RICK as a concrete indicator of the "Stripper Index"

The economy was pretty good, until recently, some idiot thought fit would be a good idea to insult our best trade partners, so they took the hint. What was really surprising was how long it took before they got it.

^ Sure buddy, I'm doing pretty good, but I'm retired and I got what I need.

The reason Harris lost was she was a terrible candidate, and Trump won because he's a con artist, but now the con artist is run out of tricks, so the whole shebang is gonna go boom, and get poo all over those easy mark's that voted for him.

I have probably cut my spending over half, mostly because the talent and service is down. I go to the clubs and the vibe is so off there’s nobody wanting to take my money. I better rephrase that, nobody wants to earn my money, and I’m not about to give it away for nothing.

I use to frequent one of those pretentious clubs. But I eventually switched to going to more basic titty bars, as nothing the other club was pretentious about interested me. The point being, that company only tracks one segment of the strip club sector. "Upscale" retail business depend on people thinking it's a flex to patronize them. People can get bored, and move on to a new flex, no economic downturn needed. Although, in this particular case, I'd say it is about an expected general drop in discretionary spending. I've just been doing OTC for about a year now, no plans to cut back. I got fully out of the stock market when it was clear The Donald was completely off the leash.

^^^Sure Icee I'm using empty buzzwords, like "Trick", or "Hoe", gotcha star !

The “strip club index” is a flawed gauge of economic health because most patrons aren’t there for the core business they’re chasing extras. RCI’s stock won’t surge based on its strip club operations alone. When interest rates drop, the PRIME commercial real estate they own. Lower rates boost property values and liquidity, driving up the evaluation more than any uptick in club revenue ever could.

If my favorites are still working, then I'm still visiting. If the quality of the ladies goes down then my spending with go down.

I don't know about everyone else on here, but the previous 4 years were by far the most successful and highest earnings of my entire working career, over 38 years.

I'm having a blast in every part of life.

Financially I am doing better than I have been in probably the last 5+ years, if not all time. I have decent disposable income and my job is very secure, but I visit the clubs way less because I find them to be an utter crapshoot. You might as well just light a stack of twenty's on fire because that what visiting strip clubs feel like theses days. The quality of dancers and dances has declined precipitously, while the price of everything has gotten stupid to the point where the whole thing just feels like a humiliation ritual. I used to visit the clubs because there was an abundance of hot girls with liberal attitudes and I could just let loose. These days either the chicks are all ugly and unappealing or there is a couple hot ones but the service sucks and the whole thing feels like a trip to the dentist. If it ain't fun than something is out of whack and I have better things to spend my hard earned dollars on, that's just the way I see it. COVID really was the nail through the coffin for strip clubs as much as I hate to admit it. Schwab was right ju vill own nothing and jur ending von't be very happy.

The club i most frequently visit is busier than last year or the previous year. Some girls complain they aren't making money, but there are twice as many dancers as last year. The line for private dances is at times ridiculous. I'm not seeing spending reductions in this case.

I've been pretty surprised with how empty the LD rooms are in clubs lately and have heard many complaints about people going to the club but not spending.

My local dive is going pretty strong considering all the indicators. I've seen facilities investment by management and solid presence by both dancers and patrons on dayshift since the start of the year. I went twice this April, which is uncommon for me, and had a great time on back to back Mondays no less.

The angel on my shoulder tells me this is a time to cut back and prepare for rocky times but the devil is telling me to go support all of the MILFs in-between jobs by myself if I have to.

Was in Orlando recently. Dancers Royale and Rachel's were packed on weeknights. Hell, Twin Peaks was packed every night. I'd call it a tourist town fluke but even back home the clubs seem unaffected. I'm in a port city and the past 2 months have seen a record amount of containers. So I'm sorta just waiting for the other shoe to drop...

Supporting the milfs is a noble cause @MajoraCream 🫡

Seems like there are many, many municipalities where it's impossible to open a new club, and the municipal government is looking for any excuse to close existing clubs. Not a free market, so you're not getting a correct impression of ups and downs in the true level of demand.

Clubs seem to be quite slow these days. Girls told me on a recent night out in a Chicago area club that spending is down. As in, yeah there’s guys in the club but no one’s spending. Granted I was there on a Wednesday. Guessing that weekends get more busy.

My sense is that many are affected by higher prices and layoffs leading to less money to burn for many.

Things have definitely slowed down the past few weeks in the local clubs. I made a rare late night appearance in one last Saturday and was shocked to find several bar seats open. A few years ago they were at least 2 rows deep by that point.

But this was not a sudden drop off a cliff. The clubs have been a bit slower since inflation got bad. This was just a faster recent dip.

It will be interesting to see how things go. It has been a long time since we had a true recession. I'll admit to binging a lot during 2008-2010, when so many NOs turned to YESs as girls were shifting gears to finding club daddies to help supplement lost income. I don't see myself doing that again, but hopefully for the girls it won't be so bad next time.

Strip clubs are definitely on the decline, but I don’t think it’s necessarily related to the economy. There are many other factors leading to the demise of strip clubs like changing social norms, changing demographics, onlyfans, camgirls, dating apps, and online porn.

@Iknowbetter: I agree that it's a lot of things. Not so much OF, cam girls and online porn, since online content and a spurt in new club growth occurred together throughout the late 90s to the Great Recession. But changing demographics, social norms and dating sites (especially Seeking) I think have definitely hurt some clubs.
As an example of changing demographics and social norms, to this day many of the clubs in the northeast (NY and CT) are a pale shadow of their former selves. Affluent population flights and changing social norms have definitely played a role in that IMO. But here in Sunshine State, which has a steady tide of affluent male inflow and other conditions very conducive to clubs, there is definitely an economic element to the decline. When times are good, the clubs are packed. When times get tighter, they are less so.

Me: What do you expect for a tip for a bbj? Dancer: $20.00. This was Sunday. Great economy.

@iknowbetter @rickdugan

I think you all are spot on that Seeking and dating apps have cut into the strip club business. Escorting too. In spite of our government's moronic attempts to regulate solicitation online it's easier than ever for a young lady to put up ads and even a website.

I'm agree with Rick that Porn/Cams/OF isn't hurting the club. I'd wager, one compliments the other, like how televised local pro sports games encourage ticket sales... rather than the opposite. The ubiquity of online porn of various types I think creates demand for IRL experiences.

The idea that changing demographics or social norms is hurting the SC business is novel one. I'd be curious to hear more on this.

I do think internet porn not onlyfans specifically affects club and sex worker income. And porn has been around a long time now, so its impact has likewise been around a long time. Guys who are more into air dances or just watching girls on stage might be more inclined to use porn.

Social norms arent hurting the strip clubs. There are tons of male and female music artists bragging about being strippers, tipping strippers, going to clubs, banging strippers etc. some of these songs and artists encourage making it rain, ridiculous stage tips, or encourage ridiculous otc rates

Ricks isn't just strip clubs. It's bars, restaurants and clubs. They've done well with their brands or whatever but it's pretty obvious a recession is coming.

about 13 or 14 years ago I bought some stock of Rick's and Starbucks. I hope I'm doing okay cuz I don't check it. I just let it ride.

but in the last year and a half I have backed way off on my strip clubing. I was way overdoing it as it was. of course I hope things will turn out better for the economy and for me and allow me to dive back into the intensity of frequent visits to my favorite places.

Its not about food prices or evictions or price gouging. Food is still very affordable unless youre referring to restaurants. If someone is facing eviction they can move to a cheaper part of town. Or look for roommates. Its not as comfortable as having your own place but its still possible to survive

Clubs will put themselves out of business as they price themselves past other entertainment options. The number of times I have seen $30 and even $40 dances has increased and reports of $500 and even $1000 rooms are absurd. Any business where a high school dropout can make $20 for 3 minutes work, and that’s not enough so they double the price, is destined for a serious correction; maybe even collapse.

So Rick's stock isn't a good indicator because it is subject to broader market swings. Overall comp sales would be a good metric, but we are only going to see that every so often.

Anecdotally, clubs around me are slower, but some are having busy nights as well.

What a difference a few weeks make. Things have become even worse in my favorite local club. I was there until almost midnight last night and it was really slow. Idk but I somehow suspect that our next batch of economic numbers are not going to be good.

@rick then there should be more OTC available and at cheaper rates