Montreal in June

[tazmanian5230]

Firecat

 

Like it or not the strength of the Loonie and the "greed of the owners of the Strip Clubs' has changed the popularity of Montreal as a Strip Club Destination.

 

What do you mean by "greed of the owners of the Strip Clubs" ?

[firecat]

I mean the constant raising of drink prices . $6 for a bottle of water that costs 30 cents.

I mean the ridiculous raising of dance prices to $20. This baloney of curtain closed or curtain open. Dancers do the same thing they always did or did not do and for $10 a dance. The length of the dances stayed the same. Some Clubs even have a door charge.

I owned and ran a night club for 8 years. We charged a door charge in order to pay for the entertainment be it bands or comedians. Montreal Clubs have no entertainment expense. They pay their Dancers not one red cent. In fact many Clubs force the dancers to pay The DJ or other charges for the privilege of dancing.

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that many customers like myself visited a Club in the afternoon and two or more Clubs at night. It would not be unusual for me to buy 3 drinks at each Club and see 3 dancers in the Back. That used to cost me approximately $105 at each Club and now it costs me approximately $221. Three clubs it costs me $663 instead of $315. Four night trip $2652 instead of $1260.

 

Any wonder that we stopped buying 3 drinks and seeing 3 dancers per club. We started seeing maybe 3 dancers per day and buying 1 drink at each club. That means the dancers started to earn much less money.

 

I have many past and present dancers that are friends. A few years ago it was not unusual for a Dancer to make a $1000 per shift. Now not many make a $1000 per week.

 

When dancers were making that kind of money they did not need to go home with customers. Now its not so easy to turn down a customer when you have not made any money . That changes the quality of boys who are willing to dance. Can anyone really try to tell me that the overall quality of Dancers has not gone down.

 

For the customer he looks at spending $100 for about 15 minutes of dancing when he can hire an escort for a little bit more. So he starts spending a portion of his budget on escort instead of the Strip Clubs.

 

Along with this price gouging , the Loonie became almost equal to the $US and the combination has really hurt the tourist business. Not much a business can do about the Loonie but the Clubs are responsible for everything else that has more then doubled the cost of a day in the Strip Clubs of Montreal.

[Guest mvan1]

 

Firecat

 

Like it or not the strength of the Loonie and the "greed of the owners of the Strip Clubs' has changed the popularity of Montreal as a Strip Club Destination.

 

 

 

What do you mean by "greed of the owners of the Strip Clubs" ?

 

 

Careful, firecat -

 

This (immature) gentlemen will get his spray can after you if you do not give the answer he wants you to give.

 

See his previous post he made in this thread because I disagreed with him about the village changing.

.

[Boston Guy]

I am not trying to accomplish anything except to point out that there are now equal or better Strip Club Destinations then Montreal. That would have been a ridiculous argument to make in the past because Montreal was the Gold Standard.

 

IMHO that is no longer the case . FT Lauderdale now is at least equal to Montreal and many more months of wonderful weather.

 

Keep in mind I am not comparing the cities , just there offerings as a Strip Club location.

 

Like it or not the strength of the Loonie and the greed of the owners of the Strip Clubs has changed the popularity of Montreal as a Strip Club Destination.

 

On this there can be no argument. If the same number of people were going to Montreal for the strip Clubs then there would still be Six of them. There are not!!!!

 

Thank you. I have been trying to understand your goal and you have now made it clear. I appreciate that.

 

I would only point out (for the last time) that it's not necessary to demean another poster's description of his trip to Montreal in order to pursue your goal of pointing out to folks that there are now equal or better strip club destinations than Montreal.

 

BG

[Boston Guy]

And - - the winner of the latest round of discussions about Montreal's village is - - - - firecat. - - - -

 

Like firecat, I do not understand why people refuse to accept the fact that the village is not the same as it was several years ago.

 

I have said nothing negative about the City of Montreal - only the village.

 

I guess that I would have to ask you to point out where posters have "refused to accept the fact that the village is not the same as it was several years ago". I may well have missed that but I do not believe that I have ever made that point. If anything, I've tried to suggest that the Montreal and the Village are constantly changing.

 

Are you aware that the village itself is really a relatively recent phenomenon? It is -- it was basically created in the mid 70s when the city moved the gay bars in attempt to clean up downtown for the Olympics. Little did they know what they were creating!

 

I remember going to the bar California in the 80s -- I don't remember where, exactly, it was located any more but it was a great bar. Not a strip club, but a wonderful bar. On July 4, 1985, I was there with my lover and a group of Canadian friends. We were all young then, in our 20s and thinking that we were hot. One of the young men was the head of a Quebecois separatist group. He was passionate about it and serious and incredibly, incredibly charming. His lover had moved to Paris and just a couple of days earlier had sent him a "Dear John" letter. A couple of nights later, his grief led him to hang himself from a pipe in his apartment.

 

When California closed, I was disappointed. It was a great club and I wondered if the City would still be worth visiting.

 

Over the years, the City has changed and changed -- as have other cities. Look at New York. In the early 80s, the upper west side was as gay as it gets, as was the Village. Both were wonderful places to spend time. I dearly loved going to the Village and seriously considered moving there. Over time, though, the upper west side went yuppie and the Village went sort of straight as gays moved a bit north in an exodus of sorts that I found disappointing because of my great, great memories of gay Greenwich Village. But that didn't mean that NY wasn't worth visiting or wasn't a good gay destination; it simply meant that as time passed, NY -- like all cities -- was continuing to evolve.

 

And so, I think, it's not so much that I or others have refused to accept the fact that the village of Montreal is not the same as it was several years ago, it's that we believe that Montreal is still a great gay destination and that it's entirely possible to have a great time there. Change is a constant when it comes to cities. If you hang your hat on how a city is at any point in time and are willing to become unhappy if it changes then, my friend, you are destined to be an unhappy man.

 

Calling someone a Pollyanna is not "name calling" - it is describing a particular type of person who sees only the good and ignores the bad.

 

As firecat wrote, if one were to compare postings about Montreal's village from several years back to now, only a person in denial would conclude that the village is the same as it was.

 

Oh, I think that's putting too fine a point on it. Calling someone a Pollyanna is literally "name calling" and, honestly, it's rude. Worse, you go beyond name calling to pick apart the person's personality and accuse him of ignoring facts and being "in denial". What you just don't seem to understand is that not everyone wants to only view Montreal today in comparison to where it was at some point in history.

 

You folks are comparing Montreal today to where it was as a strip club destination five years ago and you are seemingly pretty bitter about the changes. But what's so magical about five years ago? Suppose we bring back some resident from 1999 who hasn't been back and ask him to spend a weekend in the Village. If he's into strip clubs, he'll think the scene is great because it's far better than it was ten or twelve years ago. Or take the person from 25 years ago who'd marvel at the Village itself.

 

You can make any number of comparisons, choosing whatever point of reference you want. But when someone goes up for a weekend or a vacation, they aren't living in history, they aren't visiting the Montreal of 2004 or 1999 or 1985. They're visiting the Montreal of today. The OP described his visit and said that he had a good time. Some posters seem to be incredulous and accuse him of ignoring history and being in denial because how could he POSSIBLY have had a good time in Montreal now, given the changes of the past five years?

 

The answer, of course, is that it's easy to do so. You simply enjoy the city for what it has to offer, now, rather than dwelling in some rather bitter memories of what is past.

 

Those of us who remember the village the way it was several years ago have no reason to “make up” stories about the decline of the village.

 

And those of us who have watched it over 35 years have no reason to make up stories about how the village has changed over the years, and how the village of today is far, far better than it was only a very short time ago. Change will always occur, my friend.

 

Proverbs:

There's none so blind as those who will not see:- -

 

Yup. And will you see and listen to what we are saying? Or will you continue to insist that because the strip clubs of Montreal are not just exactly the same as they were five years ago, it's simply not possible to go to Montreal and spend time in the village and have a great time.

 

BG

[DanseurMTL]

StripClub Wars

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4757755224_ccb5486eff_b.jpg

Taboo offering a day-shift.

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4757118957_461f421cb9_b.jpg

JP offering a day-shift.

 

Stock Bar doesn't have a day shift. Is it in the works, Tazmanian5230?

[tazmanian5230]

I mean the constant raising of drink prices . $6 for a bottle of water that costs 30 cents.

I mean the ridiculous raising of dance prices to $20. This baloney of curtain closed or curtain open. Dancers do the same thing they always did or did not do and for $10 a dance. The length of the dances stayed the same. Some Clubs even have a door charge.

I owned and ran a night club for 8 years. We charged a door charge in order to pay for the entertainment be it bands or comedians. Montreal Clubs have no entertainment expense. They pay their Dancers not one red cent. In fact many Clubs force the dancers to pay The DJ or other charges for the privilege of dancing.

 

Firecat....

Not to argue but which club is charging $6.00 for water ? Its not Stock Campus or Taboo.

I can tell you that in 4 years the drink prices have gone up about .50 cents at Stock vs product increases every 3 months from the vendors.

 

Yes Stock does have a $3.00 cover after 9 PM, if you get there from 8 to 9 there isnt a cover. Is $3.00 greed ?

 

As for the $20.00 dances your correct.....It is a lot.

I do however know Stock Campus and (Taboo $12.00) still offer $10.00 open curtain dances.

 

Since you come from a club background Im sure you can understand that operating costs havent come down over the last 4 years they have only gone up. If customers expect to visit fresh well maintained and updates clubs things cost money. I dont think any of the increases are based on greed.

 

If you compare Montreal's strip club prices to any other North American city you will find they are LOWER.

 

I suspect if your being charged $6.00 for water somewhere you have a greedy WAITER who hasnt been discovered yet by an owner.

 

DanseurMTL No Stock isnt doing a daytime shift, have you been to JP's or Taboo ?

Is it busy ?

[Guest mvan1]

 

I guess that I would have to ask you to point out where posters have "refused to accept the fact that the village is not the same as it was several years ago".

 

If you go back to May (only two months) and read the threads about Montreal's village (not just posts to this thread), you will find that certain posters refused to accept that Montreal's village has changed.

 

One not very bright poster went as far as posting a cartoon and a can of spray to express his anger at being caught posting hostile comments that did not make any sense.

 

snip snip

 

 

Calling someone a Pollyanna is literally "name calling" and, honestly, it's rude.

 

 

"Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The book was such a success that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Eleven more Pollyanna sequels, known as "Glad Books", were later published, most of them written by Elizabeth Borton or Harriet Lummis Smith. Further sequels followed, including Pollyanna Plays the Game by Colleen L. Reece, published in 1997.

 

Pollyanna has been adapted for film several times. Some of the best-known include Disney's 1960 version starring child actress Hayley Mills, who won a special Oscar for the role, and the 1920 version starring Mary Pickford."

I do not know what sort of dictionary you use to determine what is or is not rude. However, there are novels and motion pictures that popularize the name Pollyanna. The authors of the novels, the producers of the films and the actors who played the part in related films did not consider Pollyanna to be a rude term. Thus, it appears you made up your own definition of Pollyanna because you are not happy that Montreal's village was criticized by numerous posters to this site.

 

Quite simply, a Pollyanna is an overly optimistic person. Now, what is wrong with that? Some people are overly pessimistic. Is that also rude? Some people are skinny while others are fat, is that also rude? No it is not. Those are facts of life, like it or not.

 

By the way, although I disagree with some of your points, I found your overall post interesting despite its incorrect conclusion where you erroneously asserted that the term Pollyanna is rude.

 

The facts work both ways. I could say that you were rude by asserting that the term Pollyanna is rude. Again. the word or name Pollyanna is not rude.

.

[Boston Guy]

I took the use of the name Pollyanna to be an insult because the implication is that someone's judgment isn't quite sound -- they're the eternal, golden optimist who really doesn't comprehend reality. But if you intended it in a friendly manner, suggesting that he is simply optimistic, then I agree -- that's not an insult. I certainly take you at your word and apologize for accusing you of insulting him or being rude.

 

By the way, I unfortunately am old enough to remember seeing Pollyanna when it first came out in theaters.

 

I well remember that young golden girl who, if I recall correctly, was about my age when I first saw it. Alas, people -- like cities -- are constantly evolving and the trick, I think, is to enjoy who and what we are today rather than trying to cling to a past that is no more.

 

http://www.laughingplace.com/files/columns/toon20020606/pic1.jpg

 

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tHVfHpnv17g/SMbUFyPtKBI/AAAAAAAAB0A/tQMXp_NujdM/s320/_0007_hayley_mills_73871017_getty_full.jpeg

 

BG

[tazmanian5230]

One not very bright poster went as far as posting a cartoon and a can of spray to express his anger at being caught posting hostile comments that did not make any sense.

 

Being called a troll is not hostile. It simply states that your beating a dead horse. You have not responded to any other posts/threads like you have this one.

 

You refuse to understand that some like, and continue to like Montreal while you have changed flavors and found something you feel is better. Instead of beating up the posters about Montreal why not show us what you have found that is beter? Who knows maybe some will follow.

 

Firecat found florida. While I agree I would rather be in Florida in the winter I doubt I would do so since Florida lacks nudity, that doesnt make him wrong its just what he likes vs what I like.

 

By the way, I think you started the name calling first. Polly who?

[Guest mvan1]

I took the use of the name Pollyanna to be an insult because the implication is that someone's judgment isn't quite sound -- they're the eternal, golden optimist who really doesn't comprehend reality. But if you intended it in a friendly manner, suggesting that he is simply optimistic, then I agree -- that's not an insult. I certainly take you at your word and apologize for accusing you of insulting him or being rude.

 

By the way, I unfortunately am old enough to remember seeing Pollyanna when it first came out in theaters.

 

I well remember that young golden girl who, if I recall correctly, was about my age when I first saw it. Alas, people -- like cities -- are constantly evolving and the trick, I think, is to enjoy who and what we are today rather than trying to cling to a past that is no more.

 

http://www.laughingplace.com/files/columns/toon20020606/pic1.jpg

 

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tHVfHpnv17g/SMbUFyPtKBI/AAAAAAAAB0A/tQMXp_NujdM/s320/_0007_hayley_mills_73871017_getty_full.jpeg

 

BG

 

Hi BG,

 

Thanks for the photo of Hayley Mills (I assume that is she in the photo).

 

My, how she has changed. Did you ever see her in the film "Tiger Bay." Her co-star Horst Buchholz was quite a handsome man. His biography came out not long ago and supposedly he had many affairs with other movie stars (men) while he was young. I never suspected he was gay. Here is a link to a couple of his photos - http://www.hdg.de/lemo/html/biografien/BuchholzHorst/index.html Here is another - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNX7_Z8rls

 

In his later years he looked pretty bad and not at all attractive. Just a bit of trivia since you added a couple of photos of Hayley Mills.

 

Thanks.

[firecat]

Taz,

 

There was a time last year when Taboo was charging $6 for water and diet coke. They may have stopped. Your response about the door charge fails to address my point that you do not pay your entertainers so there is no reason for a door charge except that as you say it is needed to make up for a short fall in Bar Income. Campus does not need to have a door charge, nor do any of the other dying Clubs.. That you spend more money inside your Club is probably indisputable. Do I really care?? I come to see Men strip. AS long as the place is clean , that is all most people care about .

 

I think the bottom line is that you need the door charge to provide enough cash flow ,because people do not spend like they used to Which goes directly to my point about the gouging of $20 dances. People spend less because someone determined that dances should be $20 . It was a short sighted decision and I believe has been one of the big reason for the struggles of the Strip Clubs. You repeating that ridiculous argument of curtains closed or open is just laughable. Any regular visitor knows that in the past 99% of the dancers do the same thing curtains closed or not.

 

I notice you have nothing to say about the figures. used of what I used to spend and how much I have to spend now for the same thing. Also no argument about what dancers used to make and make now.

 

I have no idea whose bright idea it was to double the price of dances and then the rest of the Clubs followed like Sheep. But I guarantee if all the Clubs got together and went back to $10 dances there would be a big increase in business. Patrons would buy more drinks which is good for you. They would go in the back more which ultimately would be good for the Dancers. More customers would come and stay longer in each Club. Would it happen overnight , of course not!!!

 

Just like it took time for the $20 dances to ruin the business, it would take time to resurrect it. The dancers would squeal at first but when they started to take more money home at the end of the night that would cease. Anyways that is my humble opinion.

 

I hope you have a great summer and that your customers return in the numbers that were there just a few short years ago!!!

[Boston Guy]

Hi BG,

 

Thanks for the photo of Hayley Mills (I assume that is she in the photo).

 

Yep, that's her. She must be close to 65 now because I think, in reality, that she was actually a few years older than me when when the film came out. [Yep, just checked it: she's 64, so quite a few years older than me. Funny how memory plays games on us.]

 

She seems to be aging naturally and gracefully. Good for her!

 

My, how she has changed. Did you ever see her in the film "Tiger Bay." Her co-star Horst Buchholz was quite a handsome man. His biography came out not long ago and supposedly he had many affairs with other movie stars (men) while he was young. I never suspected he was gay. Here is a link to a couple of his photos - http://www.hdg.de/lemo/html/biografien/BuchholzHorst/index.html Here is another - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNX7_Z8rls

 

In his later years he looked pretty bad and not at all attractive. Just a bit of trivia since you added a couple of photos of Hayley Mills.

 

Thanks.

 

Thanks! I must have seen Buchholz in The Magnificent Seven but I don't remember his name. It was fun just now taking a few minutes to follow the links and research him a bit. He certainly was a good-looking man. And, as you say, he certainly didn't age well. He could have taken notes from Hayley.

 

http://www.hdg.de/lemo/objekte/pict/BiographieBuchholzHorst_photoBuchholzHorstDieHalbstarken/200.jpg

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/2828632920_d48ec720cc.jpg

 

BG

[Boston Guy]

Taz,

 

I wasn't aware that someone here was associated with the management of one of the strip clubs. If it's not prying too much, which club are you associated with?

 

(And if it is prying too much, I don't mind being told to MYOB. )

 

BG

[tazmanian5230]

Firecat,

I have only been involved and going to Montreal since the Gaiety closed.

 

Maybe part of the reason I dont understand Mvans rage and your views is that over the last 6 years not much has changed with regard to prices. The only $10 dances I have ever known were open curtain. Its my understanding that customers wanted curtains. Once the curtains were installed the price went up, customers wanted more for there money and more led to the dancers doing more and charging more.

 

As for the the dancers being paid....every time you see a drop of water in the shower the dancer is being paid. They are also paid when they do special shows that invlole costumes or duos.....All that CHA-CHING you see doesnt go in our pockets the DJs are tipped by the dancers AND paid by the club, yes the balance helps operate the club and provide the EXTRAS like our decorations and special partys and upgrades.

 

As for business?

Its great, last year was one of the best years in the new location yet. This year has also started out great. I wont complain.

 

Maybe our great is the reason for 2 other clubs not doing as well? I dont know.

 

Boston guy.....It Stock.

[Boston Guy]

Boston guy.....It Stock.

 

Ah. My favorite.

 

Thanks,

BG

[tazmanian5230]

Ah. My favorite.

 

Thanks,

BG

 

Next time your in town say hello....Dont worry I wont spray paint you....

[Boston Guy]

OK, I will. Should I look for the guy with the paint gun in his hand?

 

BG

[DanseurMTL]

Saturday July 3rd

 

Report

The weather is getting too hot, with the temperature reaching 30 this weekend and a max of 33 Monday. I started my day at the Club Date to cool off and to watch the street. Around half of the dancers that arrive to Campus pass in front, as the Club Date is just a block away!

We went to Campus at 4:30PM, there were around 20 dancers for the day shift and the club was getting packed (with the extra area closed off) at 6PM. There was a nice variety from the young and twinky (Alejandro, Andy, Alexis, Adrien, Anthony, Jasmin, TJ) to classics such as Alonzo, Damien-Bernard, Kaylin, Steven(the doorman at Unity) and Carlos-Miguel.

Chriss-Mario was the waiter, because the Alexy Tyler dude is on vacations. If you're into tall hunks, there was Brent, Tristan, Yan, Ollivier(started in May), Luciano (started two weeks ago), and Jordan (Priape Catalog).

We stayed until 9:30PM and the we headed for dinner at East Asie, the weather was too hot for steak, IMHO.

 

 

We arrived at Stock at 11PM and they were doing a mini fashion show to display a new swimwear line from the start-up SkinWear, made in Montreal. It lasted half an hour and the wares were available for sale at the secondary stage on the left side of the bar. The nice thing is the "models" they chose, 6 dancers from the bar. Johny caught my attention immediately, un vrai coup de foudre. It was busy, I'd say at ~70% capacity, which was nice because we were able to find seats easily.

 

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4760991654_109ebb9002_b.jpg

Johny, my new favorite at Stock

 

And the other 5 very cute Stock dancers.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4760356095_8729ddfe43_b.jpg

Samuel

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4760356047_b738017c36_b.jpg

Martin

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4760991764_f3f95fb77d_b.jpg

Alfie

 

And:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4760991838_b63be718cb_b.jpg

Rolland

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4760991888_83148ec649_b.jpg

Chris

 

This forum doesn't allow more than 4 images per post.

 

The rest of the photos are located at

SkinWear.ca

 

Unfortunately he was busy all the time and we really had to check out the other 2 bars so we left at 11:40PM so I can't report on an "experience" with him...So instead I chose Kyle, who was readily available. He's got a great ass and face, tall swimmer build.

 

My friend wanted to see Tommy as he was working the night shift at Campus, so we were back again and left at 12:15AM.

 

Next stop was JP. I've been to JP three times on afternoons in June and the place was always dead. Numerous times I've been to JP in the evenings, but not since mid-May, when it was dead too. There is a tectonic shift in the control of the bar, it seems, as the old bar staff is partially back. Allan the barman was there working the bar; his BF DJ Ollivier was outside but not working. There was an ex-DJ from Stock, a tall fat guy working at the DJ booth.

The club had over 30 patrons which was actually a very pleasant surprise. The bad news is the dancers, recycled stuff from the other clubs. There was Ray(the Ray), Myles-Michael (L'Adonis, Campus, JP), Sonny (L'Adonis, Taboo, JP), Dakota (Taboo, JP, also working as waiter that night), an ex-dancer from Stock, with an extra 10 pounds around his stomach (I can't remember his name), and Francesco (Taboo, Campus, Taboo, Campus, Taboo, JP). There were two guys outside, dancers, which I failed to recognize. I've always liked Myles he's handsome and well hung, but he's been losing a LOT of weight and now looks very pale and thin; he couldn't explain why he got fired from Campus two weeks ago, but THAT was probably the reason. We stayed for one drink.

 

 

Last stop Taboo 1:00AM. I had been there on Wednesday night and it was a mess. Sadly yesterday it was a do-over of the same mess. Empty stages, crappy sound system(not particularly strong but LOUD in an annoying way, I think the speaker is broken; yes there is only ONE speaker in the bar hanging above and in front of the stage the others on the floor are the woofer speakers), unattractive dancers. Sebastien, Marco-EricDavid, MarcAndre-Vincent(now overweight), a Moroccan guy, Dominic-Kelly, and a very short twink that was new, UGLY. We stayed for 40 minutes, mostly talking to friends we found there, as only Kelly-Dominic passed onstage while we were there.

Weekend of the fourth of July is one of the biggest of all year. My friends had been there since 10PM. Same story, the mood was horrible, Taboo never filled up Saturday.

 

VERDICT

JP's success rests on its ability to attract NEW dancers, so far after 5 weeks JP has not yet convinced.

Taboo is a mess, I know I am repeating myself.

Campus is fine.

 

Stock: I don't like to go to Stock because of the cover fee of $3 and higher drink prices. It's only 50 cents? It's more like a +$1 dollar difference compared to Campus that's %20 more on a $5 drink. Taboo used to be cheap, and JP has the same drink pricing as you. Those two don't count; you're competing against Campus.

 

I've never bought a Perrier at Stock for less than $5, once $5.50 (the fucking waiter). Your new Miller lime is $7. That's domestic beer. I know it increases your cash flow, but does the bar really need it to keep running? If so then it's because you're overstaffed. Eliminate the parasites and you won't need to charge extra to pay them.

 

At Campus daytime: One barman, one waiter, DJ.

At Campus nighttime: Manager/doorman, 1-3 barmen, 1-2 waiters, DJ. Ladies nights there is an extra doorman.

At Stock: Coatcheck guy, manager, doorman, 2-5 barmen, DJ, webcam operator(possibly paid by the nudemaledancers website), +4 waiters.

 

You are saying you've had one of your best years ever. So I agree with Firecat and say it's greed. You can afford to lower your prices to put the other bars out of business for good. Campus has balloons too, and I don't see them charging more to pay for their balloons. When you were saying "decorations and special partys and upgrades" you mean balloons? what upgrades? Or do you mean you want to recuperate your original investment as soon as possible because you overspent after the fire?

 

The idea is to keep your customers as long as possible in the bar, by making them feel that their money goes a long way. That is by having cheap drinks, not by obligating them to stay all night because they already paid a cover fee, which they might refuse to pay at all by not entering your bar.

 

6 month forecast: Stock and Campus steady, JP improving, Taboo worse.

2 year forecast: Taboo closed, turned into a female strip bar for the établissement exploitant l'erotisme permit. Stock and Campus stand to gain.

[twinkboylover28]

 

I remember going to the bar California in the 80s -- I don't remember where, exactly, it was located any more but it was a great bar. Not a strip club, but a wonderful bar. On July 4, 1985, I was there with my lover and a group of Canadian friends. We were all young then, in our 20s and thinking that we were hot. One of the young men was the head of a Quebecois separatist group. He was passionate about it and serious and incredibly, incredibly charming. His lover had moved to Paris and just a couple of days earlier had sent him a "Dear John" letter. A couple of nights later, his grief led him to hang himself from a pipe in his apartment.

 

 

BG

 

 

 

That is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard. I can relate to being so heartbroken, almost to that point, with my first and only love. Thanks for sharing.

[antelope]

Just a quick reply to DanseurMTL's comments on Stock Bar and its drink prices. I have been in the hospitality industry for the past 15 years. One of the best ways to give yourself an headache is to become known for your cheap drinks. Doing so starts to draw in clientel who is there solely becasue the drinks are cheap; that can cause extra security issues and leads you to dealing with a bunch of people who have over-done it. The best thing to do is charge what people will pay for drinks when they have chosen to attend your establishment for its intended purpose; in Stock's case, the dancers. I believe you singled out Miller Chill as being $7.00, the last i knew of the only Miller brand beer that was brewed locally in canada by Molson was the draught products. MGD and Miller Chill therefore qualify as imports or premium beer brands and as such paying more for them wouldn't be unusual. Most of the restaurants where i am from charge for those 2 beers as imports or premium domestic. I think as far as the clubs go in Montreal, they should be less concerned with the prices of the drinks and way more concerned with the qualityof their dancers. I have been in Montreal since the 7th of July and so far hands down the best dancers are found at Stock!