Economics affecting strip clubs in your area now?

20 comments

• casualguy

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  16 years ago

  I guess all these high costs of food and energy will cause more people to just want to sit and watch. You have to cut back your spending somewhere unless you were saving money before. If you were saving money before, you'll save less or nothing at all. I was saving money before all these higher costs came about. Of course I set myself up to live beneath my means so as to have lots of disposable income for spending cash or saving it or however I wanted to use it. (ie, bought a smaller house than I could afford, not going out and buying the latest gadget, living closer to work, less than 8 miles one way, consolidating trips to the grocery store, bringing bag lunch to work most of the time).
• jablake

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  16 years ago

  Hi casualguy, Here in Miami it seems like there is some real pain. The family next door who has lived next to me for almost a decade is losing their home. With the clubs it is harder to tell, but the dancers have been telling me that customers are spending less. Seems like the jobs available are greatly reduced. The big bright spot that I saw was at a propane company where times are good. The price of my propane for a 20lb tank doubled to just under $14.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  I was kinda hoping that an economic down-turn would allow the "lesser" vice and vice-related trades to slip through the cracks more readily. More uneducated girls need a little extra cash; more police officers are not working the extra shifts because they're getting less bonus pay; more people looking for cash-business income and outflow to sneak past the tax man in little ways. But that hasn't yet panned out. What I see, instead, is the other way 'round. More servicemen overseas rather than at home in the barracks on the weekends, and therefore the nearby strip clubs have a predictably lower client count and can plan on employing fewer girls. More cops desperate for a little cash, so they go the extra mile to really bust on people's chops where they wouldn't have done so previously. More fear of the overlord (not economy-related? just Fundie-Terrorist-related?), so less untaxed cash exchanges and more taxable trackable exchanges. Mainly, less discretionary spending all 'round, which SHOULD mean lower prices for me in the same locations which are now more desperate for my dollar, but it SEEMS to mean, instead, less opportunity for me to spend my dollar at all. Eh, I'll just go to law school. Economics eludes me.
• Dudester

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  16 years ago

  Because of the energy sector, Houston is almost recession proof. Granted, there's victims of the easy home loan here, but they were poor folks with a sense of entitlement anyway. I have noticed a rise in older dancers, probably trying to keep their families afloat (higher food prices).
• chitownlawyer

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  16 years ago

  Mileage at the club that I typically frequent has gone through the roof. I am getting propositioned for OTC by about half of the new girls that I meet, and there are a lot more new girls. I hesitate to ascribe this to the economy, although I don't know any alternative explanation, other than the fact that I have been going to that club long enough that girls may be comfortable with me, know that I am not a cop, etc.
• FONDL

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  16 years ago

  I haven't noticed any impact in my area. Stores and restaurants are just as crowded as ever, traffic is just as busy. Of course so far there hasn't been any national recession, just a slowing of growth, which hs little effect on most people. And probably the only reason anyone noticed is that it's an election year, and in election years the media always tries to spread discontent to help their friends. Similarly I haven't seen any evidence that anyone (other than the media) cares about higher gasoline prices - there's just as much traffic, which means people are driving just as much as ever, and nobody has slowed down to conserve gas. Which is pretty logical, since even at $4 a gallon, the cost of gasoline is still a pretty small part of the cost of driving for most people.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Agreed on the low gas thing. A few years ago I was commuting a full 1.5 hours (each direction) daily by highway -- roughly 60 or 70 miles, door to door -- and the gas prices were just starting to go up. Part of my choice to move much closer to work was based on the idea of saving a little money on gasoline. But I worked it out at the time, and even at a doubling of gas rates, I'd only be saving about $1000 or $1500 a year, all other things being equal. For some people, they might think of that as "substantial," but when you factor in other things, such as rent -- I went from $0 (with family) to $600 a month, a.k.a. $7200 a year -- the change isn't necessarily beneficial at all. I did move, because of a lot of other factors -- independence, time spent commuting, "perception" of commitment on the part of my employers (boy THAT didn't work! they fired me a year and a half later!), professional development, levels of highway safety, etc. But at the time, when I was doing the math, I kept on thinking I had done something wrong. "Wait," I said to myself, "is gas really that small a part of my budget? Wait, I must have multiplied wrong ..." That was when gas was in the $1.25 range, IIRC, just as it suddenly started skyrocketing toward $2 for a gallon. There was that one big jump about five years ago that started the increases rolling ...
• MisterGuy

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  16 years ago

  I've noticed a lot less people in the downtown areas that I frequent...parking is waaay easier to find now. The strippers that I've heard from have said that the past few months have been very slow too. If you're not worried about higher fuel prices, I'd guess that you're probably very well to do. Everytime that I go to the gas station, I say (either out loud or to myself) "Thank God we're in Iraq" as the ticker on the gas pump ticks away (above 50 bucks each time recently for a car that isn't that big!)...it's worked out "so well" for us on so many levels...ugh... What do you think people are going to do...stop going to work just because gas prices are through the roof??
• Dudester

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  16 years ago

  There is no national recession. Granted, gas and food prices are higher, but only certain parts of the country are affected. The subprime mess mostly affected those who really didn't have the income for a house in the first place. The parts affected by economic slowdown will only bring single or married mothers into the club. What would bring the women we desire most is if there were states, other than Nevada, that had legalized bordellos. It would be ideal work for college students, out of work actresses, and career girls interested in perfecting their work (the GFE).
• David9999

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  16 years ago

  in certain parts of the northeast USA, while customer traffic is acceptable and booze sales keep the clubs alfoat - few dancers are selling VIP or Champagne Rooms. However there is flip side,(particuarly for cash heavy customers that can meet at least the threshold levels of physical presentability that most dancers prefer), the situation is a virtual gold mine as far as it concerns digging up new talent. I have to keep this vague, but imagine recently finding a very young near perfect 10 with a down-to-earth personality, great sense of humor, bright, articulate, non-smoking dancer - though while working a number of months - has only sold a few VIPs. Imagine how grateful she might be when she finally runs into a customer with large sums of cash willing to focus some of it on her. There's no way a few years back when the economy was rolling, that a girl at his quality level wouldn't have guys just lined up.
• DandyDan

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  16 years ago

  The clubs I go to don't seem to be affected very much. One of the clubs I visit seems to be even more crowded than it used to be, but they also attract lots of young men (and women) with cash to burn, apparently. One of the other clubs I visit seems like its in a downturn, but that's mostly chalked up to an owner who thinks he can run two clubs when in fact he cannot, at least very effectively. But I don't think anywhere I go to is affected just because gas and food prices are high.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  The reason that I can "suffer" the higher gas prices is not because I like spending $49 instead of $18 for an average fill-up, which I do about once every three weeks. It's because (A) my use of gas is rather limited -- I travel three days a week about 5 miles each direction; and (B) the difference (my example is $31 every 21 days, which comes out to less than a cup of coffee a day) is really negligible relative to other expenses. I don't say it's easy for everyone. But I do say, get some perspective. If you bought a home with a note that varied from $500 to $1100 a month, then you're hurting more because of the mortgage variation than because of the gasoline increase. Find your priorities by the dollar value ... and save big. Much smarter to be pound (*dollar) wise and penny foolish than vice versa.
• SuperDude

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  16 years ago

  Detroit dancers have been whining, complaining and begging for two years. VIP mileage and OTC offers are way up. Some dancers will expect a tip for being a dinner date--not from me. Club atmosphere is depressing because dancers are just unhappy, desperate and boring.
• MisterGuy

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  16 years ago

  Well, considering that we can't tell if we're in a recession until after it's already occured, and given that GDP growth earlier this year was well below 1% (with negative job growth as well)...it sure doesn't look good to me.
• casualguy

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  16 years ago

  I've heard that the rebate checks are having a big effect in some stores here in South Carolina. I heard a relative say that Lowe's was so crowded the other day you would have thought it was Christmas. My local Lowe's (home improvement hardware store for those that don't have one) didn't look that bad today. Walmart looked a little bit crowded. All the restaurants looked crowded. It was Mother's day so no surprise there. The 2 clubs I visited last night were a lot less crowded last night then they had been. I suspect that might be more related to Mother's day and/or the bad weather we were having. Maybe it's because people weren't paid yet either unless they got a rebate check. I got mine early via direct deposit. I got worried for a second when I realized that I hadn't been paid yet on the 15th that I might have withdrawn too much money. No problem, rebate check was direct deposited early on the 5th. A long time ago when deciding how big of a house to buy, I decided I would buy below my means and have a more energy efficient house expecting the price of energy to go up a great deal. I decided I didn't want to be making a lot of money but be cash poor. I'm glad I made that decision because it's make it a lot easier to handle unexpected increases in expenses elsewhere.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Tourism in NOLa is way up. Relative to pre-Katrina we're back to normal OR BETTER; relative to post-Katrina we're skyrocketing. And relative to murders we're juuuust keeping pace ...
• gk

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  16 years ago

  There probably isn't a national recesion, but the Midwest/rustbelt is hurting more than other places. In NE Ohio strip clubs have far fewer customers than previously and the dancers are having trouble making ends meet with the corresponding decline in income. Some do better than others because they work harder or are more creative. So mileage is up, cautiously, as the reward for patrons who still come out. These trends were very evident long before the recent laws you've heard people talk about.
• casualguy

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  16 years ago

  I read somewhere that there may be a correlation between how much money people are willing to spend compared to how much wealth they feel they have such as the with the value of their house. If their assets are increasing in value, they are more willing to spend discretionary money and visa versa if their home value is dropping. With that in mind, I was surprised today to hear home values in the Spartanburg area of SC increased 10% versus last year and Greenville, SC homes increased 6% versus last year. Some parts of California decreased 29% versus last year. I think I know who might feel like spending more money. However I'm reading some free investment advice from more than one source that is predicting the economy to get worse and several more chapters to run in this credit crisis. Bernanke seems to agree that things are not normal.
• Big Dave

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  16 years ago

  Bookguy is right about tourism in NOLA but strip clubs are way down. girls do not make nearly what they did before katrina! I know they have opened a couple of more clubs on bourbon St but the only time the girls make money is when their is a big sporting event!(go figure that). guys are just spending money on other things besides strippers in NOLA!!!!
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Big Dave: yeah, I concur on the NOLa analysis. There ought to be some ways for you and me to take advantage of this situation. :)