we're losing another great room

jrt30004

jrt30004

just jokin' around
Silver Member
so i haven't said anything until now because alot of what i had heard was just speculation but now the info is a little more solid. for those of you who have played there, you will know the pool room in duluth is a pretty nice room. we got the word on monday night apa league the room had been officially sold. we got the word on tuesday night bca league that most of the staff had been fired. the new owner is supposed to talk to our apa league rep tonight to tell her how long he will let us stay and play while the "transition" happens. this is the area that is still murky. the story right now is the room will be transformed into some sort of asian themed restaraunt / club / the words karaoke bar have been thrown around as well. i don't know what part of that is true. the only thing that hasn't been tossed around is billiard room. i can't put in words how much this saddens me. that room has two of the nicest tables in the area. mark gregory's custom gcV that he built for the room, and a standard tournament edition gc. i moved to atlanta in the late summer of 07 and started playing pool to meet people. since then i have started to take the game seriously and got myself to a somewhat respectable level. the whole time the pool room has been my second home. i feel right there. it is also in a smoke free county so it's nice for a non smoker like me. i also felt safe there. i felt safe taking my girl friend there. it is the one local pool hall i never felt the need to have my hand on my gun walking through the parking lot. sorry to the other rooms in the area but a lot of them are in shittier neighborhoods and some of the clientele in some of the rooms is shaky. then there's the tables. when i first learned to shoot in the 80's i lived in CT and NY and shot mostly on 9ft gold crowns. that is still the table i love the most. that's all the room has. it is also the only room i can get to in a reasonable amount of time on a weeknight with rush hour traffic. no more leagues for me, or weeknight tournaments. or cheap sets during the week. i really loved that place. sadly it seems it will be gone. please realize i mean no offense by this but, atlanta has a large segment of population with ties to the vietnamese, japanese, chinese, phillipino and other asian communities so it's not like we don't have an abundance of restaraunts and clubs that cater to thier needs. we don't have a lot of high end pool halls. if this story has a good end i will update, but from all we have been told it looks bleak.:(:mad::frown::angry:
 
That really sucks. A little while ago we lost a room that had been here over 20 years and it was the only decent place within 25 minutes. Also had that safe, clean, well run feeling. You can get used to another one but sometimes it's just not the same and you start hating the commute. I drive 30 minutes to play in a decent one and once a week I'll drive an hour to play on good equipment.

It sounds like it was well run and had good equipment so if it's being sold either the market just isn't there (despite the lack of high end pool halls...) or something wasn't being done right. Or the owner was ready to retire? In any case... let's hope they keep a few tables around in whatever it turns into. You'd be surprised at how decent equipment can trump anything else. I'll tolerate karaoke from 12 feet away if I like the table. Make sure someone snaps up that custom GCV.
 
I hate to hear this. I've been in a lot of pool rooms around the country and The Pool Room in Duluth is one of the best.

Scott
 
Pool rooms

We're losing 1 of the 3 rooms around Syracuse NY in the next few months. The nicest, cleanest room around. A bit out of the way, but a nice room "Korky's". This room always had a stream of new young players to keep them busy, until a few years ago. Now nobody new, just like the rest of the rooms.

Many of the experienced players have their own tables at home, so they don't support the rooms much except for tournament play. I think another local room may be in jeopardy before long if it wasn't for the old timers.

Our local tournament action has been reduced in half over the past 2-3 years. The weekly tournaments seldom exceed 20 when 30-40 used to be the norm.

We need to get young people playing this game. More APA leagues in rooms with 9 footers as well to get them to transition to big table games. Wouldn't you think with almost 16,000 students attending Syracuse University that a pool hall could do well near there (there isn't one)?

Things have changed dramatically over tge past 3 years, there's no denying it. The same story up and down the east coast, with some really big rooms closing.
 
sorry to hear that i was just down there this weekend for one of shanon's tours the food was good i like the tables to it's a shame when you have a nice place to play it closes:frown:
 
some of the new owners (i am guessing) were walking around last night talking amoungst themselves pointing around the room and gesturing. appearantly pointing at the changes they are going to be making. it's really killing me. since i started to play that room has been a big part of my improvement. johhny's place (marietta billiard club) is a great room and so is mr. cues but they are not realistic for me to play in every night (especially mbc) due to distance. i played no less than three nights and one afternoon a week at the pool room. i know everyone on here bashes leagues but the people and competition who have brought my game up the most came from that room. for those of you who played in shannon's tourneys there, i would say there were about 5 maybe a few more like 8 or 10 guys who shoot in my tuesday bca league at the pool room who were all strong b's and a few a's. those are the guys i've been playing in weekly leagues with. betty sessions, who is imho one of the best ameteur women in the country also plays in that league. the level of play in that room was outstanding. i don't have the cash to gamble - and let's be real the game either - to go down to conyers. i'd be embarrased walking into that room. and it's about an hour from my house with light traffic. oh well. lick my wounds and walk i guess.
 
Hate to see it go being I live 15min. away but I think most everyone saw it coming.Nice place poor service.
 
NoBull9 said:
Hate to see it go being I live 15min. away but I think most everyone saw it coming.Nice place poor service.
Click to expand...

yeah, it was no secret that it had been for sale for months. that poor service had a lot to do with what was going on behind the scenes. namely the staff not getting paid. when i started playing there a few years ago it was much different. but when you aren't taking care of your employees they have a hard time caring about taking care of the customers and eventually they leave (which alot of them did).
 
jrt30004 said:
yeah, it was no secret that it had been for sale for months. that poor service had a lot to do with what was going on behind the scenes. namely the staff not getting paid. when i started playing there a few years ago it was much different. but when you aren't taking care of your employees they have a hard time caring about taking care of the customers and eventually they leave (which alot of them did).
Click to expand...

I go there for the GSBT events and for BCA once and while. I really liked the staff, but over the last few months things have changed. A lot of turn over and changes. Its sad to hear this since its only 10mins away. Mr. Cues II is only 15mins, in the other direction, but I come home smelling like an ashtray. Maybe someone will open up something a little smaller to accommodate the pool clientele? I know the leagues are pretty busy there. This sucks!
Mark
 
Does anyone know if the place was sold due to poor pool business or the owner got an offer he couldn't refuse. I went to the place twice and it seemed jumping both times, but that alone is no indication if the business was healthy. It was also unique in that it had a live music section, that is a good change of pace even for die hard pool players.
 
Ok, here it goes.
The Pool Room in Duluth is one of the Best Pool Rooms that I have been in. Non-smoking is a huge plus to me and most of those who enter this establishment. I am sad to say that the rumors are true and 2 of the 3 owners are selling their portion to the third owner. The third owner has plans to change The Pool Room into a martini lounge / restaurant. They will be planning on keeping some of the tables but not enough it seems to feel like a decent place to go shoot some stick. The plans are to keep anywhere from 6 to 12 pool tables. The name of the room would change to "Purple Rain".
The truth is, the employees are a big part of the reason the room is closing. There has been a lot of stealing by pretty much all of the employees on the front side of house. The giving of free drinks to so many of the patrons is the main issue. The owners have been unaware and pretty much oblivious to what has been going on. Therefore, they are unaware of the steps to take to rectify ongoing problems that have plagued the room for some time now.
Unfortunately the owners have not been on top of the issue and hence have paid the price for it.
As of yesterday the deal was put on hold. I am sure it is only a matter of time before the deal goes thru. The sad thing is that if the room was run properly it would be a great investment for all three of the owners. There is a great crowd of people that darken the doorway of The Pool Room on a nightly basis. Many professional types as well as a youthful crowd and great games and matches have taken place within its walls for the past 4 1/2 almost 5 years.
 
Purple rain, they keep on playing that damn song too.
Their downfall began with cover charge...
Service in my opinion was good. I am a regular there so may be the reason. There were some waitress that had no business being there.
I was there last night till close and they were busy. Hate to see them go. They are 5 mins from my house.
I'm going there tonight to say good bye.

If they want to know how the Karaoke business is going walk across the parking lot and see how many people are there, or goto Karaoke Melody. Business is not there. They may be able to get a short time spark of business being Karaoke/Hostess bar but how many of those went out of business within last year? With companies getting tight on entertainment costs, hostess bars are getting beat down. I haven't taken client last 6 months.
 
jrt30004 said:
so i haven't said anything until now because alot of what i had heard was just speculation but now the info is a little more solid. for those of you who have played there, you will know the pool room in duluth is a pretty nice room. we got the word on monday night apa league the room had been officially sold. we got the word on tuesday night bca league that most of the staff had been fired. the new owner is supposed to talk to our apa league rep tonight to tell her how long he will let us stay and play while the "transition" happens. this is the area that is still murky. the story right now is the room will be transformed into some sort of asian themed restaraunt / club / the words karaoke bar have been thrown around as well. i don't know what part of that is true. the only thing that hasn't been tossed around is billiard room. i can't put in words how much this saddens me. that room has two of the nicest tables in the area. mark gregory's custom gcV that he built for the room, and a standard tournament edition gc. i moved to atlanta in the late summer of 07 and started playing pool to meet people. since then i have started to take the game seriously and got myself to a somewhat respectable level. the whole time the pool room has been my second home. i feel right there. it is also in a smoke free county so it's nice for a non smoker like me. i also felt safe there. i felt safe taking my girl friend there. it is the one local pool hall i never felt the need to have my hand on my gun walking through the parking lot. sorry to the other rooms in the area but a lot of them are in shittier neighborhoods and some of the clientele in some of the rooms is shaky. then there's the tables. when i first learned to shoot in the 80's i lived in CT and NY and shot mostly on 9ft gold crowns. that is still the table i love the most. that's all the room has. it is also the only room i can get to in a reasonable amount of time on a weeknight with rush hour traffic. no more leagues for me, or weeknight tournaments. or cheap sets during the week. i really loved that place. sadly it seems it will be gone. please realize i mean no offense by this but, atlanta has a large segment of population with ties to the vietnamese, japanese, chinese, phillipino and other asian communities so it's not like we don't have an abundance of restaraunts and clubs that cater to thier needs. we don't have a lot of high end pool halls. if this story has a good end i will update, but from all we have been told it looks bleak.:(:mad::frown::angry:
Click to expand...

that sucks when a pool room like this cant make it.
one of the best rooms i have ever played in.
 
So by the accounts so far business is very good there, at least by counting the number of customers in the room.

Does anyone know for sure why the sale? Again, is it a lack of interest by the owner in running the place, did he get a buy offer he just couldn't refuse, was business actually bad and he had to get out before he lost all his money, or was it something else?
 
I can't answer for the how bad/good the profit was going, but apparently they are going to keep on going per the workers there. I'll go back there tomorrow to confirm.
 
They are still there. They haven't fired anybody apparently.

If the new owner is looking at this, read my post little back. You will not find success with Karaoke Bar. Your next door neighbor is going to a new owner and lost a lot of girls. Not too many are willing to pay $500 to just sit next to pretty girls.
Keep The Pool Room ALIVE!!!
 
so just to update what i have heard from the people i somewhat trust. yes they fired most of the staff. then as was posted by someone else the deal was put on hold and they will have to delay any changes. so, some of the staff were asked to come back and help out - a little wierd to see someone you know update status on a social networking site to say they've been fired and then three days later see them back at the same job. i was also told the only decent manager they had has been let go due to some sort of argument/disagreement with one or more of the owners.
i will say this in response to the staff being a big part of the problem. they were. i am friendly with all of them and i usually get great service. i spent almost a decade in the restaraunt business so if i get to know you and you take care of me i'll tip a min. of 30%. but if the servers didn't like you, god help you. you got nothing. i play on teams where even i get s*it on because they hate the rest of my team. and as far as them giving out free drinks, i don't feel that was as big a problem as the amount they poured for themselves. if anyone from the pool room staff or thier friends read this they'll know who i am, and i am sorry for saying these things but they are true, it doesn't mean i don't love you guys but this is about business and where the pool room fell short. and the other thing that killed that room was the lack of responsible ownership. you can't expect your employees to have your best interest at heart. they won't. ever. and i learned this lesson a long time ago and will never let it leave me. you must lead by example. you can not be the owner or part owner of an establishment and exhibit poor behaviour in front of your staff and expect them to respect you. in other words don't gamble on table 9 wehere the whole staff can see you. win or loose money (i saw more losses than wins) you loose respect. if it's o.k. for you to do questionable stuff on the premises, it's o.k. all around, especially when you're not looking. and the rest of the gambling and losing thing i can't speak to personally but there are more stories out there than can be counted. can't be good for your bottom line. please take note, i am not saying gambling is a bad thing. i do it and yes i'll bet on my pool games in the pool room. but i am not the owner, i am not trying to have a staff respect me and obey my directions. and as for the other "partners" where were they to watch over their investment?
over all it's a sad statement that this room can not survive. i said it earlier and i mean it, there are not that many high end rooms left. if this place were run properly it could survive this economic down turn and come out strong when the economy rebounds. sadly it looks as if that may never get a chance to be proven. the deal has been put on hold but most of who are there regularly are not holding out too much hope to keep our beloved room. to any one from the pool room who reads this and is offended i appologize, but the things i said are things i have witnessed and are nothing compared to things i have heard others say.
 
Very well put Jason. I don't know you but it is most likely you and I have seen each other.
I never gambled there because I don't have skills to gamble. I don't play leagues. All I want is to practice, have good time and try to beat my friend who is 20x better than me. Waitress not respecting because you lost is stupid as you can get.
Seems like they'll be open at least this weekend, maybe we'll have a beer on me. Oh wait, they are out of draft....lol, we'll at least have a drink, may be a guinness, wait they are out of that too.
Kyo
 
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