What a shame that this club could not make it.
rickdugan
Verified and Certifiable Super-Reviewer
What a prime example of what happens when club management doesn't know its ass from its elbow. They had every advantage that one could imagine, including:
- They were are in one of the fastest growing cities in the country;
- They opened right as the local economic boom kicked in.
- They were practically right next to a major highway entrance/exit.
- They were the closest strip club to St. Johns County, now the most affluent county in FL
- They had a couple of dozen business travel hotels within a 2 mile radius and some walking distance.
- They were the closest club to St. Augustine, which handles mega tourist traffic each year.
- Included in the tourist traffic above is the World Golf Hall of Fame and a PGA golf course, where various events were held around the year at the Renaissance Resort. Can anyone say tons of affluent men traveling by themselves or in groups of guys?
So how could they have fucked this up? For starters, by not marketing their existence at all. How in the world did this club not introduce itself to people like the bartenders at the 19th hole of that PGA golf course or certain staff at the local hotels and resorts? How did they not strike any type of understanding with local livery drivers bringing bored affluent tourists north from St. Augustine to play? It truly boggles the mind.
Even worse though, when these guys found the place randomly there was little to no suitable talent. This was in large part due to the employees who were running this clusterfuck day to day. A lot of girls came through, but few stayed. As one girl told me, every male employee their had his hand in her pocket and they were treated poorly, which doesn't fly in a market with several other friendly clubs in the area.
Then its final fatal mistake was the decision to re-position itself as an urban club. It was a desperation move driven by the fact that they were having a much easier time retaining black girls. So rather than try to figure out why that was, they took the path of least resistance, jacked up their drink prices and geared themselves as a night time party club. Needless to say, that wasn't a smart play if the goal was to scoop up St. Johns residential or St. Augustine tourist money given the demographics involved.
So now its closed and a wonderful opportunity was pissed away.
- They were are in one of the fastest growing cities in the country;
- They opened right as the local economic boom kicked in.
- They were practically right next to a major highway entrance/exit.
- They were the closest strip club to St. Johns County, now the most affluent county in FL
- They had a couple of dozen business travel hotels within a 2 mile radius and some walking distance.
- They were the closest club to St. Augustine, which handles mega tourist traffic each year.
- Included in the tourist traffic above is the World Golf Hall of Fame and a PGA golf course, where various events were held around the year at the Renaissance Resort. Can anyone say tons of affluent men traveling by themselves or in groups of guys?
So how could they have fucked this up? For starters, by not marketing their existence at all. How in the world did this club not introduce itself to people like the bartenders at the 19th hole of that PGA golf course or certain staff at the local hotels and resorts? How did they not strike any type of understanding with local livery drivers bringing bored affluent tourists north from St. Augustine to play? It truly boggles the mind.
Even worse though, when these guys found the place randomly there was little to no suitable talent. This was in large part due to the employees who were running this clusterfuck day to day. A lot of girls came through, but few stayed. As one girl told me, every male employee their had his hand in her pocket and they were treated poorly, which doesn't fly in a market with several other friendly clubs in the area.
Then its final fatal mistake was the decision to re-position itself as an urban club. It was a desperation move driven by the fact that they were having a much easier time retaining black girls. So rather than try to figure out why that was, they took the path of least resistance, jacked up their drink prices and geared themselves as a night time party club. Needless to say, that wasn't a smart play if the goal was to scoop up St. Johns residential or St. Augustine tourist money given the demographics involved.
So now its closed and a wonderful opportunity was pissed away.
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11 comments
I also think often times they are just solely focused on making $$$ and just focus on the short-term to the detriment of the long-term- not saying the focus shouldn't be to make $$$, but if you focus on the creating a good product vs w/e it takes to make the most $$$ the fastest, if you focus on creating a good product, the profits will usually follow and are often more sustainable - many of these people running clubs don't seem to know much about what a custy wants/needs and thus don't run clubs properly; it's like wanting to own a restaurant to make $$$ but you don't know much about food nor cooking - IMO, although I'm not a business-person, first thing is to make the dancers and custies happy (within reason), if that's in place, more likely it'll be a successful and sustainable club.
Seriously, it's just amazing how SC Mgt takes idiocy & incompetence to a quantum level. A retarded bonobo with a lobotomy could run things better.
I could break the internet chronicling some specifics of asininity just from the New York/Massachusetts clubs... but what's the point? Management NEVER listens to their patrons nowadays... ever.
I've actually reached out to the new owners of a place in Mass. to give them FREE CONSULTING ADVICE that would help their business tremendously... (did I mention I was offering value for FREE?)... *crickets* -- not so much as a "thanks but no thanks appreciate you taking the time to show an interest" email in return. Just a big ol FUKK U of indifference. This is what you got nowadays... BRAIN.FUCKING.DEAD.MANAGEMENT
(This is the same club that when they took over late last year, promptly went to a TRANS-QUEER-ANYTHING GOES! model in the corn fields of bumfukk Mass. -- ya seriously can't make this shit up. Sheer exponential idiocy, as also reflected in the other clubs around there, different reasons). Bad news is... nothing's changing anytime soon.
There is a city near me that had 3 HM SCs on the same road with 2 right across the street from each other. All 3 have shut down.
I was thinking about this..........if I owned a SC........I know the goal is to make as much $$ operating your business..........BUT......for god sakes STOP charging the dancers a fee when they walk in the door.......STOP making the dancers pay a tip out fee...........you as the owner should just enjoy the Beautiful women that you hire and you get to talk to half naked beautiful women for 8 + hours a day instead of being stuck in an office behind a computer for 8+ hours.
Charge $5-$10 cover (not $20-$25 like some SCs I've been to). Cut out the DJ and just let the custies and dancers pick music.
I am sure I am missing some stuff but I just feel like if the SC owners didnt make the dancers pay so much more would stick around.
+ dancers seem happy to be there - any club can have some bad-attitude dancers, but if I see that *most* dancers have a sour-attitude like they hate being there and treat custies w/ a sour-attitudes, then I assume management/ownership is not treating them right/fairly for most/many of the dancers to be that way; and unhappy dancers will usually result in unhappy custies - well-managed clubs also seem to have a good # of dancers that have been there for a good while
+ another rule-of-thumb for me of a well-managed club is a club I can spend multiple hours in and have a good time where time flies and I have very little if any unsavory moments
I don't expect a club to be perfect but my two points above I often use as a rule-of-thumb for considering a club to be well ran - as an example, the old Inner Room in Cocoa Beach consistently met the points I mentioned above.
What is it selling for?
That's because most customers' advice is crap, especially when it comes to theories about how things should be priced or how to manage dancer behavior at the club. What I was talking about, OTOH, is basic business 101 - let people know that you're there and don't abuse the people who make you money.
i totally agree.