Opening a pool hall/bar/club type thing

[kmowine]

It's been a dream of mine to run my own business since i was like 8( my grandfather ran a successful company for over 25 years) About 5 years ago i knew what type of business i wanted and i have been working on the designs since then.

I know this may not fall exactly under nightclub, but I could really use some advice on it.

My pool hall will feature 20+ tables (some quarter tables but mostly tournement size tables), A full service bar, A stage for live bands and comedy acts, A pizza/deli sub bar, a small 20+ theatre for screening older movies, 10 dart machines for league play, and of course a jukebox. I am also toying with the idea of leasing out part of the 28,000 sq ft facility to a lan gaming center (they have a small place down the road form my choice location, they have intrest in this idea)

I have about 150,000 secrured from personal contacts, and i am curently awaiting response from grant committees, and as a last resort I will persue sba and bank loans. My goal is to hit 500,000 in finacing (this may seem like a lot for this business but i wish to purchase all tables and equipment outright, I do not wish to incur anymore debts or liabilities then needed.

The location is a 28,000 sq ft grocery store that was abandoned after delchamps went belly up. After many talks (many many many) I have gotten a fairly decent deal from the company that owns the property. They will install the air conditioner and make repairs to bring the building up to code, and sell off all the store shelves registers and computers that are still in place. I will be required to build the location to suit my needs. My rent will be 12,000 a month, which seems pricey to me, but my choices are limited (all locations of that size or greater are owned by the same company in this town)

[kmowine]

Feels good to get it all out like that. I believe i am within a year of setting up. I got sidetracked when my son was born 3 months ago, but i got the bug again when i visited another pool hall in this town( I don't think they have the right to call themselves a pool hall with only 6 quarter operated tables and a bar. The place is tiny, and my only competition) I have surveyed the local college students( about 200 of them) most of which were intrested (about 90%)
With the location being a mile from campus I believe that most of my business will be college students.

1. I'm basically fishing for do's and dont's
2. websites for tables and chairs and other supplies at good prices. the best one i found so far is http://www.servu-online.com/

[prowire]

HI There
We might have a good opportunity for you to take a ready to go sports bar. 15.000 SQF place 21 pool table 10 darts, 4 foosbal a lot of space.
Let me know if you are interested?

[Kingway]

You need to investigate how to set up league play, without league play few pool halls make enough money. You also want to check into getting a full liquor license, there is more money in the booze than the tables. Good luck...

[Knowmad]

I also have been thinking about a pool hall. I understand the value of league play, pool leagues, dart leagues, WTPT etc. The idea is like most business of this type, bring in the people to move the beer and booze. Probably 85% of the profit.

My question, do you think it is a 'must' to be located near a college campus?

Kids don't spend a lot of money because they don’t have much, but they do frequent this type of business often and can play at all hours of the day and night. Plus, if the college is big enough, there are lots of potential customers. The middle / upper middle class (non-student) has more disposable income and less time to play.

The reason I ask is that there is an up and coming large affluent neighborhood growing with every kind of housing and shopping springing up around it. Lots of apartments and houses all the way to $400,000 homes. Nothing like this though. An Ale house went up and it's packed all the time now. There is nothing like a pool hall in the area at this time.

Is this the kind of community that could and would support a business of this sort?

[40 Thieves]

If you've got the finances necessary to build a business like that and in all aspects cator to that market then I believe that a new development would eventually be able to support that business - problem is if the development lags then you might not be able to afford the initial costs while waiting for that market to pick up.