Why blame the economy or ban on smoking?

yobagua

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Can it just be plain BAD management. The pool hall I frequent has hired a terrible houseman. The owner loves him for some reason as he talks a good game. But he is obnoxious and all the regulars are disgusted with him. In his attempt to attract a younger nite crowd turns up the music full blast and consistently plays metal rock. There are about 20 regulars and the front tables are usually saved for them. Good tables tight pockets where top players like Efren, Parica, Manalo, Kid Delicious, etc have all played on. But he now lets anyone with a drink in their hand bang balls on them particularly if they have cute girls in their party.
Now the regulars all spend from $20 to $50 a day there on an average. Thats every day. We dont take holidays either. We're playing there on THanksgiving, Xmas, whatever after the family thing is done. So thats like lets say conservatively $500 a month for the regulars times 20. So I can confidently say thats about 10K a month. I kid you not. Most of the guys come up with a $50 or $60 table and bar tab for the nite.
So now when this houseman works the regulars have stopped coming in. Who can play a serious one pocket money match with Metallica blaring from every speaker in the house. Like elephants who leave scene when the lions come out to hunt the regs pack up their cases and go home to their plasma and ESPN.
We've talked to the owner but like any boss thinks they know the right way. Well we are paying for that way. So I ask people who blame the economy or on smoking bans. Maybe it is the way you conduct business that you have to close your doors. Dont forget us regulars. The backbone of your enterprise. The people who are their for you during the worse of times. Like Ford and GM who had to listen to the consumer while Toyota and Nissan did, you eventually have to change your way or close down. But it will be your fault.
 
For some, it is bad management...

For others, no matter how right they do it, things can be so lean that they can't make it (economy, smoking, or whatever) no matter what...
 
$10,000/ month for 20 regulars?:eek: Id make it a private pool room for that kind of income. I think my 20 top regulars don't even MAKE $10,000 a month. I do think the economy has a big impact on my room. We cater to low-middle income people. I don't think any of our customers make over $30k a year. So the higher gas/food prices probably hit us harder than the room yobagua goes to. If hes making that kind of cash just off pool time I think your room is the exception not the rule. He (the owner) should count his blessings.
 
You have to look at the bigger picture....

Why is the change happening?
obviously the room owner want to make more money, your $10K a month these days are not worth as much as they did 5 years ago.
He has more expenses then he did before (maybe... )
Young crowd bring in money and cost less to satisfy.... they don't care if the cloth needs to be replaced or if the balls are chipped etc.

Don't get me wrong I hate room owners that don't take care of regulars or the top players, but the regulars need to understand that the business has to make money to exist and times are changing...

I used to go to this club that let me play for free on dead hours when I would come alone to practice or 50% off if I had other players with me but I had to pay full on "prime time", so my choice was either to pay full and to put up with the loud music and loud crowd (which is not all bad ;) ) or I could come when the place is dead and I could request my type of music at my desired volume and shoot quality pool...
I think it's fair to everyone like that.
 
yobagua,

You bring up a good point. I have been playing pool for over twenty years and I have seen a fair share of pool halls that have closed down. Not all, but a large percentage (90%) of the pool halls closed down because of poor management.

I live in North Carolina and currently we do not have a smoking ban but our state government is pushing a smoking ban. However the smoking ban is for public business so the pool halls can simply become private and bypass the smoking ban.

I can see how the economy can hurt a business. However, if the slow economy will put them out of business, I belive there were underlining issues all ready present, the economy just pushed it over the edge.
 
Poke N Hope said:
I live in North Carolina and currently we do not have a smoking ban but our state government is pushing a smoking ban. However the smoking ban is for public business so the pool halls can simply become private and bypass the smoking ban.

Not so easy to do....

You know, I used to be a very heavy smoker (3 packs a day) and I quit 3.5 years ago, smoking around me does not bother me, I haven't become one of those anti-smoking freaks..... in fact if I could hold myself to under one pack a day I would have kept smoking... The smoking ban hit my area and I got to say that pool halls have become a much nicer places to be nowadays :D
 
The city I'm in just went smokeless on June 1 for all businesses except tobacco shops and private organizations. There was a local online article where two of the city's prominent bar managers were interviewed about the immediate effects of the smoking ban, and they stated business was down 30% or more.

It's almost comical that several of the bars and clubs just outide the city limits are now running ads in the local newspaper and radio emphasizing that they allow smoking.
 
I can tell you that regulars come no matter what. Young kids come on the weekends. After a movie. After a date. The regulars are there like what the mail used to be. Through sleet, snow and rain. Business' should praise the smoking ban cause the only thing that would stop most regulars from coming is that they are dead or sick in bed from lung disease.
I can understand an owner wants to profit as much as he can but dont take your good customers for granted. Many business' did and thats what destroyed them. If you are making money share some of it with the people that are creating it for you.
Free play coupons give outs on Xmas would be nice. A sandwich spread on Thanksgiving. And added $ tournament. For example Billiard players are there from morning to night. They bother no one. They are clean and usually upscale. They are just nuts for the game. Why not put in some money for a billiard tournament. They would love you forever as they rarely gamble. Most of them are doctors, lawyers, engineers, car dealer owners, etc. but would be happy with a $300 tourney.
Most important is create a friendly atmosphere for the serious players
Unfortunately we got an owner who just isnt listening.
 
yobagua said:
Maybe it is the way you conduct business that you have to close your doors. Dont forget us regulars. The backbone of your enterprise. The people who are their for you during the worse of times. Like Ford and GM who had to listen to the consumer while Toyota and Nissan did, you eventually have to change your way or close down. But it will be your fault.

This is not true any longer, and this kind of thinking is why pool halls close, because instead of running a BUSINESS they just want to run a pool hall.
 
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