Baltimore's Gold Club

9/1/2005 8:05:00 AM

I've been having a running debate on Baltimore's Gold Club's web site. I claim the place is grossly overpriced while everyone else (who I think all work there) tells me I'm nuts. So I'd like your opinion. First some background - the place is large and super fancy, probably the fanciest club I've ever been in, a really beautiful facility. The main room has two large circular bars with a stage in the middle of each, and the stages are connected by a runway that has very comfortable lounge chairs and small tables on either side. The girls come down a wide stairway from their upstairs dressing room onto one end of the the dogbone-shaped stage and dance fully nude on stage, then get dressed and circulate for conversation and private dances. There's a separate lap dance room, a champagne room, a gold room, a shower-show room, and a separate room for private parties where they also have male dancers on weekends. Everything is new and super-plush. You enter the club through a metal detector and there are large bouncers everywhere and a dj playing the music. There are also tons of dancers working but their quality is pretty average - some are attractive and fit, many are neither. But all are pretty friendly and there's not a lot of hustle. And there are few customers, at least during the day when I go in. Get the picture? BTW, the club isn't located downtown, it's in the outskirts of town on a main commercial highway surrounded by auto repair shops, factories, etc. - a pretty seedy area. The famous Wagon Wheel, the highest contact club in the state, is a couple blocks away.

Now for the pricing. During the day there is no entrance fee or cover but I think there is at night, don't know how much. Beers are $7, mixed drinks more. Drinks for dancers are $10 and are tiny. There is a kitchen and a burger costs $9. Laps, fully clothed and no touching by the customer, are $30 a song except on Wednesday when they are $20. The gold room is $150 per half hour, which includes free drinks, and the girls are topless, and they expect a big tip on top because the house gets a big cut. More touching than in the lap room but still pretty low contact. The champagne room is similar at $175 a half hour, there's a little more privacy but cameras everywhere. I believe the shower room is $250 plus tips for the girl (or 2.) If you just sit at the bar and drink with a girl you'll go through a $100 real fast. If you want to play it will cost alot more than that.

My contention is that (1) they're charging white collar prices in a blue collar area, (2) they're charging for top quality girls and hiring average quality girls, (3) they're charging for high contact laps and giving their customers low contact. They disagree, they think they've got the only real gentlemen's club in the area and are worth the price. Who's right? BTW, the place is empty during the week and all the girls are pissed because they aren't making any money, but they apparently do fairly well on weedends and usually have a bunch of bachelor parties. I suggested that they ought to lower prices, at least during week days, and maybe they'd get some customers. They say they don't want to attract the local riff-raff, but they've already got a mostly blue-collar crowd, if you can call the handfull of people there a crowd. Everyone just sits at the bar and stretches their drinks and watches and nobody tips the girls.

What's your reaction?

6 comments

Latest

FONDL

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19 years ago

I think that people who manage high-end clubs often miss two key points. First, if you're charging moderate prices people are often willing to overlook some problems if they aren't too major. But if you're charging top dollar your product better be perfect because you're trying to attract a much more critical customer. A mercedes has to be of much higher quality than a Chevy.

Second, moderately-priced clubs usually don't have much competition except for other moderately priced clubs in the area. But once you start talking big bucks, your competition isn't just other clubs, it's other forms of adult entertrainment as well. For example, if I'm thinking of spending a couple hours in a local titty bar that might run me $100 or so, there isn't likely to be much else available in that price range. But if I'm thinking of hitting a fancy place where a trip to the VIP room could push me into the $300+ range, I might consider hiring an escort instead. Or any of a bunch of other options that are readily available. As clubs raise prices, these other options become more and more attractive for some customers.

chandler

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19 years ago

I meant to say, I agree completely that a prime location is all-important if you plan to open an upscale NO TOUCH club. Nobody's willing to go much out of their way because they heard a club has nice decor.

chandler

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19 years ago

Not to belabor the point, but the Flight Club is about three miles from the airport, yet it has out-competed two long-successful upscale clubs that are much closer. They've done it by attracting quality girls and allowing a lot of contact. (All made possible by the best lawyers they could afford.) Immediately after opening, the club became widely known as THE place for girls to go to make unreal money. So, inevitably, it quickly became a mecca for travellers and the area's high rollers. A big reason they were able to do it right, no doubt, was experience. The owner had previously had a similar success on a smaller scale with Trumpps, another upscale joint in a really shitty part of town, on 8 Mile, nowhere near downtown, the airport, hotels, nothin'. The Flight Club was their next draft, applying all they had learned from Trumpps, which had to survive a series of busts and constant pressure.

Anyway, it sounds like the Gold Club people aren't too experienced at making a go of it on this level. Obviously, Baltimore isn't the same as Detroit, but it still could be possible to succeed with an upscale club in a bad location. However, you don't just set your prices high and say, "Build it and they will come." You need to have hot women, loose rules, and one hell of a team of kickass lawyers.

FONDL

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19 years ago

AN, Maryland clubs are about as different from DC clubs as they could possibly be. I've neer been to Wagon Wheel but it has the reputation of being a high-contact LD factory. I used to go to McDoogals a lot and still would if they were open during the day - it's a very nice laid-back locals hangout with a very friendly atmosphere. You might also try Showcase Theater - it's a fairly decent LD factory but is expensive.

Chandler, the point I was trying to make is that if your target market is traveling businessmen and conventioneers. you need to be near the downtown hotels. If you aren't, you need to try to attract a different audiance.

chandler

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19 years ago

Fondl, the only part of your contention I would question is (1). While I don't go to many white collar clubs myself, I know of many successful ones that are located in seedy parts of towns. For instance, the Flight Club outside of Detroit is in an area very much like your description for the Gold Club, down to the only club nearby being a nasty dive. This correlation, or lack thereof, may vary from city to city. For the sake of making your case, since they have no hope of changing (1), I would emphasize (2) and (3).

AbbieNormal

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19 years ago

Never having been I don't think I can comment specifically, but in general people who think they can plop an "upscale" business anywhere they want are usually mistaken. In addition wanting to keep the locals out and planning to draw outsiders in is not a strategy for long term viability. I do have a friend that swears by the place. He drives up from DC on weekends sometimes. I've never taken him up on the offer to go. Now that I know it's close to the Wagon Wheel maybe I will. I've always wanted to check out both McDougall's and "The Wheel".

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