What is going on?!?!?!?!

tksix

tksix

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just got word that On Cue Billiards in Greyslake, Illinois is closing! Palace Billiards in Villa Park, Illinois has closed. Main Street in Illinois is for sale!!

This is starting to look like a billiards "ghost town" around here!!!!!!!

We will need to start holding league night and tourneys at our houses.
 
There are a lot of reasons poolrooms are going out of business.

1) Rent is too high for the square footage needed for 9' tables
2) Economy is very bad=not much money left for hobbies or entertainment.
3) There are more home tables now than ever before and used tables continue to go down in price with the poor economy. With some of the high prices per hour to play in some areas players are buying home tables and having their friends over to play. Friends that use to go to a poolroom.

The fix would be.
1) Make pool cool for the youth, they still have the expendable cash.
2) A blockbuster movie about pool.
3) A national pro players organization with stats and standings. Maybe pro teams in major cities.
4) More 7' tables in poolrooms and more 7' table tournaments. Less square footage needed and easier to learn the game.

JMI. Johnnyt
 
there have been alot of rooms closing here in ill especially all around the chicago suburbs. the only ones i hear of doing well/ok are the full bars that also happen to have 5-15 decent to good tables.
At one point there were tons of rooms and a tourny anynight you wanted, now it is really hurting.
 
tksix said:
Just got word that On Cue Billiards in Greyslake, Illinois is closing! Palace Billiards in Villa Park, Illinois has closed. Main Street in Illinois is for sale!!

This is starting to look like a billiards "ghost town" around here!!!!!!!

We will need to start holding league night and tourneys at our houses.
Click to expand...
I play in a league at On Cue; haven't heard this yet. Where did you hear that they're closing?
 
I think it is the same all over. Id say that near 40% of pool rooms have closed in the last 3-4 years, most of them in the last year.

I was real surprised to see PB in Villa Park is gone-That was a nice room. They actually held a WPBA event there where i met a rising star named Sarah Rousey who was playing in her first WPBA event. Pretty sure it was her first anyway.
 
That's a shame about John's place (Palace). I always loved that place, have some good memories of tourneys there, & even got to play in the IPT ProAm there. I hope he has something else in the works.

10-15 years ago pool was booming in the Chicago area...well that's true for about everywhere now that I think of it. A friend of mine started up 3 pool halls there (Green Rooms). He went on to other pursuits when times got tough.
 
Below is an e-mail I received from Tom Kollins, and Jim from IBC!!

We have been unable to reach an agreement with our landlord on terms for a renegotiated lease.
Yesterday Israel and Leigh announced, with regret, that ON CUE BILLIARDS will close its doors at the end of this month. Next Wednesday will be our last day of business.
 
tksix said:
Below is an e-mail I received from Tom Kollins, and Jim from IBC!!

We have been unable to reach an agreement with our landlord on terms for a renegotiated lease.
Yesterday Israel and Leigh announced, with regret, that ON CUE BILLIARDS will close its doors at the end of this month. Next Wednesday will be our last day of business.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the specifics. Very sad. Tonight is my league night there; this hasn't been announced yet. Our league had played at Slate Street in Vernon Hills for many years. They closed a couple of years ago and we moved the league to On Cue. Not sure if this time we'll find another place. This is beginning to feel like a long-term and perhaps permanent decline for pool. Again, very sad news.
 
Rent and staff is a major part of running a Pool Hall in an area to get Patrons.
The occupancy needs to be high to break even, but now alot of people have their own tables.This alone means you don't have to go out to practice.
A down side to PoolHalls here in NZ is the Alcohol Ban in rooms.
So clubs that have several tables, like a RSA or Legion that allow drinking are doing alot better.
I also see less people being dedicated to the competition side of pool. But there is a big number of social players still about.
Quite a few local bars have 2 and 3 tables that are well played on even at $2 per game.
People just have to ask themselves, why do I NOT go to a pool hall to practice?
Neil
 
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