Is money a consideration when choosing a club?

26 comments

• chandler

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  17 years ago

  FONDL: For most of us, I believe, when talking about prices at a strip club, that means the price of dances, plus the relatively fixed cost of cover, drinks, etc. How we spend what we spend is different for each of us. It's possible to spend over $100 an hour in any club. I know of only one club where it's necessary to spend that much in order to be more than a spectator (MBOT in San Francisco). I cited dance prices because that is a cost that can be compared apples-to-apples from one club to another, not that it always tells the whole story.
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  Chandler, I don't look at individual prices, eg. for dances, admission, drinks etc. What matters to me is how much the whole experience is going to cost for me to have fun. If I'm just stopping in for a short time, say for a drink, a brief chat and 2-3 LDs, I think the total cost should be well under $100. If I'm going to be there for a couple of hours, I think I should be able to have a couple drinks, sit and talk, and have some quality alone time with a girl for less than $200. I can spend an hour or so alone with a very pretty girl and get a great massage for around $100. I'm not willing to pay much more for the girl to be naked. So I guess whether I'm talking massage or strip club, my idea of "reasonable" is $100 an hour max.
• Clubber

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  17 years ago

  Since I know most local clubs, where I am is the first consideration. Other than that, usually I go to club I know, and people that work there, I know.
• casualguy

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  17 years ago

  For me if money is a factor, it'll show up in how many dances I buy if other factors are equal (such as the type of dance I like). As far as visiting a local club or choosing which clubs to visit, money or cover charge is rarely a factor in deciding where to go. Now if I have a choice and I can get the same or better dances from Club B as with Club A and Club B charges a lot less, I'll definitely head on over to the club where I get more for my money. I'm not rich so I try to maximize what I get for the money I have. However I'm not too interested in visiting a dump just because you can get everything dirt cheap.
• casualguy

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  17 years ago

  If I visited clubs more frequently, a $15 cover might deter me when I know another club has only a $5 cover and is just as good or better. For repeat visits though, it's really the dancers who keep customers coming back.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  Lower prices mean getting more for my money, not necessarily saving money. I usually spend about the same amount at a club where dances are cheaper. Sometimes, I wind up spending more there, because I'm enjoying it so much better. If only the geniuses who keep raising dance prices for their empty clubs would catch on to elementary economics.
  
  I only go to clubs with high prices if the strippers are real knockouts and the dances are sensational. Too often, a club's high prices are not justified by either the girls or the dances. In a few towns I can think of, the club with the cheapest dances attracts the best dancers, so the choice for customers is easy.
  
  I don't give much consideration to cover charges, drink prices or things like valet parking and bathroom attendants. If I'm going to spend $100 or more on dances, an extra $5-10 won't deter me. However, I am wary of clubs that charge a VIP fee or take their cut from what I pay the dancer. That's a sign the club will almost certainly suck.
  
  The time when a high cover, etc., does make a difference is when I'm thinking of checking a place out. Maybe it's one of several in the area I'm not sure about. I'm a lot less inclined to give it a try if that means anteing up $20 before I even touch a stripper.
• DandyDan

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  17 years ago

  Not really. I know I'm going to spend X amount (at least if it goes well), so I just decide who I want to see and go see them.
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  For me money isn't A consideration, it's THE consideration. A place that is overpriced is a place to be avoided, regardless of what else it may offer. I don't pay excessive prices. Period. And that's not only true of strip clubs, that's true of every area of my life. I avoid clip joints of every variety.
• minnow

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  17 years ago

  Money is a factor, but not an overriding one. I'll gladly pay more $$ for more attractive dancers and or higher mileage. Another factor I consider (sometimes ignore) is the time value- how far I'll drive to get what I want. There have been times when I've driven far to a more expensive club with high mileage vs a nearby no mileage club, and sometimes I've just gone to closest club, even though I might enjoy further one better.
• Book Guy

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  17 years ago

  I've driven a long way for a higher-mileage club, too. When I lived in Jackson, MS, I regularly took 3-hour overnight road-trips on weekends or holidays to visit Memphis or New Orleans, primarily for strip-clubbing. I'd stay in a cheap-o motel near the Interstate, do some outlet-mall shopping, and spend most of my time in strip clubs. I also organized a few trips to Houston for similar purposes, though I chose to take an airplane rather than drive.
  
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  For me, the girls and the dances are the main consideration and money is secondary. I don't view dances as commodities. I'm not nearly as bothered by high prices as I am by deceit, which defines a true clip joint IMO, and you won't avoid that by avoiding high prices.
  
  I'll often travel to a club where dances are cheaper, even though it costs me more in the long run. I have more fun when lower prices allows getting dances on impulse rather than agonizing over each decision.
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  It only takes one attractive and friendly stripper for me to have a good time. I'd rather spend an evening in an inexpensive dive with that one girl even if the rest are all fuglies than spend an evening in an overpriced clip joint with 50 beauties and attitudes to match. If a place is grossly overpriced I won't have a very good time no matter how gorgeous the girls are, because I won't be buying any drinks for them or any private dances.
  
  Outrageous prices are a real turn-off for me, no matter where I am. I'd rather eat at McDonalds than some place where the cheapest bottle of wine is 4 times it's retail cost.
• shadowcat

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  17 years ago

  of course money is important to me. I shop around when getting gasoline but if I want steak , I don't buy the hamburger bcasue it is cheaper.
  
  I am so lucky to have found a strip club that gives me steak at hamburger prices. I walk into my favorite club at 2:00 P.M. There are 12 strippers working. Unless there is a brand new one, I know all of them by name and reputation. I know who is married and who is doing drugs. I know who will do 2 dances for $20. All of them. I know who gives me the kind of dances that I want. I know who won't ask me because they know that they will get rejected. Sometimes I wind up with 3 or more favorites sitting at my table. Then I have to give out numbers. May, you're first and July, you come right after June. My covey of quail is constantly changing. Who is in and who is out and who is #1 vs #12. I have no ATF's currently and am not looking for one. The 2 that I have had were unexpected. They just happened. I have spent more money at other clubs and not nearly had as good of a time as I always have at my favorite club. It has taken me 6 years to get to know these girls, get their trust and get special dances from them and I do know that I am getting special treatment. Thats why I drive 240 miles once a month.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  Nobody here is defending clip joints or exhorbitant prices. I think there's room for a wide range of prices that make reasonable sense to pay under different circumstances. For example, the nearest club I visit is about an hour away, and has good $10 dances. They also have more private $25 dances, but I pass on them because the aren't any better. A good, fun club, but I'd go crazy if I went to the place every time. I like steak, but sometimes I want a hamburger, even if the price is the same. That's just the way I am.
  
  Another hour farther away is a club that has ony $25 dollar dances which are every bit worth it, just incredible, and the girls are hotter and as friendly as you could ever want. This club also has a steeper cover and drink prices, valet parking and all the usual nonsense which together adds at least $20 to the cost of a visit. Even farther away are clubs that are priced like the nearest club, with a little better $10 dances. There are also nude clubs I drive farther to visit where the private dances are more than I'm willing to pay - $30 or $40, I'm not even sure - but I get all my fun from stage tipping and hanging out with the girls buying them drinks.
  
  I like having all these different options and visiting whichever type of club I'm up for. There are tons of other places that are closer and cheaper, but they aren't any fun for me. I suppose I could put my foot down and rule out the genteman's club and the nude joints with the expensive dances I never buy on the basis of their higher prices, but all that would mean is denying myself some unforgettable times with a bunch of sexy strippers. I don't think so.
• casualguy

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  17 years ago

  It really depends more on the dancers. If I have some favorite dancers who treat me well and give me lower prices than other customers, I'll tend to go back to them rather than just go to a club where I can get dances at two for $20 or two for $25. There have been a few occasions over the years where I had a lot of big bills to pay and I opted to stay home and save money that weekend by not visiting any clubs. If you live by pretty much a cash basis and set aside money first for bills, retirement savings,etc. etc. before seeing what you have left over, it can be a factor if you spent a whole lot of money on other things in a month. I haven't experienced this in a while though.
• AbbieNormal

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  17 years ago

  I'd have to say that yes, all other things being equal, which they never are, if I had my choice between two equally good clubs and one was cheaper I'd go with the cheaper. Usually the decision is made on the basis of other attributes of the clubs that I'm familiar with. If we're talking about two unfamiliar clubs I'm checking out for the first time I'll almost always go with convenience first, reputation/reviews second, money third.
• ThisOldManPlayed1

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  17 years ago

  Like minnow said, money is a factor, but not an overriding one.
  
  I tend to stay close to "present home" and not travel a lot of miles. I don't prefer the classy joints that have a high cover, expensive drinks, beautiful women but expenses laps with minimal contact.
  
  I'd rather go to clubs that offer higher mileage (if not extras) even if the dancers range between 6-8 in looks.
• someyoungguysomeyoungguy

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  17 years ago

  Money is a consideration on *whether I choose to go* stripclubbing. If I have the money and decide to go, I choose a club I heard was good, TUSCL being one of many sources.
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  I've never noticed any correlation between how much a place costs and how much fun I've had. In fact I've probably had most of my most fun times in fairly inexpensive clubs. For one thing, the cheaper clubs seem to be more lenient on enforcing their rules. IME the really expensive fancy places usually have the least contact. And the girls seem to be more down to earth with less attitude at the cheaper places.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  I agree, FONDL. However, I return to a club because of the fun I had there, not because of the classification it falls under. So, if a cheap club was lousy, I stay away, and if a gentleman's club was a lot of fun, I go back.
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  Chandler, I agree, except that for me high prices all by themselves are a turn-off even if everything else is perfect. Case in point - my most recent regular club (Baltimore's Gentlemen's Gold Club) is one of the nicest places I've ever been. It has everything I like - wonderful decor (the nicest I've ever seen), attractive girls, friendly environment, little hustle, etc. In addition I had a regular girl there who is one of the best dancers who I've ever encountered. But it's so outrageously overpriced that it got to the point that whenever I went there I was spending all my time thinking about how much I was spending, which took all the fun out of it. So I stopped going there. If I ever start clubbing again I won't go anywhere that isn't reasonably priced.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  All strip clubs have high prices. What's a reasonable amount to pay for an experience that's over in three minutes? $5 seems high to me, let alone two or four times that. Yet we all pay, so we must be getting something of value for it. If I'm not, it doesn't matter how low the price is
  
  Likewise, I know the limit I'm willing to pay, and if I consider a club's prices outside my range, I don't go there to begin with. Or, if I've misjudged it, I leave before spending anything. Strip clubs should be all about enjoying the value of what you're getting, not brooding about its price.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  I have a followup to the original question: When considering whether the prices at a club are worth paying, how much weight do you give to the girls and the dances, and how much to other features, like decor, sound system, and various amenities?
• magicrat

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  17 years ago

  To me, it's all about the dancers and the experience. One of my favorite clubs is a dive, but the table dances are $5 and can be the equivalent of a $25-$50 vip at some of the clubs I read about on here. Call me cheap, but I'm too old to be impressed with a $30 air dance, no matter how fancy the club or good looking the dancers are. Has anyone really ever had a great time at the Cheetah in Atlanta?
• FONDL

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  17 years ago

  Chandler, I think the area that I'm from is generally more expensive than where you are. Many clubs I'm familiar with charge $30 or more for private dances. Some of those also have an entrance fee which can be as much as $20. Add drink prices of $6 or more and girls who expect several $10 "dancer drinks" to sit with you, and that's just too much for my wallet. Especially when there are other places that have no entrance fee, charge less for drinks, and have $20 LDs. And the girls are just as attractive and the LDs are better than the more expensive places. The decor isn't as nice but who cares, I like the seedier atmosphere better anyway.
• chandler

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  17 years ago

  In answer to my own followup question, it's all about the girls and the dances. I only care about fancy decor (read "gaudy") if it attracts big spenders who attract hot strippers. Above all, I hope the club's profits get applied to buying protection from LE and building up a warchest to hire the best asshole lawyers money can buy so the girls can keep breaking laws without worrying about shutting the place down.
  
  Regardless of price, I also prefer a seedier atmosphere. It makes the place feel more like a true den of iniquity. Also, strip club owners all have wretched taste, so fancy decor means gaudy and repulsive. The more they spend on it, the worse it gets. A so-called nice, expensive strip club is like the clubhouse of a hillbilly who won the lottery. I'll take a plain unostentatious roadhouse over that any day.
  
  (My apologies to any actual hillbilly lottery winners who may be reading this.)