All these new clubs?
This isn’t as much as me on my soapbox, but more of a state of the city in regards to strip clubs as I see things lately. What’s going on with all these clubs? As you all know from the news and gossip of the last few months, there has been quite a bit of activity in Las Vegas in regards to new clubs opening up. And if you think the amount of clubs that have already opened is a lot, be prepared, there’s more coming your way real soon.
Now why is that? Is it the lure of big money in Las Vegas? Is it mostly out of town club owners? For example, the new club Striptease is owned by the owners of several Los Angeles based clubs. The ex-owner of Forbidden Club owned several clubs in Los Angeles as well, and even after the Club Exotica bust and fines, he plans on opening up yet another club. Another Los Angeles based chain, Spearmint Rhino, has had a club open for quite a while, but isn’t doing too great. But mostly out of town? Nah… Oodles of other clubs which have opened are locally owned as well.
However, when you look at the bigger picture, which new clubs having less problems opening, and which ones are having one heck of a time? Well, one thing is for sure, the clubs which are locally owned seem to fare better than the out of towner owned clubs with the city council. Is there local favoritism by the city council? We can’t prove anything, but how else would you explain the fact that several other clubs, like Play It Again Sams and Girls, Girls, Girls, both owned by locals who have been in Las Vegas for many years, have opened with alcohol licenses while the Spearmint Rhino, which has been open almost a year now, is still waiting on a pending license?
Obviously, these points I’m talking about deal with topless/alcohol clubs, and nude clubs seem to just pop up everywhere, owned by locals and out of state owners alike.I won’t get much more into local politics, but if you’re a club owner and you want to open something in Las Vegas, you’d better live here for a couple of years before dumping hundreds of thousands if not millions into a strip club.
All I can say is this, even though the population of Las Vegas is around one and half million at this point, there’s already over 25 strip clubs. At this rate, there’ll be at least 3 to 5 new clubs opened by the end of 1999, and by the looks of it, it’ll be a mixture of nude and topless clubs. But one thing is for sure; we’re going to have one heck of a time enjoying ourselves silly watching all the topless and naked women!