RICK as a concrete indicator of the "Stripper Index"
Undoubtedly, you've heard of the stripper index before. The idea is that as a high-end luxury service, strip clubs have highly elastic demand. Which means, when consumers suffer from, or expect to suffer from a loss of disposable income, they cut back on discretionary spending, including things like strip clubs.
Thus, the idea behind the "stripper index" is that the business of the club is a bleeding edge economic indicator. When it gets slow, it means tough times coming, when the club is crowded, it indicates an improving economy.
The problem with the stripper index is that there's little to no objective data to quantify it in a meaningful way. Many strippers don't even keep close track of their earnings, so there's definitely no good national data on strip club earnings.
Except for RICK. And not those Ricks, I mean RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. (RICK on NASDAQ). finance.yahoo.com.
To my knowledge RICK is the largest publicly traded strip club owner. As an approximation for the stripper index, I can think of no better metric. What do you all think?
Unfortunately, that metric is down a whopping 29% YTD! Do you find yourself planning to spend less in the club in the comings months? Why or why not?
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last commentPolitics aside, I haven't clubbed in a few months and don't plan to because I've gotten bored of it.
If I want to club, I club; if I don't, I don't. I've rarely been in a position where I want to club but I'm too broke to.
I'm a spring chicken by the standards of this board, but the older folx here keep saying strip clubs in general are on the wane.
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Theyre on the wane coz you see less waxing at clubs 😂 😂😂
Even when you read on here. Guys are spending less because of money issues. Look at all the threads about bargain pussy hunting.
Personally Im seeing nights with barely any customers. And the demographics changing.
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@Icey - I'm not aware of a time when guys on here weren't searching for bargain pussy.
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I cant remember a time the economy was actually good. Proves my point.
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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.
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The economy was terrible under Biden. Its still the same and going downhill
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^ Sure buddy, I'm doing pretty good, but I'm retired and I got what I need.
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The reason Harris lost was her delusional view of the economy. Thats what angered people the most. And of course Trump wont make anything better. He represents the same elites
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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.
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Youre using empty buzzwords
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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.
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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.
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^ Sucker. It's people like you who think they can time the market, or trade based on their political preferences, that subsidize the rest of us.
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^^^Sure Icee I'm using empty buzzwords, like "Trick", or "Hoe", gotcha star !
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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.
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Most customers arent trying to solicit hookers
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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.
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I'm having a blast in every part of life.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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