Investing in strip clubs

[reipro]

As some one who has owned a night club that held over 900 people. Stay the hell away from cash business unless you are going to be there 24/7. The bar business is a pain. You are always working when others are playing.:iamwithstupid: Please do not ask me how I know this

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jorge]

:iamwithstupid: Ditto ... I once had dreams of owning a night club/wine bar, but hate the "cyclicality" of the industry, at least in my neck of the woods.

Everyone around here jumps from the newest hot spot to the next ... regardless of food quality and service. It is somewhat frustrating. After 6 months to a year, what was hot, becomes old and something new has everyone's attention.

I can't say if its the same for strip-bars, but I'd think they'd have hot and cold phases as well.

Same here. I love the idea of owning a night club. Especially a Jazz Club much like the one from "The Score" with De Niro :banana:

BUT its the same here. People jumps from club to club in a matter of months they open and close. Its a shame :smxD:

 

[mrshowtime3]

Sorry to bring back such a old thread but it peaked my interest.

Currently my father owns a building and the property that a strip club is on. Hes been leasing it out to a guy who runs the strip club for about the past 6 or 7 years. Well the guy who runs the club is getting older and said he only wants to be there for about another 2 or 3 years. So basically my dad said then would be the time that I can have it and do what I want. I want to keep it a strip club, change the name.

Right now its not in good shape. Nobody ever really kept the building fresh and new so I would definatly like to spruce it up which I think alone whould bring more people. This is not a big city. We are grandfathered in and the city actually recently passed law which prohibits any other strip clubs. Therefore, the next closest club is about 50 miles away. Theres also a hotel right across the street for what its worth, right off the highway.

So to the point. Its in PA and its currently a BYOB club. The law seems to be that if you get a liquer license and sell alchohal then the girls must where g strings. So im first wondering if its a good idea to just keep it BYOB? Do bars make much off of their alchohal? And would selling it just potentially get me into more legal problems?

If it turns out that BYOB is the way to go, would it make sense to possibly build a small 6 pack store on the property since there would be room. Can 6 pack stores also sell liquor? There is a bar that sells six packs about 2 miles away. Oh and this is not a big club. I would estimate on like a friday and saturday they have about 55-80 people through the door. Its currently open everyday except sunday.

Sorry for the long post but just wanting to get all the info I remember out there. It seems like some of you may have some experience in this business. Thanks for reading.

 

[mrshowtime3]

selfish bump

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Do you have any figures? Like, the rent payments, taxes, square footage, the FMV of the place? Neighborhood rents? Vacancies?

I think before anyone really could say, they would need to know a lil more data.

 

[mrshowtime3]

Dont have a whole lot of figures at this time as far as the monthly bills. I know its leased for $25,000 a year. The building is fully payed off so Ill have no rent or mortgage payments. The building is 5505 sq ft. with the actual customer area being about 4000 or that. The rest is dressing room and office. Most recent assesment from the courthouse was $178,830.

As far as the area its tucked in on a road directly off the off ramp of the highway at a intersection. The road has only us, the hotel actoss the street, and two other companies which have been there for 10+ years since I can remember.

 

[hakrjak]

Can't believe I missed this thread haha...

Well, I met a few guys in the business over the years, and hung out with plenty of guys that are customers of such places, and even dated a couple of girls that worked in such places -- and the main issues I would point out would be:

- Cash business - It's hard to keep track of what the girls are bringing in and making sure you get our cut of it. Also the bar is tough to control as all bars are, because you'll have bartenders overpouring and giving free drinks out, etc...

- Getting quality talent to show up -- This is the #1 problem I've heard of, because there is so much drama involved in any business that is 99% populated by ladies (No offense girls, but you know this is true) -- There are constant problems with just getting the girls to show up to work, and when they do show up -- there is fighting and bickering over clients, money, etc. The owner I spoke to said that on any given night when he'd expect to have 30 girls on the clock, only 15 would show up to work... Sometimes they would show up drunk or on drugs and have to be sent home, etc....

- Drugs -- This one is the biggy... A buddy and I were grilling this Stripper we met in Vegas a couple trips ago about the strip club business there, and she said that almost every club in town had a little drug trade going inside of it. She said that usually the manager or some senior girl at the club will bring in drugs and sell it to the girls -- making big bucks for themselves on the down low. There was also a lot of sex for drugs trade going on inside of the club.

All in all it sounded like too much of a headache, so I didn't ever want to start up a strip club of my own. There is money to be made -- Look at the Speermint Rhino in Las Vegas, it's probably the classiest joint I've ever been in, with the best looking girls and the cleanest bathrooms, best food, etc.... But for every 1 Speermint Rhino, there are 100 dirty holes in the wall.

Cheers,

- Hakrjak

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[StreetsofSilver]

They just changed that law in PA earlier in 2008. Girls can get nude in a strip club that serves alcohol from a bar. You may have to apply for a special liquor license.

 

[china]

Years ago, I used to date someone who was partners with another person in a strip club in a medium sized town. I remember some of the things he told me about owning a strip club.

First off, as someone else mentioned above, most towns don't really want strip clubs in their town. You need to have really upstanding people apply for the business permit. (My friend was a businessman with lots of businesses: funeral home, lots of commercial real estate like office buildings, merchandise distributorships, etc.) His partner was a gynecologist. They were both "silent partners" who didn't have much to do with the way the place ran day to day. There was a third person who handled that.

He told me that the place brought in a ton of money. They tried to keep it fairly respectable and a lot of their dancers were actually dancing as a second job.

Sorry, but I can't remember how they split the money. I know that strip clubs make money from drinks and admission and the girls are allowed to keep a lot of the money they make. (If you want to keep the best girls, you have to make it profitable for them too.)

 

[mrshowtime3]

They just changed that law in PA earlier in 2008. Girls can get nude in a strip club that serves alcohol from a bar. You may have to apply for a special liquor license.

Have you seen this info online at all? I havent come by it in my searches. Thanks for the info though.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[RealOG]

Why do you want to operate the business? Is owning a strip club something you have always wanted to do?

One suggestion, that might be a little more "fastlane": lease or sell the business to someone else. Find a successful club manager and ask him if he wants to expand. If there is no one your city is interested, check a neighboring town. Sounds like there are a myriad of issues to navigate with owning a strip club, you might be more successful if you involve someone who is an expert in the business.

If it was me, I would lease out the business and be completely emancipated from it - passive income. If the draw to be involved is all the hot chicks, you could always negotiate free cover or whatever from the guy you trade the business to. One of my close buddies does this in Downtown Denver with a bar.

If you want to get into the business, do your research and be prepared for all the risks. An aquaintence of mine owns Skin Cabaret and Vegas Pawn here in Scottsdale. He has a high end security system on his home and carries a 9mm pistol with him everywhere he goes. Not my idea of fun.