Strip Clubs are Dying in the Upper Great Plains
NorthDak
Florida
Strip clubs have become an endangered species in many parts of rural America during the last decade. If this pace keeps up you won't be able to see a naked woman on stage (or in a lap dance room) between Minneapolis and Denver within another decade.<br />
<br />
North Dakota is down to 4 strip clubs in the entire state. Two are located in Williston, a single small city in the middle of oil country on the western edge of the state. The other 2 are located on the eastern edge of the state, in Fargo and Wahpeton, communities about 50 miles apart. There is almost 400 miles between the 2 pairs of clubs. That is a lot of ground without a place to sit and have a cold beverage while watching naked woman dance.<br />
<br />
There were never a lot of clubs in the state, it is a conservative part of the country. But at one time there were at least a dozen clubs operating in North Dakota and several other bars that held special "lingerie nights" or other events. Over the past several years communities across the state have found ways to force clubs out of business or made them change their business model.<br />
<br />
Mandan, a community across the Missouri River from the state capital, once had 3 clubs. None of them still have dancers. Minot, on the edge of the oil field, recently forced their strip clubs out. They also had 3 clubs at one time and had 2 going strong up till the end. I know that 1 is remodeling to have live music, I don't know what the other is doing. Both Minot and Mandan instituted new regulations on the adult industry that forced the clubs to stop having dancers. Other small towns have forced their strip clubs out by regulation or by just making life miserable for the owners.<br />
<br />
North Dakota is not alone in the shrinking ranks of strip clubs. South Dakota has lost several clubs in the past decade. Other clubs in South Dakota are only open for a couple of months in the fall, during hunting season. The rest of the year they are plain bars.<br />
<br />
Rural Minnesota has also lost a number of clubs. Even St. Paul has seen this trend, with only 1 club left in St. Paul. Luckily, Minneapolis seems to have avoided the trend and still has a good selection of clubs. Other well established clubs in parts of rural Minnesota are also still going strong.<br />
<br />
This trend started well before the economy went bad. And the economy in much of this area is actually still strong, so the economy is not a major factor in the covering up of America. I hope this is a localized problem, and that it is not bleeding into other parts of the country. But from my location it seems like the social conservatives are winning and our favorite hobby is slowly fading away. That's a shame because I really miss stopping down at a local club on a regular basis. It's a lot more work when you have to drive an hour or more each way just to watch some dancers.</p>
Want 4 weeks free VIP to tuscl?
Write an article
17 comments
Latest
America's Boomtown: Strippers can make $3,000 a night
Blake Ellis, On Tuesday 25 October 2011, 22:39 NZDT
Forget Vegas. Strippers are discovering they can make ten times as much dancing in the oil boomtown of Williston, N.D.
Thousands of men have come here seeking high-paying jobs working for the oil companies. And, at the end of the day (or four or five days when they're working on a rig), many of them are looking for some female companionship at one of the town's two strip club's, Whispers or Heartbreakers.
Word has gotten out about just how much money can be made dancing in Williston's strip clubs. The money is phenomenal, but the competition is stiff.
Whispers has received applications from exotic dancers in Hawaii, Alaska, even the Czech Republic and Germany, said Melissa Slapnicka, the co-owner of the club. She's been bombarded with so many applications that she only gives each dancer a week to try out. If they don't work out, they don't come back, she said.
"We used to have to beg people to come, and now we have to turn them away because we don't have room for all the people who want to dance," she said. "My best girls would rather dance here than in Vegas, because they make more money here."
Kit, a 36-year old stripper who has been dancing for 10 years in places like Las Vegas, Texas and California, first started coming to Williston a few years ago in between higher-paying jobs, because she had friends who danced in the town who were able to hook her up with gigs.
Double your salary in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota
At first, the nightly tips were nothing special, but over the past year -- thanks to the thousands of men who have flocked here and landed high-paying jobs -- she has been making $2,000 to $3,000 a night, about the same amount she would have earned in an entire week in Vegas.
"We make more than doctors," she said. "Back in the day, it was hard to make $200 a night. It was like pulling teeth. Now you can pull in $2,000 a night."
According to Slapnicka, most of her strippers make that much in a night. Even when it's slow, they still take home about $1,500.
But even those slow nights are few and far between. Unlike Vegas, where Kit said you have to time your jobs around special events to make the best money, Williston is busy every day of the week, all year round.
"Other places, [the men] wait until Friday because it's payday, but here they don't wait -- it's payday every day," she said.
And the dancers aren't the only ones in the club profiting from the oil boom.
Slapnicka, who bartends, said she used to make $50 in tips a night if she was lucky. Now it's more like $200. "They just throw their money at you," she said.
Kit said most of her customers are married men who have moved to North Dakota without their families.
"They're just here for a little company, because they're lonely," said Kit. "They work like four days on, four days off, 24 hours, with no break, no alcohol. So when they have days off they're gonna' drink, and when they drink they want to play."
Locals to big oil: We want our town back!
Since the club is always filled with oilfield workers, it has become a popular spot for new arrivals to find jobs on the rigs or as truck drivers.
"Guys who get off the train will come here and say they don't have a job, and I say sit here for three hours -- and they have a job when they leave," said Slapnicka. Are you living in a boomtown? If you know of an area where jobs are plentiful and high paying, and resources and housing are scarce, e-mail [email protected] the chance to be included in an upcoming story on CNNMoney.
View this article on CNNMoney
But also, I would imagine that in general, nationwide, the profitablility threshold has gotten much tighter over the last half decade anyway, which surely hits the low population density locations proportionally higher specially if there's a regional boomtown/Big City that draws out the business. It may be "hundreds of miles between a place to sit and have a cold beverage while watching naked women dance" but likewise that may be hundreds of miles between places where enough men will show up every night to drop the kind of money for beverages and naked dances that there's to be had in the Big City or in the Boomtown.
Notice the quote in the CNN article shadowcat clipped: "Locals to big oil: we want out town back", I can just see how in some of the more booming locations in the oil states the clubs would be caught in a backlash of sorts. Since the communities are not going to turn their backs on "Big Oil"'s jobs and tax revenues, when unease sets in with how that changes the ambience, they will then seek some other target against which to "make a stand".
As for St. Paul vs. Minneapolis, that's probably just the way the local culture/economy works out, there being some serious divides in Minnesota, home of Prince AND Garrison Keillor AND Michelle Bachmann: for the last 4 decades you've had sexy hip urban culture, highfalutin' liberal culture, and wingnut Jeezuzland culture in close proximity to one another, something's gotta give.
We'll see. Like I said in the review, I shall find out what's really going on.
Sounds like the perfect business opportunity for someone that knows the oil business and strip clubs.
If only we knew someone like that...
I'd also consider putting one in Estevan, which is the right across the border and where a lot of the guys I know that have passports stop through when they have to work way up in the northern part of ND and there aren't any hotel rooms available in Williston (ever) or Crosby (once in a blue moon you can get a room here)
I haven't been in Williston for several years. But the reports I've gotten from others tell me that the dancer earnings could very well be in the range described in the article, at least for some dancers. Twenty one year old truck drivers are earning $75,000 or more per year with very few other expenses. There are a lot of guys with money to spend. And they don't have a lot of options besides sitting in the bar drinking. As a side note, I have heard rumors that the city of Williston may consider new regulations on their clubs. Then the closest clubs would be Rapid City, SD or Billings, MT.
Cheo, I think you're right about Minneapolis-St. Paul. St. Paul is more of a local community and used to have a few small local clubs. I believe that only 1 still exists. Minneapolis has always been more of the sexy, hip, tourist destination (at least for Minnesota). It has always had more clubs and had a range of options from small local clubs to glitzy men's clubs. The number of clubs in Minneapolis seems to have held steady over the past several years.
I've always been intrigued by the number of clubs in each state and why/
North Dakota only lists 4 clubs which is pretty slim, but makes sense given it sparse population. I know South Dakota is more populated (but still is a small state) and they list 13 - which seems low, but compare that to Tennessee which only has 27 and has relatively large cities such as Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville. So it seems either SD should have fewer or Tenn more.