Private Billiard Club...

Zims Rack

Zims Rack

Promoting the Cueing Arts
Silver Member
Opinions wanted both PROS/CONS...

Why do you/don't you think something like this would work?

If someone were to open a Private Billiard Club (PBC) in your area would you join? It has 4-8 good pool tables (starting out) a snack/drink bar, a sitting area, bathrooms, a few TV's, stereo and a few other niceties. It has a few pool teams for local leagues (APA, BCA, etc), has quarterly cash tournaments, sponsorship from a few local businesses, is ran similar to a VFW or other organized clubs, has a President, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer, general members and monthly and quarterly meetings. It doesn't sell alcohol, but does snacks. Each member pays a monthly membership fee, team captains and club officials receive a key to the PBC, you can play anytime for free as long as it's opened by someone holding a key, you can buy snacks there, but bring your own alcohol. Refridgerators/coolers are supplied just like a bar, but BYOB!! The club officials are voted on an annual basis, monthly and/or quarterly meetings are open to all club members and different topics are brought up. Anything and everything that happens in the club is voted on and approved/dissapproved by majority vote by it's members. This PBC is exactly that, a Private Billiard Club, the public is not allowed to play here unless with a club member (then a small hourly fee will be charged to the non-member). This is designed to be a relaxing, clean place to get away and get some quality practice in at an organized place that you can call your (2nd) home.
If this was available to you, how much would you be willing to pay on a monthly basis?
Please voice your opinions either PRO/CON!!!

Thanks,
Zim
 
Last edited:
i would jump on it in a second. but only if i was paying less than i would at the local pool hall, and if i had 24hr access.

this is close to impossible in nyc because of the rent.
 
You could use some of those things to run a Billiard Club. Have memberships dues and only let members in with 1 guest. Have a board meeting every month that could vote on things. and even for voting if you decide to revoke someones membership.
 
Hi Zims Rack,

Being part of a PBC sounds like a really good idea, it's hard to say what people would be willing to pay without more info, with only 4-8 tables starting you have to wonder how many members the club would have, I would hate to go to practice to find all the tables in use, the hours of operation would also influence what people would be willing to pay. Being a student with limited funds I would say $50 a month would probably be a ballpark figure assuming the tables were in good condition and it was open 24 hours.
 
sniper said:
Hi Zims Rack,

,,, I would hate to go to practice to find all the tables in use,
Click to expand...

this would become a very real problem with 4-5 tables. if one is paying for membership one should expect totall access and not have to wait,,,,,,at the very least.

4-5 tables means limited membership. you can't have a membership of 50 people with 4-5 tables. if everyone plays at the same time, you have a REALLY BIG problem. if you can get members who play at different hours of the day, which means some will have to be retired or out of work, you can work out a couple of dozen members. but what about weekends when no one is working and everyone wants to play.

so if you decide on a membership that is convenient for all,,,,say 15 or so, then you have to worry about some members dropping out or not paying their dues, in which case just a few could screw up the whole deal.

let's say everyone is ok with $100/month. then with 15 members, you have to find a large, 4-5 table space for $1500 total, which includes maintenance. if you have goodies, that'll cost more. but let's say you find a spot for $1500. if 3 members are undependable or whatever, and drop out, now you have 12 paying for 15. it only makes sense to assume a worst case scenario when 1/3 will drop out.

so, you have to find people who are commited to the idea, and are pool NUTS. in a big city,rent would be a big issue.

personally, if i don't get 24/7, i won't bother.
 
Last edited:
The 24/7 is an issue as well. Like I said the Captains of the teams and all the officers will have a key and most likely be there pretty often. The reason I say 4-5 tables is simply because the club operates off of its members. Sure, to initially open the club there would be investments by someone(s). Keys could be given to all memebers for a security deposit, ensuring them 24/7 access. The club membership amount is limitless, not 12-15 members, but any amount. Eventually as the membership grows, so does the physical size of the PBC.
This is what they do in Germany and is very sucessful. I belonged to a PBC which had 35 members, 5 of them American, had on 3 9' talbes. http://www.geocities.com/zimsrack/PhotosPBC.html There were 4 different teams in the club and each team had table priority on their designated night, but always leaving one table open to other members and the weekends were open tables to all members. The weekends usually turned into a casual $5 tournament. Everyone got a key for a $100 deposit, monthly dues were $35. The building rent was 1/2 price due to the owner being a big pool fan. I was looking at between $50-$75/month in club dues, depending on what the club has to offer (#tables, size of building)

Zim
 
im not saying its not a good idea because i have the same thing in mind as what im about to tell you.. for when i open my room... and i dont know... maybe this is what you are talking about... but i got the idea from a room in Atlanta. inside of a regular pool room i want to have a members only area where everyone can bet it up and/or relax and just watch some tube or hang out with friends and sweat other matches. have a room set aside with 3 or 4 tables. like a diamond bar box, a 9 footer, and an 8 foot table, and then have a 9 foot triple shimmed table. that way there is a table for every type of action, with plenty of room. and not having to worry about loud music or poeple walking by you and interupting you while you shoot. have a big screen tv. and a couple couches set aside in a corner for poeple to just relax and enjoy the show. dont know... but thats what im going to do as soon as i get up the cash.

oh one more thing...
the 24 hour thing would not be a problem either. as long as someone had action or as long as there was "pool players" there as appozed to rail beaters it would stay open.
 
Last edited:
Zim,

Would you be wanting to make a profit? In other words, is this a business venture or just a way of supporting your hobby?

Personally, I'd love to have a billiard club and have thought about doing something like that myself; I just can't afford it. A friend of mine and I started doing the math of how much money it would take to buy and run a pool hall. We came to the conclusion that if we had every table rented out for all the time we were open, we might just break even with paying out all the overhead.

One other drawback to a club is that you would limit the people coming in and you'd get the same players all the time. One of the things that motivates me to go to a poolhall is knowing that I might see someone new playing. I love to watch a strange player and trying to figure out if he's a road player or not. Sometimes you get treated to some extraordinary pool from someone you've never seen or heard from before. If you had a club, how would you ever see the roadies? Would you encourage action from good players? I've thought about doing something like that. Put up some money and try to get Johnny Archer and Bust to match up. I think something like that might enable you to make some money to help pay your overhead. I know I would pay to see a match like that!

Good luck. I hope I'm not discouraging you.
 
poolroom

thats the whole point in what i was saying about having it in a full pool room. just somewhere special for the regulars and the action to hang out and get something going. and i wouldnt have to worry about overhead cause me and maybe one other person are going to be running my pool room. i dont want anything big. just a nice room where you dont have all the crap of bars... just pool.
 
My basic reason for this is as a hobby, not a business adventure. I'm in the Military and will be for about 16 more years. I was basically looking at a member only club. It would more or less be for teams to have a home bar and a place to play/practice without all the congestion or hastle from ball bangers, if you know what I mean. I figured about 4-6 teams at 8 players per team, you're looking at about 50 members. The club would be there pool home in a sense and the members got to basically run the club how the majority wanted it. If in time we decided financially we're ready for a bigger place, then so be it, we're moving! Once I retire at a ripe young age of 43/44 years old then I would open Zims Rack Sports Bar and Billiards! (which is a public pool hall) By the way this is going to be somewhere between Pensacola and Panama City Beach in Florida!

Zim
 
Zim,

Looks like i got somewhere to go when I'm almost 40. A couple friends of mine were thinking of something like this but more of a social club. Membership to get in and just a place to relax shoot pool play video games or cards. anything really.
 
Hey Zim,
Sounds like a good idea in principle, just have to iron out a few wrinkles. There was a place back in California when I was stationed there that sounded like a combination of what someone else was talking about and what you had in mind. It was a regular pool hall of about 40 tournement tables and 15 bar size tables. In the back there was a "members only" area that could only be accessed from a private entrance out in back. Inside was kind of a home away from home area that someone somewhere along the way had talked the owner into leaseing out for a members area. It had 6 tables, lockers that we could rent for an additional fee so we could store our sticks there, couches, stereo, TV with satalite that had a billiards channel and 4 fridges that were stocked every week by the tresurer with sodas, chips, hotpockets, candybars, ect. If members wated to bring in a six pack or two or three they were more than welcome. There was also a big 6'X3' twoway mirror that let us see everyone else that was playing out in the main house, so if someone came along that we wanted to shoot with we just grabbed up our stick and went around to the front entrance and played out in the main floor. Now the members area was always accessable 24/7, but we didnt have keys. There was a key pad and everyone had a personal code, this was a lot easier in the long run I was told because with keys there was always the hassle of lost keys, guys amking copies for thier "buddies", people not turning in thier keys when they move or leave the club or when they didn't pay thier dues. The club "senate", as they were called, could control who had the right to access the room a lot easier. Membership cost $50 a month and I think they had about 150 to 200 members at any given time. All the senate had to pay was the snack food, rent(which was practially nothing) and the satalite bill. What ever was left over was set aside for table maintanence or private tournements. You would think that with the limited playing space you would have problems, but in the three years that I was there I never once saw or heard of even one arguement. Guys just practiced on the off hours when they knew a lot of people werent around, and the place had been running for about 10 years. I think something like this would be a good idea if you could find the right place.
 
Knudsenjj,

Do you remember where in California that place was at? That sounds like a great room! I'd like to check it out because I live in Ca.
 
Zims Rack said:
The 24/7 is an issue as well. Like I said the Captains of the teams and all the officers will have a key and most likely be there pretty often. The reason I say 4-5 tables is simply because the club operates off of its members. Sure, to initially open the club there would be investments by someone(s). Keys could be given to all memebers for a security deposit, ensuring them 24/7 access. The club membership amount is limitless, not 12-15 members, but any amount. Eventually as the membership grows, so does the physical size of the PBC.
This is what they do in Germany and is very sucessful. I belonged to a PBC which had 35 members, 5 of them American, had on 3 9' talbes. http://www.geocities.com/zimsrack/PhotosPBC.html There were 4 different teams in the club and each team had table priority on their designated night, but always leaving one table open to other members and the weekends were open tables to all members. The weekends usually turned into a casual $5 tournament. Everyone got a key for a $100 deposit, monthly dues were $35. The building rent was 1/2 price due to the owner being a big pool fan. I was looking at between $50-$75/month in club dues, depending on what the club has to offer (#tables, size of building)

Zim
Click to expand...

i would love this kind of thing to grow, because here in nyc, the table time is ridiculous. the idea of small private clubs populating the area is great. but if you have unlimited membership, i am assuming you're reaching out kinda like health clubs, where they expect people will join but not go all the time. here in nyc, if your membership outgrows the club, it's not that easy to pull up and move to a larger space.

everything is easier outside of manhattan....sigh
 
It was in a town just north of Fallbrook on the 15. For some damn reason I can't remember the name of the town, it's right there on the tip of my tounge. The pool hall was called Bank Shot Billiards.
 
JJ- sounds pretty much just like what I was talking about, but mine was invisioned to be seperate from another pool room. I can see where that was a very good idea though. Something to ponder!!

Zim
 
Maybe someday different PBC's could be formed across the USA and travel to different PBC's to compete in a PBC Tournament! You know, CLUB vs. CLUB!!

Zim
 
I used to belong to one of these in Germany. Two 9ft Lehmacher(like Diamonds) tables and HEATED like carom tables. We had a snack bar on the honor system, TV, couches and 24 hour access. I paid about $25 a month for my membership which is about what I spend in one night playing pool. IT ROCKED! I would not hesitate to spend $100 a month for something similar here. At the German club I think we had about 50 members.

John
 
Where I live, Winnipeg, Manitoba , Canada,.........Public Golf Courses charge between $500.00 & $800.00 per year and golf season is about 5 months long.

Private courses are anywhere from $1200.00 and up, (as high as $2750.00 here anyways) per year.

Same applies,.........5 months long

Also at private clubs you have to be approved to own a share first.

Shares are anywhere from $1,000.00 to $5,000.00 (it's a one time buy) and only a limited amount is available

But to look at this thing in a more realalistic manner, finding out what people pay for other monthly activities may help

For example: some people pay $50.00 per month to belong to a gym etc.

Some people pay $40.00 & up per month to play in a pool league

Etc.

Keith Legros
 
You all have given me numerous amounts of input and it's greatly appreciated. I too belonged to a PBC in Germany. You can see photos here www.zimsrack.com and look at PHOTOS page, then look at PBC Bitburg!
The above average player, league and tournament player will spend approximatly $6/hr to play pool, 3 hrs/night, 3 nights/week! Right? (as an average) That person is spending $18/night, $64/wk, $256/month just to play pool and that does not count food and drinks and you're limited to the hours the pool room is open. I'm sure many players would jump at the idea of a PBC that only costs them $100-$150 one time fee per month and possibly an annual membership renual fee of say, $200! I think this could explode in the billiard arena if done correctly and with the right leadership. Perhaps this could be a tour in itself if there were enough PBC's across the States. I plan to open one sometime in the near future (5-10 yrs)!
Thanks again for all the feedback,
Zim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top