Are Fewer Dancers Working in Your Area Than in Prior Years?

Club_Goer_Seattle
Seattle, Washington
It seems that is the case in the Puget Sound Region. There are nine Deja Vu clubs in Washington State. Eight are in the Puget Sound Region. On the websites for the individual Deja Vu clubs, the stage names of the various dancers are listed. Over the past year, I've kept track of the number of dancers working at each club. The results are:

Number of dancers shown as two dates: 10/7/2011 and 9/13/2012

Club #1 - 106 and 93 dancers
Club #2 - 146 and 87
Club #3 - 91 and 59
Club #4 - 57 and 39
Club #5 - 107 and 71
Club #6 - 112 and 89
(Clubs 7 and 8 don't provide this information)

I sense that the non-Deja Vu clubs are down in their numbers too, but I can't easily confirm that. I think there are a couple of specific reasons for this trend, which I'll elaborate on, upon request. Has anyone else noticed this trend where you go clubbing?

20 comments

Latest

txtittyfan
12 years ago
I have just noticed a lower percentage of hot dancers relative to the total number of dancers in the Phx sarea.
pabloantonio
12 years ago
I think there is an endless supply of sexy 20 year olds who have no moral qualms or inhibitions about taking their clothes off for money. (Or for having sex).

However, in my limited experience, I would say that the supply of dancers remains fairly constant.
motorhead
12 years ago
Fewer hotter dancers for sure.
lopaw
12 years ago
More dancers seem to be working, but they are less hot than their predecessors.
jester214
12 years ago
I've never really given it serious consideration, but I'm sure a given area's economic situation could have a major impact on numbers. Poor economies mean more looking to make a buck and also clubs willing to take more women (who they can charge fees to replace lost revenue). Then of course the inverse is true.

Now if numbers were increasing I can see how it would seem like there were less hot dancers. I personally have not noticed a trend in less good looking ladies.
snowtime
12 years ago
I have not noticed any change per se. I think the girls have, and always will, gravitate to the busiest clubs. The busier clubs will attract the most and most attractive dancers. Those clubs with the hottest dancers and best value will attract the most customers. Simple economic equation.
Of course, economic factors in a given area will affect the overall strip club dollars in a particular area. While people keep blaming the economy for every business problem, I doubt it has had much of a negative effect on strip clubs. Sure, the unemployment rate is close to 10% and for those 10% things are definately bad. But most of the other 90% are employed and probably making more than they ever have. Those of the 90% who are inclined to go to strip clubs will probably go more often and spend more than they ever have.
Also, with the tight employment picture, especially for young people, I suspect the lure of easy money will bring in more, not less, dancers in most cities.
Dougster
12 years ago
I've noticed a drop off in numbers but not in terms of looks. Maybe when remembering our earlier mongering days we remember the hot girls but our minds censor out the others that weren't hot?
SuperDude
12 years ago
The economic near-collapse of Detroit has created an over supply of young women with no job skills looking for any kind of work. Dancers are in plentiful supply and quality control is almost gone. It seems some managers will let any woman work the club, just to get the fees and keep the club full of dancers. The auto guys with the big expense accounts are a thing of the past. This new glut of dancers is trying to make it off guys with limited incomes
gatorfan
12 years ago
I lost count I dont know
Tiredtraveler
12 years ago
The money being made in the clubs is down as the patrons have less to spend so the lookers have moved on.??
deogol
12 years ago
The lookers were part of a group of people who in their youth took care of their bodies. These days, young people are all about being fat.
shadowcat
12 years ago
I club in the same area as snowtime and I agree with his thoughts.
canny
12 years ago
I know a few strippers personally and they're all complaining that the money isn't what it was 2 years ago. This isn't the, "I need the money...." crap that a lot of strippers pull to try to get us to spend every last penny on them. This is them talking over coffee or chatting with me on Facebook, and I've never gotten so much as one lap dance from half of them so they know that I'm not going to start now. This is them being honest. People aren't spending as much in strip clubs as they did 2 years ago.
minnow
12 years ago
As I travel a lot, "my area" covers a wide swath. Just taking a 1 year "snapshot" as you did, haven't really noticed much difference.
But, compared to 5 or more years ago, I'd say there's been a slight dropoff in some places, notably on the customary SRO nights. In some clubs I can think of, they'd start to get packed at 9p, now it is more like after 10p that they do.

I assume that OP's numbers quoted mean total dancers on roster. Even that number is suspect, as some (many?) clubs don't update their site, or dancer lineup that well.(I saw one CA club that still had dancer pic of one who hadn't danced there in 4 years !) Coupled with high dancer turnover just makes those figures more suspect. The real metric should be how many dancers are available on shift at any given moment. The lower 2012 numbers could mean that more dancers are sticking around, and there are less transits. Or club is doing a better job at updating their website.
Club_Goer_Seattle
12 years ago
@ minnow: Correct. The numbers are the complete roster for the club. The clubs list each dancer by name, and they update those lists sporadically. I simply count the total number of dancers each time I see that the list is updated.

We definitely have two schools of thought going on about my question:

1. In some areas of the country members feel that there are more dancers now due to the down economy.

2. Others feel as I do. Here in Seattle, I don't think customers are spending nearly as much in strip clubs as they did a few years ago. Hence, there are fewer dancers now, in response to the lower demand level.

However, no clubs have closed due to poor performance, although I can name three here that should. The only clubs that have closed in recent years were due to LE action.
minnow
12 years ago
Some clubs have closed due to owners selling out to other interests, or other interets taking precedence. In the last few years, 2 LAX area clubs, Century Nudes, and The Wild Goose closed their doors. The former was bulldozed and leveled to accomodate an airport parking company. The laters owner sold out to an apartment/condo developer.
DandyDan
12 years ago
I believe of the three places I visit most, one has more, although I'm not sure why they would, although I do know a disproportionate number of their new dancers are exiled from the other two places I visit. One has less, largely because they still haven't recovered from being closed due to a flood last year, although I think poor management has as much to do with it as anything. The third seems to have the same, although the number of quality dancers is way down there.
jerikson40
12 years ago
I have given up hope of ever understanding any trends associated with strip clubs. Nothing ever makes sense. Stuff you think would be obvious, doesn't seem to apply.

Economy sucks, and more girls in the workforce than years ago. Which means more girls get laid off when things are bad, therefore more girls available and wanting to work at strip clubs, where presumably anyone can get a job if they're decent looking. But that doesn't seem to be the case. You go into a club and there are 4 average looking girls on shift. Huh? Bad economy?

Economy sucks, therefore more dancers are more eager to make a buck, so they're much more attentive to customers, and work harder while on shift? Not even close. Seems like even more the girls are sitting on their asses texting, or screwing off in the dressing room all shift.

I recall a local club, probably the best around, years ago was offering super high mileage, $20 laps with some hot girls. It pretty much had the market cornered. Excellent place. Then the owners decided to install a $150 VIP section, and make the laps just a warm up/teaser for the VIP. Economy going south, I figured it wouldn't last more than 6 months before they went back to the old setup. And now, many years later, it's still going strong. Go figure. Some guys will lay out $150 like it's candy, even with a crappy economy.

Presumably the negative stigma associated with stripping has lessened as women get more independent and people in general become less "religious". But I'm not seeing it. You'd think the cream of the crop would be out looking for work, and pushing out the less attractive dancers. You'd think it would be a customer's market right now. Nope.

I just don't get it. Any of it.

Sure, the money the strippers are getting is less than years ago. But in a crappy economy, what's their other choice? Everyone is scrambling for jobs, right? High unemployment and all, right? So you either work at the club for less money, or what? Sell pencils on the street corner?

Someone explain it to me. Please.
jerikson40
12 years ago
Okay, in the interest of science, and as a service to the gentlemen of this board, I did a little bit of research in an attempt to understand it all. I checked some numbers for LA and Orange Counties (California) to see if I could put some figures to my quandry.

Turns out there are about 13 million people combined in LA and Orange counties, and about 10% of them are females aged 18 to 24, which I figure is "stripper age". Pretty good sleuthing, huh?

Now, the unemployment rate for teens (aged 16 to 19) in California is around a whopping 34%. For the state as a whole, it's around 10%. So I threw a dart and came up with the 18 to 24 age group unemployment at around 25%. Which means that there are about 325,000 unemployed females in that age group, and for each change of 1% in unemployment there are about 13,000 more females of that age group walking the streeet. Figuratively, of course.

Now, I figure there are something like 85 active strip clubs (out of a total of about 100) in the LA/Orange county area, based on a count from the TUSCL list, and a little handwaving to account for inactive/useless clubs.

So what does that mean? Well, for each 1% increase in unemployment, there are potentially something like 150 girls per club looking for work.

Now, in reality, only a small fraction of those would even consider being strippers. And then only a fraction of those are hot enough. And then only a fraction of those would last more than a week after trying it. And whatever other stuff that I'm not considering.

So what's the point? Hell, I still have no idea. Other than when you think about it, (and as someone else mentioned earlier in this thread and I should have listened to), just because there's a spike in unemployment, that doesn't necessarily mean a lot more girls are available or looking to work at clubs, or things are that bad overall. Though with a 25% unemployment for girls in that age range, that's still pretty bad.

But 13,000 more girls unemployed for every 1% increase in unemployment doesn't seem like all that much, when you figure it's the whole of LA and Orange counties.

farmerart
12 years ago
Bad economy? What bad economy? In my area of the world the economy is in a state of white hot rock and roll. Even the super lame SCs of Alberta seem to be doing OK. In fact, during my last SC visit in Alberta in July the club was short of dancers and waitresses for the huge crowd.
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