice of course...But it doesn't have to be extremely costly to play the game in our hall....
IMHO owner do not understand.
It is easier to keep an old customer, than attract a new one.
Also places like Bars, Sport Bars, and Pool Rooms need updating, to be clean, have clean rest rooms, be free from disgusting odors. Would be nice if the table were brushed once in a while, and balls cleaned.
Last do thing to attract women customers, and single women. Like teach the bar staff to do chick drinks. Free Pool for ladies during slow times. As men will follow.
Last it also it cost nothing to say thank you to a customers for coming, when you see them leaving, hope we see your real soon again, and not take the people paying the bill for granted.
Well, for starters, the comment abut pool halls being bars with pool tables is way, way off the mark. There are pool rooms and there are bars with pool tables, true, but the two are way different, in my experience. Location and owner attitude are two of the biggest problems, in my opinion. Location has a lot to do with how much we are charged because of how much the room is being charged for rent just to be there. I've never heard of leasing tables before, most places I went the tables were owned by the establishment. I've had the experience of knowing a guy who was real enthusiastic about opening a pool room, even referred to it as "upscale" before it opened. Nothing could have been further from the truth and what it ended up being was, a bar with pool tables. The owner had very, very little knowledge of the game other than his apa experience and though myself and others tried hard to educate him, he chose to ignore our suggestions and experience. Not much was done to physically change the place from the red-neck bar that the property was before it came to him, used, low quality tables with the original, well worn cloth put back on the tables, tables not installed properly, either. He catered to the people he knew about, mostly league players, and they were not nearly enough to sustain the place. The serious players came, didn't like what they saw, and left. In my experience, and I know it may be different from a lot here, you can not depend on just the league players, who tend to come in once or twice a week. In all honesty, the players' attitude could have something to do with it all, also, if they tend to come in and sit around and talk, not buying anything, even food, and not hitting the table until they make a game they can't lose
Awful lot of things involved in a successful pool room, especially in these economic times.
Awful lot of things involved in a successful pool room, especially in these economic times.
Customer Recruitment
It seems to me that the problem is Customer Recruitment and from what I see most room owners have no clue as to what to do.
I hear of some advertising initiatives but they either dont follow through or they go about it with only bar customers in mind and dont get them.
Pool =Bait
How hard is it to invite some people: Seniors, Millenials, People from the Office at a Corporation, Civic Groups etc. in to play pool.....of course for free at least once and let them have a good time.
The tables are paid for and sitting there. As a previous poster suggested, the money is coming in via the alcohol, so really if you dont use the tables to draw people what amount of the money is actually coming off of the tables? Probably it would pale in comparison to the alcohol but that doesnt mean the tables have no worth.
They are Bait for making customers.
You might get a few customers, you might not but at least you exposed people to pool and they will end up coming back for a drink at some point.
It seems to me that the problem is Customer Recruitment and from what I see most room owners have no clue as to what to do.
I hear of some advertising initiatives but they either dont follow through or they go about it with only bar customers in mind and dont get them.
Pool =Bait
How hard is it to invite some people: Seniors, Millenials, People from the Office at a Corporation, Civic Groups etc. in to play pool.....of course for free at least once and let them have a good time.
The tables are paid for and sitting there. As a previous poster suggested, the money is coming in via the alcohol, so really if you dont use the tables to draw people what amount of the money is actually coming off of the tables? Probably it would pale in comparison to the alcohol but that doesnt mean the tables have no worth.
They are Bait for making customers.
You might get a few customers, you might not but at least you exposed people to pool and they will end up coming back for a drink at some point.
Banks
Banned
You said something more than a sentence that I agree with? What's this world coming to?
And then there are pool bars. I went to the bar last night and couldn't get a table for at least a couple of hours. Had a few league players turn away because the four tables were all full - 3 rented and one had a birthday crowd. I guess I'm going to need more tables if I want to continue playing.
I agree. I have to add that it didn't used to be that way. Our home bar which yes, is a huge bar with a pool room, not a straight up pool hall...used to be immaculate including the tables, balls, house cues, etc. Very sadly, one of the owners passed away some years ago. He happened to be the owner that cared about taking care of the regulars and those who took care of the bar. The staff was fabulous, the service, food, everything. Once he passed away the other owner just hasn't cared if we are there or not and in fact, we believe he could care less if we are there or not. No drink specials, no league specials on food, no more free practice table(which isn't common anyway) ...the staff is always on their cell phones save a few pretty hard working individuals...turn over there is regular and it didn't used to be...we never know who's going to be working in the pool room...we used to have a bar tender who kicked A@@ and knew us all, what we drank, ate, never let us run dry...and that was one girl for around 80 of us at the time...10 teams, 8 people each...Now, people have left, joined other leagues, went to other bars, and are generally down on the place...which I don't blame them for. I think the owner does understand and just doesn;t care..he owns 3 other restaurants and is partner in another....the bar we play in is no longer a priority...which is a shame.
OK, I read the whole thread to this point. A couple of points:
A) why is the building leased or rented? It seems to me that the cost structural advantage of an owned building would be significantly better than a leased/rented building if (and only if) the owner was in it for the long haul. In fact the two local pool halls that closed around here recently were due to a 50% increase in the rent; going from well oiled establishments with plenty of customers to dead and buried in 2 weeks.
B) keeping old customers is way (Way, WAY) better than attempting to attract new customers (any business anytime.)
C) Early in the thread one speculated that a customer had a bill of $400 per month. At $400 per month paying for pool time, that customer could own his own <lower end, Craig s-list> table in less than 1/2 a year; so for those than can afford to spend that kind of money, they probably won't be doing it for long because it makes economic sense to own rather than buy. See A above.
D) so the thing that binds this all together is an owner in it for the long haul keeping his customers coming back. That is, owning a pool haul is a survival (low profit) business not a money making (hand over fist) business.
A) why is the building leased or rented? It seems to me that the cost structural advantage of an owned building would be significantly better than a leased/rented building if (and only if) the owner was in it for the long haul. In fact the two local pool halls that closed around here recently were due to a 50% increase in the rent; going from well oiled establishments with plenty of customers to dead and buried in 2 weeks.
B) keeping old customers is way (Way, WAY) better than attempting to attract new customers (any business anytime.)
C) Early in the thread one speculated that a customer had a bill of $400 per month. At $400 per month paying for pool time, that customer could own his own <lower end, Craig s-list> table in less than 1/2 a year; so for those than can afford to spend that kind of money, they probably won't be doing it for long because it makes economic sense to own rather than buy. See A above.
D) so the thing that binds this all together is an owner in it for the long haul keeping his customers coming back. That is, owning a pool haul is a survival (low profit) business not a money making (hand over fist) business.
House of Billiards in Santa Monica
Me a student in LA, CA
House of Billiards is the only *Real pool hall around the area..
What's sad is I love the game and would like to play as much as possible, but the price wouldn't allow me, they're probably considered a well maintained but more expensive pool hall in the big Los Angeles area.
Sadly they don't offer any regular special or membership thing, if it's like golden cue that has this membership you could play as much as you want for a fixed price or at least half price it'd be great. (I wouldn't consider the league discount counts, because they require you to play after 7pm, which is double the price before 7pm and gives you 50%off.. which just makes no difference...)
I mean it never hurts when the hall's almost empty before afternoon 3p.m. you'd rather have someone comes in right
Better to have some customers than none, better to earn some than none, I mean there's already a group of players in school's club who'd love to play more often, but just feels too pricey. who knows it might even draw more young players like us to the place right
Hope if someone knows the management or the owner could let them know about this idea, let them consider it or maybe even convince them to do it:grin-square:
Oh and maybe have a regular tournament too:thumbup:
Me a student in LA, CA
House of Billiards is the only *Real pool hall around the area..
What's sad is I love the game and would like to play as much as possible, but the price wouldn't allow me, they're probably considered a well maintained but more expensive pool hall in the big Los Angeles area.
Sadly they don't offer any regular special or membership thing, if it's like golden cue that has this membership you could play as much as you want for a fixed price or at least half price it'd be great. (I wouldn't consider the league discount counts, because they require you to play after 7pm, which is double the price before 7pm and gives you 50%off.. which just makes no difference...)
I mean it never hurts when the hall's almost empty before afternoon 3p.m. you'd rather have someone comes in right
Better to have some customers than none, better to earn some than none, I mean there's already a group of players in school's club who'd love to play more often, but just feels too pricey. who knows it might even draw more young players like us to the place right
Hope if someone knows the management or the owner could let them know about this idea, let them consider it or maybe even convince them to do it:grin-square:
Oh and maybe have a regular tournament too:thumbup:
Every place in my area is giving free playing time. Just to keep drinkers in the house. Every room that doesn't sell enough at the bar has to close or take out pool tables. Dealing with that issue right now. Found out last nite that out room is selling all of their tables but one that will only be available for vip parties. It is the 3rd room out in the last year. I've said for years that free table time will ruin pool. The room has to make money and pool attracts personalities that try to skirt the system.
As far as me, I would be willing to spend 20 to 25 a nite between eating, drinking (excluding alcohol), and table time.
As far as me, I would be willing to spend 20 to 25 a nite between eating, drinking (excluding alcohol), and table time.
i have a few ideas for a pool room, but ill just say this one. i was talking to my buddy from taiwan and he said many of the pool halls there are not really pool halls, they are more internet cafes with pool tables. now confined space in that country may be the reason behind this.
although i think that if i were to open a pool hall and had a lot of space, id probably want to put a good balance between pool and other activities such as ping pong tables, air hockey, foozball, shuffle boards,and some arcade games or an xbox. i think many bangers get bored with pool after about an hour of shooting and want to leave, although i think if they have had a few drinks its good to have other options at th pool hall.
really im talking more along the lines of an adult game room.
although i think that if i were to open a pool hall and had a lot of space, id probably want to put a good balance between pool and other activities such as ping pong tables, air hockey, foozball, shuffle boards,and some arcade games or an xbox. i think many bangers get bored with pool after about an hour of shooting and want to leave, although i think if they have had a few drinks its good to have other options at th pool hall.
really im talking more along the lines of an adult game room.