Support your room owner, or save a buck?

LC3

LC3

Playing the table
Silver Member
We recently had a post encouraging us to buy our pool supplies from the AZ Marketplace. I don't mean to argue against that, but it got me thinking about the concept as it applies to our local pool rooms. If the difference in price is within reason (which is of course subjective), would you pay the premium to support your local owner? Would you rather have the lower prices of the online pool suppliers, the virtual emporium that most of them offer, and the typically more competitive return policies?

This isn't meant to browbeat anybody, but just to share points of view. Let's not start bashing each other, because few things are more personal than how people spend their money.

Edit: This was meant to be a poll. The options were to be:
  1. Buy from local room owner if price difference is within reason.
  2. Buy from local room owner regardless of difference in price.
  3. Buy from online supplier.
 
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Depends on whether I like the room owner, and how long I'm willing to wait for the item.
 
personally, I like to purchase whatever I can from my home room (aside from custom cues/cases). Small business needs all the help it can get right now, and supporting the room owner helps them from not banging up their doors.
Plus it builds a good relationship with the owners- its a win-win for everyone.
 
In todays economy or any days economy, price is always a factor, most often it is THE deciding factor. An astute businessman recognizes this and develops a marketing strategy accordingly. I mentioned in another post the possibility of a room owner/supplier giving some free table time with a cue purchase to offset what he must charge to make a reasonable profit and remain market competitive. Are there other services he can offer for a reduced fee.....tip replacement, onsite pro lessons, or even duplicate some of the web site promos like reward points for spending X amount of dollars. I would purchase locally if the price was competitive, but the addition of these little extras would make the choice a no brainer IMHO
 
Absolutely. I'm buying from the room owner. I've heard great things about Seybert's and I've had good experiences with ozonebilliards. But I'm giving my money to the owner.

In way, this is the selfish choice. I want them to have my money so they stay in business. If I had to choose between Seybert's failing, or my local pool room, I'm gonna be a jerk and say "kiss Seybert's goodbye"... even though it's a larger business with a great rep.

So yeah, I'm gonna be a jerk and give my money to the room owner.
 
CreeDo said:
Absolutely. I'm buying from the room owner. I've heard great things about Seybert's and I've had good experiences with ozonebilliards. But I'm giving my money to the owner.

In way, this is the selfish choice. I want them to have my money so they stay in business. If I had to choose between Seybert's failing, or my local pool room, I'm gonna be a jerk and say "kiss Seybert's goodbye"... even though it's a larger business with a great rep.

So yeah, I'm gonna be a jerk and give my money to the room owner.
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You're not being a jerk at all. If you want the local room to be around when you want to go play, you should support them. I buy lots of things online for the convenience, but I support the local brick and mortar store whenever possible so that they're there when I need them.

The real jerks are the ones who will go to the local store to test/try on/kick the tires and buy online to save a few bucks. Those are the guys who are going to ruin it all for us.

Mike
 
If I like the room and like the owner/employees, I'll buy from there. Clean well kept room and good customer service go a long way...!
 
My problem is my local room doesn't carry anything but the plain basics. There is a pool supply store locally and I was going to buy another set of balls so will probably go there.
 
If the price difference is reasonable, I always prefer to buy locally and support local jobs in any way I can.....especially when there is a service component....

With that being said, if the local room has a new cue I want at $500, and I can get the same new cue online from a reputable seller at $300, I'm going online....

I grew up in a small town that had a bunch of businesses in or around the town square/courthouse.....when the new Walmart moved in (similar situation to the internet these days), everybody was up in arms about how they were going to lose their business.....well, many of them did, but it was their own fault....many local shops, which hadn't really had any competition locally in years, had pretty solid mark-ups, and they were open from 9-6, Monday-Friday.....well, that's not very customer-centric....the ones that survived lowered prices and extended hours - loyal customers could still support them and now they had better business hours for their customer.....
 
I used to give free table time when someone bought a cue. I would give them $50 free if they bought a $200 cue. Rarely did they ever shoot alone. They always brought someone (or three or four) with them. Even if they used that table time for that group, I would get them back in the future. I sometimes even sold the other people in the group cues.

Nothing was more infuriating than a regular coming in and saying "look at the new cue it bought!" without having given the chance to me to sell him a cue.

Bob
 
What if you don't need to buy a cue, or chalk, or balls? I think the best way to support your local room owner is to go there and put some time in playing pool...and pay your dues that way. My problem is, there's a lot of room owners out here that are way to cheap to maintain their tables and keep them up to todays standards....yet they don't want to give a break in pricing for equipment that is way below standard. Keep in mind, the MAIN draw to a pool room...is the tables, and what can cause you to lose business....is ALSO...the pool tables;)

Glen
 
When I bought my current play stick, the local dealer had one for $585 whereas I could find the same stick for $390 on-line. To me, this is too much of a markup. Three years later the dealer still has the same stick on his rack.
 
LC3 said:
Sure, playing there is a significant contribution. If you don't need any supplies, than table time is the most you can do.
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I wouldn't pay to play on tables that play, or look like crap though, and that's a lot of the problem with pool rooms I see all around this country. Pool room owners seem to think they only need to change the cloth on their tables once a year...because it costs so much, when in reality....the tables that get played the most...are the ones that need the cloth changed the most. In other words, once say a table reaches 2,000 hours of play, regardless of when that is...change the cloth, then that total cost is spread out...and there's just about always a new, or nearly new table to play on, but at no point does a table go way to long before changing the cloth....and while that's taking place....fix the things that need to be fixed on the tables. I understand that mechanics would prefer recovering as many tables in a room as they can in a week...but, SLOW them down some...so they have the time to fix the things needing fixed.

Glen
 
Price is all that matters too me. If the room owner overcharges for pool stuff then he probably does it for table time and drinks too. and that will kill his business anyways. If the prices are right ill buy from whoever.

Gotta make the dollar last cause nothings gettting cheaper
 
CreeDo said:
Absolutely. I'm buying from the room owner. I've heard great things about Seybert's and I've had good experiences with ozonebilliards. But I'm giving my money to the owner.

In way, this is the selfish choice. I want them to have my money so they stay in business. If I had to choose between Seybert's failing, or my local pool room, I'm gonna be a jerk and say "kiss Seybert's goodbye"... even though it's a larger business with a great rep.

So yeah, I'm gonna be a jerk and give my money to the room owner.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you here..that an I like to handle what I am buying.
 
Waiting period is generally the deciding factor for me. Last year I bought a measle CB at a local room for twice what I would pay online. The difference was that I wanted it now and not next week.
 
if your room owner isnt running a business with competitive prices, he will eventually go out of business whether you purchase from him or not.

someone with a better business plan will open up shop.
 
Many people forget it is not the same service online as a brick and mortar place. Buying a cue online you may or may not get first quality. You may or may not have return privileges. Will the online retailer let you try it out first? Will the online retailer take it back in trade 2 years from now? I have people all the time come into my room to try out a cue then order it online to save $30. Then when there is a problem they want me to help them in fixing it. If you want to buy something online instead of at your local pool hall, its okay as long as you take the responsibility of that choice. I will order some items offline and others I will never order offline. Just depends on my needs. Convenience or price priorities.
 
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