Not a pool room but a Billiards men's club.

Wright Shot

Wright Shot

Sugartree Madness
Silver Member
Because I love billiards and want it to thrive I often think of opening a pool room as well. We don't have any local rooms, only bars. Not one 8 or 9 footer in the whole city. People have tried and failed in the past. I picture something different. Something kind of like a Moose Lodge. Members only except for leagues and tournament events. Members have access to facility and tables 24/7. Could have small kitchen area. I would let members Bring their own alcohol except when we had special events. Could have smoking room and nonsmoking room. Probably have a couple card tables so members could get a good game (pass deal, never pot raking by house). Keypad on door so when members change we just email new code. I think I would call it Old School Billiards Club and that we would play a lot of straight pool and one pocket. Snooker and all other games would be encouraged. Lessons given. Cue repair guy. Whole nine yards.
Now I would love to hear what you guys think about this one.
 
treadmill

If you put a treadmill in a club, could you get away with members getting a portion of their "health club" dues reimbursed by their insurance?

I know, you say fraud, I say if there is a usable treadmill, you could be an independent health club that just happens to have pool tables.

Hmmmmm
 
If you were to open something like this I might become a new resident to your town.

How much would you charge for a membership? Monthly fees?
 
Would it be profit or non profit?
What would your monthly bills be?
How much would you charge members?
How about the initial start up costs?
Would you have enough tables to accommodate the influx of members?
Who would clean the place?
Would new members have to be sponsored and then be probationary?
Would you lock members in for a year or month to month?
 
Overhead

I wouldn't be looking to get rich but I would want it to maintain itself and be a nice place for real pool enthusiasts and the like to play on good equipment. I'm guessing about 4-5k sqr foot but 3k would probably be enough. Definitely going for quality people types over quantity. It's really hard to come up with a membership would be without knowing about how many members we would have. I'm thinking around 400 year or 50 a month. But that could be off.
 
Wright Shot said:
I didn't mean men only.
Click to expand...

Thank You for that correction :D

It is a great idea - you need to make sure you have enough serious players in your area to get started and support it. Definitely need to get some leagues going so you can pay the rent
 
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I love this idea! I have thought about it myself many times. Especially when I hear some old timer talking about the great billiards/social clubs of their day.

It always gets me excited to think about a place with not just great equipment but great atmospere. It would be nice if there were real players in the room not just a bunch of dumb kids who are gonna argue with me how it's only ball in hand when I'm not in the kitchen... Really?!

I always figured that in this day in age that this could only be financially viable if it was a part of a larger public hall/bar/restaurant.
Dang! I would love to have something like this in my neck of the woods. I would easily pay $100 a year to be a member in such a club.

Does anybody know of any Billiards Clubs/Social Clubs that are still in operation today???
 
100 a year? Don't you think it would be much more than that? Ask yourself how much do you spend a year at your local room?
 
The problem is the initial start up fee of buying the tables and correlates to the number of tables with number of members and fee for them in order to at least break even for monthly bills. This doesn't even include the money you spent on tables. Say your bills are 2000 a month. You have twenty members at 100 a month. There's your nut. However how do you satisfy your members with the amount of tables you have. You would need at least 10 tables to satisfy the demand. Even tho its a 24/7 club the majority of players are going to come at night and on weekends. No open tables leads to less members the following month which leads you to pulling money out of your pocket.
 
i hope it doesn't rain where this club is to be located otherwise a bunch of your members might drown. what do u think the old timers would think of your member's only idea? to be a true pool room, the room must be open to the public. u know the old line ... i'll take on all comers ..." u would have to revise it to "i'll take on all members"?

but go ahead and enjoy your pipe dream or plans. far be it me, to rain on your parade.
 
Guests could come accompanied by member.

I wouldn't make it members only. But if your guest caused trouble it would fall on member. No bs would be allowed. And I'm thinking of having 6-8 tables. All 9 ft. Tables could be reserved for one hour increments during busy times. Except for a couple would always be winner stays loser goes.
 
TCo said:
If you put a treadmill in a club, could you get away with members getting a portion of their "health club" dues reimbursed by their insurance?

I know, you say fraud, I say if there is a usable treadmill, you could be an independent health club that just happens to have pool tables.

Hmmmmm
Click to expand...
Yeah...fukc with the IRS. Smart. :slap:
 
Wright Shot said:
I wouldn't make it members only. But if your guest caused trouble it would fall on member. No bs would be allowed. And I'm thinking of having 6-8 tables. All 9 ft. Tables could be reserved for one hour increments during busy times. Except for a couple would always be winner stays loser goes.
Click to expand...

Ok it wouldn't be members only. The public would be allowed. So I pay my monthly membership fee and come down to the club and all the tables are taken? Now what.
 
I'm sure all tables will be taken at times

But with one guest per member if needed as a restriction should solve the problem you are describing.
 
Keypad on door

Not open to public. Better know keypad code if you wanna get in or be with someone who does.
 
It might have a good chance as a Men's Game Club. Kind of a central man's cave...with an attractive hostess.

Pool is just one game. There has to be plenty of other offerings so there are options during busy times. Poker, darts, chess, backgammon, etc.

And a large-screen TV is a must for game days. It's a place to watch football, baseball, etc with your buddies while not disturbing the wife.

I would definitely do tournaments among the members; it keeps people interested in renewing their membership.

You have to carefully control guest usage. Something like $20 guest fee and no more than 4 guest visits per month; otherwise you get lots of "guests" who should really be members
 
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