Strip Club Franchises
Electronman
Too much of a good thing is never enough
What strip club franchises or chains exist in your part of the country? Are any of them any good? Why/why not?
I live in the Great Lakes area. Deja Vu has a number of clubs in this area and scattered across the country (including a few that operate under the Deja Vu umbrella (e.g., Hustler, Little Darlings, and Dream Girls).
Some of the clubs in this franchise feature nudes dancers-- that's certainly a plus, even if it means that the club cannot serve alcohol (that policy varies across states). However, I tend to avoid the Deja Vu chain because the clubs that I've visited in this chain tend to cut the private dances short, often a 2 to 2.5 minutes, the private dance areas are heavily monitored (by video or by a bouncer) to limit mileage and the dancers are often exploited for a large percentage of their earnings.
Any other franchise/chains that are worth visiting around the country (Ricks? Penthouse?).
I live in the Great Lakes area. Deja Vu has a number of clubs in this area and scattered across the country (including a few that operate under the Deja Vu umbrella (e.g., Hustler, Little Darlings, and Dream Girls).
Some of the clubs in this franchise feature nudes dancers-- that's certainly a plus, even if it means that the club cannot serve alcohol (that policy varies across states). However, I tend to avoid the Deja Vu chain because the clubs that I've visited in this chain tend to cut the private dances short, often a 2 to 2.5 minutes, the private dance areas are heavily monitored (by video or by a bouncer) to limit mileage and the dancers are often exploited for a large percentage of their earnings.
Any other franchise/chains that are worth visiting around the country (Ricks? Penthouse?).
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16 comments
The Diamond Men's Club -- call Frank, don't know the crazy guy's (imo he us not all there) last name.
Crazy Horse - Call Al Spencer
Christies - Call Steve Cooper
at one time or another they all did franchises.
My brother was the Sheriff and he couldn't do anything about it. Damn kids.
As far as franchises go, I have to give props to The Glitter Factory. Terrible club, great breakfast buffet.
There are other chains, or seeming chains.
But to be involved in any of this you NEED A LAWYER! ( unless you intend to be underground, as we sometimes have in SJ's Mexican Bars )
And what the chains offer is usually going to be inferior to the independent operators.
Guy bought a Hooters Franchise to run at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Radio talk show laughed at him. All that money just for a name, then on top of that what it really cost to get it going. San Francisco is not Peoria. You can get away with more in SF.
To their credit, DV only has one branded club in SF. The rest they have unbranded. I would say that the four no alcohol unbranded nude clubs are probably going to be their best, 20s, Eden, Darlings, and Century.
Why would you want a strip club franchise when you can just make up a name and start one. You don't need a recognized name, but what will always be needed, and expensive, is the lawyering.
SJG
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Strip clubs are already in legally dicey territory.
SJG
We don't have any Ricks clubs but Rick's Corp owns the popular Tootsies Miami and Scarlett's Hallandale.
Their position is that the strip club industry is dying, and so no one wants to start anymore clubs. Hence no more in San Francisco, and the loss of Market Street Cinema. Not aware that they have started any new clubs anywhere in the US.
Is the industry dying? In some states, like Texas, how much alcohol revenue a club has is a matter of public record. DV is looking at that kind of info for their own clubs, and for the competition. From this they draw their conclusion.
From my perspective I don't think this is necessarily correct. I feel that public attitudes about alcohol and about intoxicated drivers have gotten progressively harsher and harsher each year. And so any thing like a drive to business which revolves around alcohol, is in my view a turkey business.
Their view of the strip club industry may be largely based on this alcohol axis. Most states have no connection between the alcohol rules and the skin level.
And then also I notice that they don't seem to have anything in Portland? That must be the place where it is the easiest to open new clubs. And they have the highest ratio of strip clubs per capita.
Then also, there still seems to be the transition which Jim and Artie Mitchell were part of, moving from media porn, to f2f skin to skin interaction with real adult entertainers. Despite some crackdowns going on in various areas, I still see this f2f form as growing. Attitudes are little by softening up. And then notice how vocal sex workers are in NOLA, against the recent crackdown. This kind of militancy and self assertion is new.
I further notice that in many areas they have added strip clubs to adult book stores. I presume this is because of these zoning and proximity laws. But this still goes along with the idea of moving from media porn to F2F venues. And in some places, just looking at the buildings, it looks like they have converted adult book store places into strip clubs:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.5590725,…
So I see a segment, not necessarily always the most lucrative segment, as growing. It would be the No Alcohol, or No Alcohol License, and maybe members only non-retail form of strip club. And this is the form I would suggest starting more of.
One commercial building members only swinger's club already in San Jose. No strip clubs now in Oakland, but that's because of an unconstitutional ordinance they passed and an anti-crime crackdown. A members only strip club would be completely exempt from such a regulation.
Now Sights in Newark NJ is closed, but it ran for a long time. And likewise Edgewater West in Oakland is gone, but it ran for a long time.
I think this is the growth segment, and the segment to use to attack the DV near monopoly.
Now, Papi, 3 clubs with the same name, but owned by a corporation, is not the same as franchising. In franchising an owner is buying the use of the name, and getting some other types of support, but still being the biz owner themselves.
I don't see franchising as playing any kind of constructive role in strip clubs.
Notice that swingers clubs have run for decades and they are listed on association sites, but they are not franchised.
Franchising is like for restaurants and car dealerships.
SJG
Led Zeppelin, 1969 Danish TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-WSbMW7…