I know…lots of people are offendedby “adult entertainment” establishments…but hey, forsomepeople. looking at naked women is a basic human need.
That said, the "strip bar"usiness looks attractive…it appears to be:
(1) highly profitable
(2) reasonably safe
(3) consistent money-earner (no peaksor valleys in demand)
So, having the necessary capital and a location, how hard is it to recruit the necssary “talent”…do you just put an ad in the paper?
Or, is it necssary to engage specialist recruiters for thisline of work?
Anybody ever worked in such an establishment? Is it reasonable owrk?
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, my wife came across an ad in the paper for a new club a woman had opened that was looking for dancers. She had been a classical, ballet and tap dancer so we went down. That’s when we found out that it was for exotic dancing. She thought it might be fun so did it, and quickly became the lead dancer and “in charge” of the other girls, who all applied from newspaper ads. After doing some re-wiring on the lights, I ended up being in the catbox running the lights and sound, security, and soon became the “advisor” for the girls. As you can imagine, getting paid to watch strippers and give a “guy point of view” on outfits and new routines was a very, very tough job.
It was reasonably profitable for the owner, who also danced, and her husband (who worked the bar), but not to the point where they were willing to quit their day jobs. Their regular jobs paid more, plus benefits. But working full time days and running a club on the side at night took its toll after a couple years on them (running a club like that has its own stresses). My wife and I were getting worn out as well, even without the hassle of running the place. We had the opportunity to buy the place in the end, but after looking at the books and weighing it all out, we didn’t for the same reasons. It could/would have been a good deal, but to do what we wanted to do with it would have meant quitting our “real” jobs, or paying other people to actually run the place, and the numbers didn’t quite make it a risk we were willing to take, especially when factoring in the hassles of such a place. Nobody else did either, and the club eventually faded away, to be re-opened years later as a regular bar/nightclub by a retired Navy chief we were friends with.
What you have to realize is that all the other strip clubs, depending on where you are, may be owned all by the same person, or by a very few same people. Here in Columbia, I am given to understand that it’s just pretty much one guy - the nasty ones, the nice ones, the black ones, the white ones. A fantastic example of niche marketing, but quite the monopoly.
Good luck on finding acceptable zoning. In many areas of the US outside of major metro corridors finding zoning that allows for semi-nude dancing is a difficult proposition at best.
This was the first thing I thought of too… you may think you have the perfect location, but a chat with your city planner may prove otherwise. I know Tulsa’s zoning ordinances have a specific section just to deal with “adult” anything, and I believe that in most zoning districts here any “adult” use must be through special exception from the planning commission.
You may also need to speak to your godfather. At least, in the NY metro area…
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- Turbo Dog, that wasn’t in St Louis, was it? It isn’t really my thing, but a couple have just opened in the last year or so, in Est St L and Cahokia? -or Brooklyn… I think when Thomas Venezia got taken down a few closed.
- And I heard it from girls who worked at one that the pay was in fact pretty darn good–at least 2-3 times minimum wage, a nice take for not having to know how to do much of anything.
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Agree. I’m just speculating, but I imagine that you would need to get ok’s from the Alcoholic Beverage Control people, the local zoning folks, the local law, and the local wiseguys. I imagine that a lot of wheels need to be greased. Just speculating though.
I’ve known a few people who have owned strib clubs. On the whole they’re neither more or less profitable than a typical bar or restaurant. Some are hugely successful and some go under in a few weeks. There are way too many factors to consider here.
A lot of your success depends on your location. Several cities and states still have archaic blue laws that regulate any business that’s even remotely sex-related. Some of these can be very prohibitive and might prevent the whole project from getting off the ground.
Also, several smaller banks can have their own rules about financing such an establishment. So financing could be a problem too.
Once you get past your local “morality” laws, get your funding in place and find your location, you’re biggest obstacle, by far, will be getting your liquor license. There are a lot of local politics involved and the process varies from town to town. Every bar and owner I know says this was their biggest hassle. In some cases, it can take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
As far as recruiting dancers, most places just run ads. It seems really effective- especially in college towns, which always have a seemingly bottomless supply of cash-strapped, attractive women. Then, after clubs have a nice stable of girls, they can usually fill vacancies with their current dancers’ friends.
Don’t listen to some of the other posters. Other than in rare cases like the Gold Club in Atanta, most strip clubs are not affiliated with organized crime. ‘Mobsters’ are way more interested in highly profitable ventures like dealing drugs than in running a night club, which has huge overhead, takes a lot of work, and is under government regulation.
Good luck!
May I suggest opening a topless donut shop? There was an actual place in a suburb of Denver 20 years ago called Fat Daddy’s Topless Donut shop. It had under-18 girl dancers.
That’s not exactly the concern I was expressing. It just seems to me that there is a possibility that the local mobsters might show up at some point and explain that you need to pay them x dollars to start up or y dollars a month to stay in business, or both. I have no idea if this would happen, but it seems like a possibility to me.
Regarding the issue of attracting dancers- the stripper FAQ (http://www.stripper-faq.org/) cover a lot of issue from the dancer’s perspective, particularly saftey, finances, and how to choose a good workplace. Keeping this information in mind when setting up your own club might be a good idea.
DougC no this was in CA. Strip clubs aren’t my thing either. I haven’t been to one in several years. Since moving here I’m under the impression that they are illegal in these parts, at least on this side of the river. I haven’t looked into it because I really don’t care one way or the other.
The pay for the girls can be very good. In the club we were involved with, the girls worked for tips only. No wages. My wife often made a couple hundred bucks off of two three song sets. As she liked to put it, she was making $400 bucks an hour doing the Jane Fonda workout. In many clubs, the girls are clearing far more than the owners after the bills are paid.
The money that comes in to the owner isn’t much different than an ordinary bar. The owner makes money off of cover charges and drinks. That’s it. And believe me, a strip club comes with a variety of problems that an ordinary bar doesn’t have to deal with such as increased health inspections, serious ABC inspections (often unannounced to make sure the girls are staying within guidelines) and undercover cops checking out the inevitable rumors of hooking which involve the business, not just the girls. Undercover vice cops can be spotted a mile away, same as ABC folks, which makes customers uncomfortable. Not to mention the occasional line of protesters outside the door such as church groups or local feminist groups, dealing with freaked out dancers because some weirdo threw an egg at them when they came to work, and the problems that you have inside, not only with customers, but with the dancers themselves. Personally, I never felt that a girl using another’s eyeliner pencil was deserving of pistols at 20 paces or a cage match, but there it is.
If you want to start a club, my advice would be to just run an ordinary bar and grill and just do it better than anybody else in the area. Same income for a lot less problems.
A funny thing happened in my town just yesterday.
A man in town wanted to open a strip-bar with male dancers. He bought the building and paid thousands of dollars to set the business up. He even had dancers hired.
The problem is, according to the county law, he can’t operate run a strip-bar at that location. It is too close to a city park. So he can’t get the required permits.
Was this guy an idiot for setting things up without asking the city? Yes, but in his defense – about 10 years ago, there was a strip-bar in the building he bought, so he thought it was O.K. The problem is the county changed the law a few years ago and all the exsisting clubs were “grandfathered” in. Since his is a new business, he isn’t exempt.
There is talk that he is going to sue the county over the law.
In Memphis, TN (20 years ago-don’t know about now as I have changed my ways) these clubs were extremely profitable. The major club owner (now in a Federal pen) not only owned several clubs but also nearby apartment complexes where the dancers lived. A lot of the profit came from prostitution and drugs (all unreported income).
The “county laws” here are most likely the zoning ordinances, which change fairly frequently and in many cases are administered at a county level. The “grandfathering” is usually referred to as “legally non-conforming uses”, which is a broad term but typically refers to uses that were established before a change in the relevant zoning ordinance.
A five minute phone call with the local zoning officials can usually tell you if your proposed use is at least in principle conforming. I know because I make one of those phone calls for about every commercial property I appraise, especially if the appraisal is for a new use of an existing property or a new property all together.
He can sue the county if he wants, but unless he’s got a documented example of the county zoning officials telling him something to lead him to believe that a strip club would conform to current zoning ordinances, I predict he’ll just be wasting his money as well as that of the county’s taxpayers.
I have a saying in this business: “when you assume in commercial real estate, you will lose lots and lots of money.”
As postcards insinuated, depending on where you live you may or may not have to pay extra for “protection” (and no, it’s not just some mobe movie cliché). But so will the regular bars and restaurants in the area (well, only if they don’t want their windows smashed). If you’re not down with the club scene in your area (if there is one), you might want to circulate a little, find out what the situation is. And don’t hire cracked out dancers. And don’t play godawful Top 10 radio hits while the girls dance. And, if you decide to put up TV screens (which I find a little tacky, but I guess some men like to watch sports in between dances), change the channel when women’s golf comes on. (Am I getting too specific?)
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I just rented Buffalo 66 two days ago. Wasn’t exactly thrilled by the movie itself, but the scene in the strip club with “Heart of the Sunrise” by Yes on the soundtrack was great. If I could find a club where nude women danced to vintage prog-rock, I’d be there, man…
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Actually, not having to know anything is an extremely common misconception. You can take some chick with big boobs and stand her on stage and eventually people will walk away.
…I realize it may take a while…
But still, it will happen, because you can get the same effect in Playboy with the benefits of privacy.
To be a successful stripper, you need to be able to move in a seductive fashion. I’ve seen dancers who could really move, but were not any more erotic than your average Olympic gymnastics routine.
Also, seductive does not mean the same to everyone. You have to be a cold-reader mentalist to figure out what seductive is going to be to the particular wallet that just walked in. You choose a song that will appeal to your current audience and you play up to their fantasies. Could be sweet, could be naughty, could be quite rude.
You have to have serious sales skills to go beyond that. Yeah, the guy will sit and watch you dance for the price of admission, but to make any real money, you need to convice a guy that seeing you peel is not enough. You’ve got to be his fantasy, so he waves money at you to get you to dance closer. You need to talk him into buying you drinks while you pretend to be interested- which is a skill all on its own- and then you have to sell him on a private dance- the legal sort- which nevertheless costs bongo money.
You have to be able to get along behind the scenes with people from all backgrounds and home lives. You have to be able to speak up for yourself when something does go wrong, and you have to develop the ability to avoid situations where that might happen. Both with co-workers and customers, you have to be able to defuse a potential threat before it gets violent, and be able to deal with it when it does.
So basically, it’s not a lot of formal training involved, but you do have to have several very specific skills if you are going to make money as a stripper. Someone who just stands there or even an otherwise good dancer without the sales skills, people skills, and Spidey-sense will not make money and will not last long in the biz. they’ll get broke or hurt pretty quickly, sometimes both.
Cite: A friend’s daughter just finished up three years of stripping to pay her way through college. Also, I’ve spent several hours in strip clubs as a buddy for a friend trying to get a job there, and I watched several dancers and I saw who got paid and why.
HennaDancer
HennaDancer makes a good point as far as the dancers are concerned. A lot of people look at strippers as stupid bimbos. Nothing could be further from the truth in 9 of 10 cases. Also along with her statement is something I used to tell new girls at “our” club. "Any girl can take her clothes off in front of other people and make a buck. A GOOD dancer makes every single person in the club want her, and makes a few bucks more. A GREAT dancer makes every single person think that she wants THEM, and makes the real money.
Some of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen didn’t make anything, because they didn’t have what it takes. Men may be pigs, but pigs aren’t stupid animals. We don’t always go for what just looks tasty.