I used to frequent the Gold and Silver Club of Roanoke Virginia for a long time prior to the Owner of headlights buying it from the prior owner John in 2020. It was the only full nude club in Virginia that allowed for smoking, dances were reasonably priced and they had a pool table and two big screen TV’s. The place did need a make over which it got but when you don’t listen to you’re local customer base and the complaints of outrageous price dance increases feeding people a line of bull@$#% that “ $ 40 to $50 a dance is the going rate, which it’s not as Las Vegas only charges $25 to $30 a song or 3 for $100 in a private room it’s gas lighting your customer base. The place went from a full nude to a Bikini pole dance where if you want to see boobs you’ve gotta pay more money to go upstairs just to get a pole dance topless. Well the place has since closed down, don’t know if it will reopen but maybe management needs consider the fact that it’s Roanoke and not Las Vegas and bring prices back down to earth for what the area can actually afford.
I’ve seen clubs make this mistake so many times. Raising prices when business is already slowing and demand is down. The strategy to get more money from fewer people is never sustainable.
@GiveToFly, yeah I agree. I never fully understood this model. Its just a sinking ship in the long run. My local clubs are doing the same thing. The number of guys in the club has massively tanked during day shift. Nights are better but I've been told guys aren't spending like they used to.
I wonder if it is EVER sensible in business to move toward the model of "fewer customers but more money per customer" early in the business trajectory.
I mean, I guess, technically, when some of the major car manufacturers moved from economy cars towards luxury cars, that was what they were doing. Volkswagen began with the intent of making the total bargain-basement everyman's car, and even after it survived ol' Adolf and moved into the global market it was still an "economy car" brand for a long time. Then it upgraded, roughly IIRC 1990s. In that process, I suppose you could say, they were moving toward fewer customers, but with greater profit margin per customer. But this was after they had established themselves for OVER HALF A CENTURY. Buyers knew they were providing (or thought of them as providing) reliability, work-ability, consistency. Then they could change their intended market.
I guess I could see it working with certain brand-loyalty types of strip clubs ... MAYBE. Like, if the Pony Enterprises (or whatever it's called) outfits across the country got a very reliable following, with very established quality standards. I guess that's what the Penthouse Clubs, Ricks, Hustlers, and a few other lines, think they are doing. They aren't succeeding. Anyway, the club in question in this thread didn't even go through the long preliminary process of establishing itself before trying to upgrade, so it's really just a theoretical examination.
thanks for the history lesson @bookguy. The clubs I'm referring to are called Pony Bama, Pony Too and Uncle Bucks. I have heard the owner of all 3 is doing the same thing with other clubs. I didn't realize Pony Enterprises was such a big deal. I will admit this: Uncle Bucks in Huntsville has seen a huge quality increase.
It was the longest and only standing club that was full nude for over 25 years and sustained it's self until the idiot from New port News owner of headlights bought it out from the prior owner John now it sits empty and temporarily closed for how long who knows?
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I mean, I guess, technically, when some of the major car manufacturers moved from economy cars towards luxury cars, that was what they were doing. Volkswagen began with the intent of making the total bargain-basement everyman's car, and even after it survived ol' Adolf and moved into the global market it was still an "economy car" brand for a long time. Then it upgraded, roughly IIRC 1990s. In that process, I suppose you could say, they were moving toward fewer customers, but with greater profit margin per customer. But this was after they had established themselves for OVER HALF A CENTURY. Buyers knew they were providing (or thought of them as providing) reliability, work-ability, consistency. Then they could change their intended market.
I guess I could see it working with certain brand-loyalty types of strip clubs ... MAYBE. Like, if the Pony Enterprises (or whatever it's called) outfits across the country got a very reliable following, with very established quality standards. I guess that's what the Penthouse Clubs, Ricks, Hustlers, and a few other lines, think they are doing. They aren't succeeding. Anyway, the club in question in this thread didn't even go through the long preliminary process of establishing itself before trying to upgrade, so it's really just a theoretical examination.
He could maybe get away with it if there were a bustling tourist economy to take advantage of.