Possible Bad News for fans of BBF

Just received confirmation that the couch dances are going up, too... Dances will now be $20, instead of $10. I guess all of this means I will be changing my loyalties back to HH.

As someone who has enjoyed a lot of good times at BBF in the past, I am sorry to see the loss of $10 couch dance, which was kind of a trademark of the place. However, it has become a little more rough over the past couple of years, at least on the visits when I was there.

My Indy trips have alternated between Dancers and BBF, each with its own signature girls. Although I don't go there as much now that I spend more time in ESL clubs, BBF is the site of so many SC firsts for me--first DFK with a dancer, first real extra in a club, first OTC--that it will always hold a special place in my heart, even if I never set foot in the place again.

I was very impressed on one visit when the doorman came over to me with a $20. bill. He pointed to the manager, Jerry, and said, "He told me to give this back to you. It fell out of your pocket." Not sure how many strip clubs--courthouses--churches--that would happen in.

Well that brings them even with other Indy clubs for lap dance and $25 under most for VIP. I notice how most of the increase went to the club. When Gold Club went up to 20/125 VIP it became a ghost town as customers left in droves. Basically this type of increase looses them teh compettive advantage and in the face of decliing economy the marlet for a luxury good like lap dances will take a major hit.

They'll end up like every other club 6 dancers on day shift and less than 6 customers.

Is there any way to comment? I just checked their web site and didn't see any.

If they follow through with this BBF will become just another average club - customers will stay away or avoid the VIP room or those who do use it will expect more contact, dancers will be pissed because they're making less money or having to do more, the party atmosphere that makes the place so special will be gone. This sort of thing is killing the industry. How can managers and owners be so dumb?

Forget about the economy, this is the sort of thing that's driving customers away from strip clubs. They're pricing themselves out of the market. They forget that they're competing with escorts and massage parlors and a whole lot of other adult activities, most of which are already cheaper.

"How can managers and owners be so dumb?"

Long term they cannot act "dumb" however shortterm they can do things that might appear dumb to outsiders, and some of this depends upon the entry barriers to opening competing strip joints - which in some markets is incredibly high, and their ability to retain existing customers and attract new ones willing to pay higher prices

What a shame. I was afraid that might follow after I heard Brad's Gold Club had doubled prices a year ago (or was that two years ago?) Although I realize it's been many years since they were under the same ownership or management.

Well this certainly makes it easier to say fuck the drive to Indy. Closer places with similar contact / pricing. Good job Brad's Management! Just managed to fuck up a good thing.

Some people are just stupid. When business is slow it is not the time to raise prices to make up for it. You don't see Ford or GM raising prices but rather giving incentives. The $10 lap dance is still alive and well at my favorite club but in this club the dancers set their prices. Those that want $25 to $40 for a single dance don't make a dime off of me and I'll be that they make less than the dancers that are more reasonable. I don't spend less. I just get more for my money.

I'm going to open a club and charge $1,000,000.00 entry to the VIP and $100.00 coctails! I'll be rich in no time! My tuscl brothers COMPED of course. Let some other fools make up the cost.

What a shame is RIGHT. Looks like Dancer's will be getting some new customers. My first and only visit to Dancer's was fabulous because for $20 LDs in the rear of the club (cubilces) facing the aquarium, I got fabulous mileage to include BBBF during the song.

Looks like I bypass Indy now and head to Kokomo's best club the HH.

The irony of this is that the club may actually make more (at least in the short term) if the decline in volume is less than the increase in prices. But the dancers will probably make less, since the club's share is increasing. Customers will no doubt be hearing more compaining about the weak economy.

FONDL has a very valid point. Dancers are going to get less in tips in my opinion. Those of us who did not have problems with tipping a $10 here and a $10 there during the 30 minutes, are either going to be tipping 'fivers' or nothing at all. One of the two times I visited BBF,

I spent more than $50 in their VIP room. After having to pay $100 for the VIP, I ain't gonna' be flippin' "tens" or "fives"! The dancer will just have to perform well for me, if she wants a 30 minute VIP repeat.

Ths thought is so true.

This defineatly was the case for me after the Gold club raised it's prices. I had two changes in spending patterns. First I where previously it was pretty easy to spend $10 to try a new dancer out just on a whim after they went to $20 I would only dance with those I had previously had experiemnce with. Secondly when the 1/2 room was $50 I would always cover the $10 to the house and generally tip a $20 or more to bring my average dance cost in the 15-20 range. Once the room went to $125 for 1/3 hour I pretty much quit tipping. Eventually I just quit going. The dancers were used to providing a level of pre-dance conversation the fit a $10 model of ask and go, in other clubs with the same prcing they were used to a $20 dance conversation model and had more dancer option. After 9 months I decided the business model wasn't changing form the previous $10 level and only the prices had increase by 100% for dances or 150% for VIP. Seeing the value wasn't there I moved on.

Eventually the club suffers from lack of adult beverage sales or is full of groups of guys in the ir 20's looking for a party not dances.

My last regular hangout was Gentlemen's Gold Club in Baltimore. When they raised VIP room prices (which were already too high) I stopped buying VIP's, so I actually spent less on subsequent trips. Eventually I got tired of the high price environment and stopped going at all. Those high prices may make some sense on Friday and Saturday nights, but I used to go on days shift during the week and almost nobody ever bought VIPs. I don't get it, what's the point of setting prices so high that nobody buys? GGC would be one of the best clubs in the country if they weren't so over priced. Even their regular LDs are $30 for no-touch with tops on. Nobody buys those either. And they do very little business, at least during the day No surprise there.

Unfortunately, it will take some time before the true results of this price increase are felt by BBF mgmt. By that time, chances are, they may blame the decrease of profits on something else.

Just like someone above state, their income MAY increase at the start, but it will be short lived.

Previously, when at BBF, I RARELY bought a couch dance. If a dancer caught my eye (or something else [wink]) while she was on stage, or while giving me a dollar dance, I would take her back to the VIP. I ALWAYS have been a good tipper for VIP service at BBF. Even though it was really just $40/30 min, I always viewed it as $50/30 to make calculations easier, and to compensate her for an enjoyable time. When it came time to tip her, I ALWAYS added even more money - on top of the $10 per 30 min that I'd already mentally included. If I'd spent a marathon session (multiple 30 min sessions) in VIP with her, which is usually the case, I would throw in another $50-$100 depending on how many hours we were back there.

Incidentally, today is THE day that the new rules go into effect. It will be interesting to see how things go. I talked to one of my BBF girls this morning and she is worried about it. In fact, she typically works the night shift, but today, she plans to do a mid-shift (4pm-12-ish), and will be reporting back to me.