Strip Clubs Owners, It's time to "Get It"

20 comments

• red_man

  •

  13 years ago

  Exactly Right jestrite50. Safe place with dancers with the right attitude. Don't forget also the bouncers should also back-off and let the girls do their thing. The only reason the bouncers are there is to make sure the dancers are paid. When I go to a club and the bouncers seem to want to wack you if there is any dancer contact, I hit the door. I think they call this "up-scale"! I guess there are a few idiots out there that go to a strip club for air dances. Those guys spend a little money, very little! I heard one manager at a club state it as it should be stated, "these are grown-up activities for men, so grow up". Get-it owners or go hungry!
• bumrubber

  •

  13 years ago

  About pricing, is it total spent, or bullshit like drink hustles and other charges you didn't expect? I'd rather pay more at the door and for dances than deal with that. Stuff like that makes me leave, and I won't go to clubs that have it.
• OmegaWest

  •

  13 years ago

  the real reason floorman exist, is to protect the guests interests and the girls at the same time while not being obvious. - yes they can help in a girl getting paid, but in certain clubs they also make sure the girls dont go overboard, as well as the guests if too much alcohol is involved - bouncers as such belong in bar atomosphere and not the gentlemens club environment. ive seen clubs that have the muscle bound at the door and they seem to be the ones who have the most problems because the guests automatically get the i bet i can take him attitude when he starts drinking - floormen are trained in guest services, helping the guests find a table, introduce the girl they like, get the Vip Hostess when they want to by bottles or suites. these are your true upscale environments, the goal is excellent service by the support staff and keeping the guest and the entertainers in good spirits. when everyone is happy and having fun, money flows - entertainers need to know that, yes they are the driving influence of the guests coming in, but the clubs service and amenities are what brings them back. good food, consistant drinks, and reasonable markups on drinks are expected and noone ever complains, the gougers are your dives who havent a clue. quality and consistancy equals return income for both the house and the entertainers - does the house charge the girls, yes ive seen those who have scaled fees depending on what shift is worked, and if you think about it, it makes sense, the dayshift will always pay less then the night shift. why do some people ask, because more people go out at night. as long as the fees are set and dont change from day to day and are explained when a girl is hired she wont think she is being taken advantage of. minimum prices also keep the girls from worrying about who is cutting the prices, because the minimums are known, sure a guest can pay more but the girl cant go lower then the minimum for a certain dance. this keeps the girl on an even ground and keeps infighting to a minimum. - entertainers should concentrate on one thing, putting on the best show they can and make the most money for themselves. the club will make its money at the same time because if the girls stick by the rules, everyone will be on the same page and the whole entity makes money and the guest leaves happy and ready to return
• IrishLad

  •

  13 years ago

  I mostly disagree with all of this stuff. In my experience facilities, drink prices, management attitude on the rare occasions you interact with the (the rarer the better) and even wait service all add up to about 10% of what matters unless unless astoundingly bad. Most management seem to focus on these things too much, apparantly confused thinking they are running a regular bar, and those are the clubs that seem to struggle. i don't ever pick a strip club because I can get a $1 beer. What matters is the girls, the girls and the girls. Management should be "dancer-friendly" focusing on recruiting and satisfying the girls. The club that wins is the one that attracts the best dancers. They should make their money off the drinks, not by nickle and diming the girls. They should give the girls as much latitude as imaginably possible in setting their own hours. Dancers should feel secure. They should have a nice dressing room. They should get perks like food. On the floor Management should remain as distant and unobtrusive as possible at all times, to the maximum extent that will not land them in legal trouble they should avoid policing and intervening in dances making the firls feel like they can get in trouble easily. The only exceptions worth making are that management must enforce "special" dance prices if they choose to offer them and watch out for hustlers trying to overchange customers. These exceptions apply because they are also about dance quality/value from the customer perspective. This is how I see strip clubs become known as the best place in town. Not leather and chrome or cheap drinks.
• IrishLad

  •

  13 years ago

  ...or maybe I mostly agree.
• Rod8432

  •

  13 years ago

  IrishLad - I tend to agree it's girls first and foremost. Everything else is a distant second. Two cases in point - Bogart's and Mons Venus. the former is a total dump but has fun, frisky, and high-mileage girls. The second lacks nearly every aspect of more upscale clubs (e.g., alcohol, spaciousness, food, VIP, etc.), but packs'em in because the girls are so hot and give a good grind for the money. I'm sure there are many others, but to your point, it's not the cheap drinks or chrome and leather; it's who's helping me enjoy my drink while sitting on my lap.
• georgmicrodong

  •

  13 years ago

  If the current business model and practices didn't work, the clubs that follow that model and those practices would go out of business. Some do, of course, but many do not. Ergo, the model works for some subset of clubs, so why should they change it?
• Joe from NJ

  •

  13 years ago

  What I find annoying is the attitude of the “upscale” “gentlemen’s clubs” that have an “upscale” attitude. They thing that they are so superior, that the customer should be privileged that they were admitted. The whole place is run with a snooty atmosphere. I like a nice strip-club, that knows why it is there and appreciated its customers.
• 10inches

  •

  13 years ago

  I agree--it's the GIRLS that count. don't care how nice the atmosphere is , if the girls are not up to par then I don' go back. clubs need to take much better care of the dancers. such things as a nice dressing room, free or reduced food and above all quit nickel and dimeing then to death. clubs should make their money off the booze and cover charge not on the backs of the dancers. let them keep their earnings and they will be much happier and that will transfer to the customer. no more bitching about how badly they are treated by the club owners. clubs that treat the dancers as valued employees with get the cream of the crop not just the girls that can't get hired elsewhere. what other business expects its' workers to pay for the opportunity to work there. clubs should pay their staff (dj, bartenders, bouncers, house mothers) out of their earnings not the dancers. it takes a special kind of woman to get on stage and get naked before strangers. treat them special and not a just a revenue stream.
• Rod8432

  •

  13 years ago

  gmd - You're right in that some clubs do survive and maybe even thrive while still possessing qualities a lot of us on this site don't like - snooty girls, obnoxious staff, low mileage, high prices, and watered-down drinks. I wonder whether they do so because enough guys really want that, or whether these same guys either don't know better or simply are "takin' what they're givin'" because that's all they think is available? It reminds me of American cars in the 70s/80s - a lot of us drove them because we hadn't yet considered there were other options available, and the car companies and auto dealers/lots treated us that way with big prices, lousy quality, and poor service. One day, after a particularly bad run with my early-80s Olds Cutlass, I bailed. My next car was a Nissan, and I never looked back. My parents did the same thing after bad Chevy and Ford experiences, and they were stalwart American buyers nearly their entire lives. I guess my point is, I wonder whether the SC market is ripe for the kind of company that "gets it" to come in give the customer what he really wants - great service, hot girls, and good value. Maybe a "Car-Max" for SCs, where they streamline what we want and ditch all the shit we don't. Of course, there'd still be room for the mom&pops, but even they would need to come up a notch to compete.
• georgmicrodong

  •

  13 years ago

  rod: I tend to agree that most SC goers fall into the "occasional" and/or "casual" categories. Their twice a year trek to the naughty side of town, and probably the same club they went to last year, doesn't really give them a chance to know what they're missing, so they don't complain. If they were to sample more, I suspect (without proof) that the really bad one's would go away sooner. As it stands, nobody but sites lime TUSCL really covers a large number of strip clubs, and word of mouth doesn't appear to have the same effect in this industry as it does in others. Something about not skating folks to know where you've been that keeps people quiet, I think. :)
• rl27

  •

  13 years ago

  My criteria is a bit different. Like others said, it's the girls that count. I tend to avoid overly glitzy clubs. The following things usually turn me away, valet parking, high cover charges anything over $10 is a rip off. Two drink minimums, requiring you to have a drink in your hand or at the table or you have to leave. Bathroom attendants, especially those with 80+ bottles of cologne, mandatory coat checks. The only reason to have valet parking is if the club is in a dangerous area, the same for a bathroom attendant. All the following things to add more glitz, also are a waste: Cigar Bars, Overly flashy lights and sound system, especially if it's too loud. Also a VIP room with a TV and fireplace is useless, all you need is a private, comfortable place to sit. I look for friendly dancers, who are not worried about making enough money to cover all their tip outs. I don't want to see pushy waitresses trying to sell you over priced drinks for the dancers. Neither do I want to purchase an expensive low quality drink to enter the VIP area, especially if it's $100 or more for a cheap $10 bottle of champagne. I also don't care if the bouncers wear tuxes or expensive suits, and don't want to see them walking through the club constantly talking into their headsets like wanabe Secret Service agents. Good security is unseen and unobstrusive. I also do not want the floor manager bring over ladies to my table at a club I have never been to before, if I have been there for 20 minutes and haven't bought a dance. I like to spend my first half hour or so scoping out the place before choosing a dancer. Especially since most of the time the dancer is either someone I am not interested in, or is the manager's favority, or hasn't made much money yet.
• minnow

  •

  13 years ago

  I mostly agree with IL, Rod, and rl27. Even so, clubs that mostly "get it" can still go out of business due to factors sometimes [not] beyond owners control. On 1 hand, road widening construction (Tanga Lounge). On another hand, legal problems/LE heat ( CHT Las Vegas, Ricks Seattle).
• beaverbandit69

  •

  13 years ago

  Some of the BEST clubs have LOW or NO COVERS, good security with no goons watching over the lap dance area, SMOKE EATERS (if there is still smoking allowed), comfortable seating, diverse beverage and alcohol selections at reasonable prices, $10 LAP DANCES. I agree the biggest is the LEGALITY OF LAP DANCES facing the strip club industry. You would think common sense & JOBS would prevail over lawmakers with misguided moral Nazi dictator beliefs..... but in Louisville, KY, all of OHIO, MISSOURI, Detroit, MI, and countless other cities and states the moral Nazi (mostly REPUBLICAN) lawmakers are essentially legislating clubs out of business with DRACONIAN 6 FOOT NO TOUCHING LAWS, limiting hours of operations, no alcohol... Our country is getting dangerously close to being ran by the far right wing religious right & if we don't vote these kooks out of office there will be no strip clubs left where lap dances are legally allowed in the USA.
• georgmicrodong

  •

  13 years ago

  I'm going to point out that the Louisville City Council is currently 17 to 9 in favor of Democrats, and the mayor is a democrat. The previous council was also predominantly democratic, as was the mayor.
• looneylarry

  •

  13 years ago

  I think that nationally this is a charge led by the GOP. And it a hell of a lot easier to collect your votes by publicly pushing that morals platform than to try and collect any votes by pushing any type of vice platform. Who's going to state publicly that men ought to have the right to have nude women grind on their laps for their own sexual gratification? That is a debate stopper right there and political suicide (unless you are David Vitter). This is such an easy target for the morals crowd. Set up the straw man as a pervert and beat the bloody hell out of him, then see if anyone rushes in champion the cause of the perverts. It is like shooting political fish in a barrel.
• jestrite50

  •

  13 years ago

  Well I really didnt think my article that I wrote would draw so many comments as it did. There are many opinions being brought out which is good but it seems now that the comments are not about my article but the comments are about the comments about my article. Not all bad. I'm glad I was able to stir up some discussion ! Keep them coming !
• Book Guy

  •

  13 years ago

  Not the GOP, per se; the Bible-thumpers. Portions of the Republican party have been taken over by holier-than-thou types, yes. But portions of the Democratic party have been taken over by similar. The problem for strip clubs isn't with the Republicans' platform theory of less government, or the concept of laissez-faire economics, or the more cynical interpretation of corporate interests taking precedence over an individual's right to sane, easier working conditions and remuneration. All of those typical Republican things -- some official; others merely interpolated by the Left -- would support strip clubs, and very much so. In fact, under a true Goldwater-Republican administration, I think stripping would see a heyday like never before in the USA! And probably prostitution, too ... But the above concepts are currently enmeshed with the New Fundamentalist movement. If they'd just get rid of that fringe element! Golly, then we could look at the Republicans and point out just how fucking idiotic limited government and laissez-faire economic theories are. But we're distracted by Bible-thumpers ...
• Trevor32

  •

  13 years ago

  There was a club I went to about two years ago called The Lounge, no longer in business. Firstly, they charged $25 cover, and I should have just left. Then when I found a girl I liked and went for a private dance, the chair was an uncomfortable hard metal chair. I only stayed for one song and was pissed I wasted my money on the cover. If the owners were not so cheap and sprung for some comfortable chairs maybe they would still be in business. Owners who cheap out are doomed to fail.
• Spark71

  •

  13 years ago

  red man, I couldn't agree with you more!!! And strangely enough, the common sense of Omegawest hits home as well,and Irish Lad, all I can say is that with the insight that comes from these forms, although no college has it as a major but here is your degree right here and we are the professors!!! I stopped reading after that :) but all good comments and very insightful. Coincidentally, I am thinking, how hard can it be to open and run a club so these thoughts are good!!