While on Labor Day vacation, this SuperStripper couldn’t keep herself out of the strip club!  OK, OK…truth be told I LOVE going to strip clubs as a customer.  Especially when I am on vacation and don’t have to work!

The Cheetah has a prime location on SPID (South Padre Island Drive) the main highway between downtown Corpus and the beaches on Padre Island.  There are tons of hotels along SPID, and not very many strip clubs, which gives The Cheetah an advantage over the other Corpus Strip Clubs.

There was a $10 cover (ladies too) but the drinks were reasonably priced.  Three rounds of drinks for my date and I was under $40.  The one story club had two stages, a lap dance area, a champagne room, and what appeared to be a couch area.  The sign on the marquee outside advertised $5 table dances.  I wouldn’t know how much a lapdance cost (or how much the upsell to Champagne would be) because during the 90 minutes we were in the club not a single dancer approached our table.  We didn’t even get “Wanna Dance?”-ed!!

As a dancer, I know how intimidating it can be to approach a couple.  For some it can be even more intimidating when it is an attractive couple.  Usually I will go to the bathroom, strike up a conversation with some of the girls and either bring one back to the table OR one will be there waiting when I get back because she mustered up the courage to approach my guy while I was in the bathroom.

Strangely…neither approach worked.

When the hottest girl in the club came onstage I made sure to go right up to her, tip her, and tell her to come to our table because we wanted dances.  She was really sweet, but after her stage set she bypassed us for a mid twentyish hispanic douchebag.  We could have easily spent several hundred dollars (a doctor and superstripper on vacation) but alas it appeared that every single entertainer in the club suffered from Approach Avoidance!

Around 1am the volume of the music spiked about 40 decibels.  I literally had to cover my ears with my hands to drown out the deafening thud.  I loved the music selection (classic and modern rock with hints of top 40, country, and hip-hop crossover) but it was just too loud!  As we were leaving with two wallets full of cash, I stopped in the bathroom one more time.  There certainly was some interested signage on the walls that made me chuckle.

A SuperStripper could have certainly cleaned up in this club.  In DancerWealth we teach how to approach couples and give strategies for overcoming approach avoidance.

Scarlett’s as it is affectionatly called by locals is the only strip club in sioux falls. Sioux falls is the largest city in the upper-midwest, according to the city’s chamber of commerce.

The club books girls weekly. There are no walk-ins, no drop-ins, and no house fees. If you are interested in working here arrangements must be made ahead of time.  I suggest booking through www.travelingentertainers.com so that your airfare and hotel accomodations will be provided.  If you live in the Sioux Falls area and don’t need travel arrangement, keep in mind that the local house entertainers are paid a weekly booking fee.

The club is located in a strip mall off highway 29. There are several hotels in walking distance, and the regional mall is across the street.  It is a very safe area, unlike the industrial zones that house most  metropolitan strip clubs.

There is one t-shaped runway style stage that each entertainer performs 3-song sets.  There are two couch rooms where dances are $20. The house keeps $5 from each dance and the customer has to pre-pay the doorman on the way c the couch room for his first dance.  There are 3 “champagne” rooms where the customer pays $100 per 15 minutes. The house keeps $25. Ironically the bar doesn’t sell champagne so there is no bottle purchase to enter the “champagne” room.  Since the club is not making money from liquor sales in the couch and champagne rooms; it keeps a strict eye on the clock and counts each song.  Due to the small rotation of girls, there is no getting bought off stage, even in the “champagne” room.  There fore,  if an entertainer is in the “champagne” room and she is called to stage, she has to leave her customer sitting alone in the “champagne” room until her 3 song stage  set is finished.

The club also offers Dollar Dances all night long. Basically the customer can opt for a fully clothed 30 second Dollar Dance anytime during the night.  The younger local customers know this and tend to choose the $1 clothed dance over the regular $20 couch dance.

Contact is exceedingly strict. There is absolutely no touching the entertainers at any time. This is well known by the local patrons who knowingly sit down with their hands spread wide across the couch in plain view of the doorman.
Its like stepping into a time capsule to 1983.

I returned to my home club in Arizona last night.  I LOVE Babe’s Cabaret!

It is the smallest club I have ever worked, and the most friendliest.  The theme of the Gentlemen’s Club Expo was Teamwork, which is easier to implement at cozy neighborhood clubs than upscale chains.  One remarkable thing about Babe’s is the general respect the entertainers have towards each other’s personal belongings.  Even though there are lockers available (which I personally use to lock up my purse, wallet, cell phone, and makeup bag) many of the girls feel comfortable leaving their belongings out.  It is not unusually to see several expensive smartphones lined up on the counter top, and designer clothing sticking out of half open bags underneath.  During the busy golf and spring training season when the club hires more girls, there is the inevitable sentiment of  “It has to be the new girls…because we trust each other.”  Nevertheless, this is great way to feel about the majority of your co-workers.

The club has two stages, each entertainer does one song on each stage.  Unlike Christie’s where the runway stages were lifted and removed from the crowd which precluded tipping…the stage layout maximizes tipping possibilities.  Stage two is adjacent to the bar which prompts the looky-lous who usually just sitting around… to stick their leftover change from the last round of drinks into the closest g-string.

Stage Fees are reasonable when the considering the overall Phoenix market.  Early birds are rewarded, house is only $30 before 7 pm.  Each hour tacks on another $10.  The mandatory DJ tip out is $10 minimum or 10%. The mandatory security tip out is now $5.

I have mixed feelings on a mandatory percent tipout.  First and foremost as Dawn Rizos, the owner of The Lodge and I discussed,  it is illegal in most states.  Just this year, a class action lawsuits was won against goliaths like  Chili’ s and Starbucks The 10% DJ tipout is an antiquated formula that has been around since I started dancing 10 years ago, and after working with some horrendous warblers (remember DJ Clusterfuck) I will always personally reward good emcees like  DJ John and DJ Billy.

The  location is close to all the Downtown Scottsdale resorts, restaurants, and nightlife.  Therefore Babes will get a distinct 10pm after-dinner crowd rush which then morphs into the 1pm PowerHour.  The clientele during golf and baseball season is…. wealthy gentlemen who have enough money to fly to Arizona to play golf and watch baseball.  A fair amount of locals also stop in.

The contact at Babe’s is known to be very limited.  There are no private rooms, and the four VIP bottle-service tables fill up quickly.  Table dances are $10, Couch dances are $20, VIP is $400/hour.  Bottle service starts at $250.

The management team is introducing themed event nights at Babe’s.  Wednesday is the Bikini Contest.  Saturday is Costume Night.  Call the club for more details.

I worked at The Spearmint Rhino during my trip to Dallas in September 2008.  Since my fingerprint card was still on file, it was a natural choice to just pop back into that club.  Especially when the other option is  pay another $50 for fingerprints, audition, get hired, go through orientation, yada yada yada.  Plus one of my DancerWealth students worked there and this allowed me the opportunity to do some in-club coaching with her.  She also got to entertain one of Sexual Harrassment Panda’s friends for an evening.

In my opinion, The Rhino is one of the nicer clubs in Dallas.  The facility is relatively new, I believe it opened in January 2008.  It is right off the freeway (gosh is that west coast terminology or what?) a few exits north of NorthWest Highway aka Strip Club Row.  The two story building has several VIP and Champagne Rooms.  The upper level is semi-VIP.  There is a separate stairwell for VIP Card members, but I noticed anyone can walk up the main staircase and hang out at the upstairs bar.  The members section is roped off, and there is a private lap dance areas and champagne room beyond those velvet ropes.

Downstairs there are two similar private lap dance areas and a beautiful champagne room with wraught iron “windows” that overlook the stage.  Dances on the main floor are $20, private dances are $25.  I only had one guy say to me “Well, I’d rather save the $5 and get my dance out here.”

The stage fee maxes out at $35 after 9pm, early birds can pay less.  There is mandatory $5-10 Housemom and DJ tip out.  Manager tip-out is “appreciated.”  The whole check out process was very formal.  An entertainer who wants to leave must first go to the manager in the back office and ask for a check out slip.  Although the manager tip is “appreciated” it certainly is convenient that any entertainer who is leaving the building has to go to him first.  Then the entertainer has to get the DJ and HouseMom signatures on the check out slip.  On the way out the door, the security staff collects the check out slip and makes sure all the appropriate signatures are intact.  I was very surprised that there wasn’t a mandatory security tip out….until I walked myself out to my car every night.

Getting OUT of the parking lot is another debacle.  At closing time, the only way out is to make a left turn onto a very crowded street that backs up from the overflow from several clubs down the street.  On weekends there is also incoming traffic for the afterhours club next door AND the swingers club a few buildings down the street.

Overall, I liked working at The Spearmint Rhino.  This location was pretty typical for the chain: 65% younger, hip clientele, 35% older VIP types who pick the club based on the name-brand familiarity.  The dress code was MUCH more lax than The Lodge, which means I was sometimes a tad bit overdressed in my rhinestone dresses!  So I went shopping and picked this RED zip front corset that became my newest favorite outfit!

Check out the thread on Stripperweb.com about the psychological benefits of wearing RED

The Lodge is unlike any club I have ever experienced. Check out these local commercials.

From a dancer’s perspective, if I lived in Dallas…. I wouldn’t want to work anyplace else! Much of my opinion is due to the positive reinforcement strategies that owner, Dawn Rizos implements throughout the club. For example, there is NO HOUSE FEE for entertainers who arrive to work on time at 6pm. Dayshift entertainers not only pay no house fee, but are also fed a catered lunch by the club’s Five-Star Restaurant. I had the lobster bisque and crab stuffed halibut; it was delicious!

There is also no mandatory required tip-out to support staff.  This concept was difficult for me to wrap my head around at first (social capital is my best friend at Treasures in Las Vegas.)  However, the club is structured a bit differently.  Instead of “bouncers” and “VIP Hosts,” The Lodge hires managers who are paid a nice salary with full benefits.  Before my shift, the night manager sat down with me for a 20 minute interview before I was allowed to approach the customers.

“Do you do this with everyone?” I asked.

“Absolutely, I want to make sure you are an entertainer, not a stripper” he replied.

Entertainers are rewarded for selling club merchandise, champagne, and VIP memberships through an in-house point system.  There is a full service salon upstairs, in addition to the make-up artists and hair stylists who work each shift.  The Lodge also awards a full college scholarship to one lucky entertainer EVERY YEAR!

Ok, enough about the perks!  The club itself is huge.  The main room is decorated like a hunting lodge.  The Library is decorated….like a library of course.  The upstairs VIP lounge is available only to VIP club members and is decorated like the restaurant in Casa Blanca.  The downstairs VIP lounge is just off of the Library.  I like how each room has a distinctly different vibe.  I also like how I can work one room for an hour, then go to another one and customers say, “Where have YOU been?”

Apparently The Lodge is where the celebrities go when they are in Dallas.  Marilyn Manson tipped me $20 while sitting next to the stage in The Library.  I would have never recognized him.  He’s not a bad looking guy once you take off the scary black and white face paint.

Nikita Kash at www.travelingentertainers.com gave me the heads up on the Grand Opening of this club.  I drove by before it opened last week just to scope out the location.  It is actually a brand new building about a mile north of Oasis Gentlemen’s Club.  A few of the Oasis owners are also owners of this club. Here is the blurb from the Philadelphia Inquirer, scroll down to the bottom.

I arrived at 9:30 for the start of my 10-2 shift.  The club is brand new, and yes the tanning bed in the dressing room mentioned in the article is apparently very strong.  The club has a great set-up for the owners and the customers, but it is not optimal from the dancers’ perspective.

The Steakhouse is completely separated from the club with soundproof walls, but has several large windows for the diners to watch the main stage.  The rest of the main seating area is a huge 100 foot long  plus bar.  There are two small nooks each with two tables for seating, otherwise you have to sit at the bar.  After the three song rotation on the main stages, which is basically an island surrounded by the bar, the dancers do a tip walk around the inside of the bar perimeter to collect their dollars.  It reminded me of Mr J’s in Southern California, where after the stage set each entertainer got a dollar from every patron.   I think it gives a very personal touch, since every customer gets to meet every entertainer before the lapdance sale pressure.  From the dancer’s perspective it gives  a chance to pre-screen the guys sitting at the bar before approaching for the lap dance sale.  On each of my tip walks I was told to come back when I was done.

There are no main floor dances.  How can you when there are no chairs?  The bar also made it difficult to approach the customers from the front.  Think about it: when you sit at a bar you sit facing forward, and in this case it’s looking at the stage.  This forces the entertainer to approach EVERY customer in the bar from behind, which is the worst way to approach someone.

All dances are done in either the $20 couch dance room or the half hour and hour champagne rooms.  The club counts how many couch dances each performer sells and takes 25% of all lapdance sales ….and 55% of champagne room time.  I thought the 55% cut was a bit high, especially since the base stage fee was $30. At Delilah’s the stage fee is $65, and I can keep 100% of my lapdance and champagne room earnings.

I’m actually quite surprised at the vast difference in pricing structure for similar clubs in the same city.  Even though Delilahs has (apparently) the highest stage fee in town,  any entertainer who does more than 7 dances in an evening will end up paying more to the house at Christine’s than she will at Delilah’s.

So, this is a no brainer: Panda and Curtis have a business meeting in Philly next week.  Given their tendency to spend multiple hours in the Champagne room…should I meet them at Delilahs where I charge and keep  $400/hour.  Or should I take my generous and loyal clients to Christine’s where the house will charge them $500/hour, and I keep $240?

From the SuperStripper perspective, this club gets an A+++

Hiring: There is no audition. I went during the night shift on Thursday night with the Official StripandGrowRich attorneys: Scott Sigman and Rich Rochlin. Members-keep your eyes peeled for the new Legal Section of the SGR Forums. I like to check out a club before I work there, so we sat at a table and I observed. After speaking to the general manager Alp, I was hired on the spot in my street clothes. We then went into the office to fill out paperwork and photocopy my ID. The odd part was the mandatory front/back photo. I was asked to strip down to my panties and bra (which of course….I wasn’t wearing under my Black House/White Market fitted corset-top) So I just stripped down to my Victoria Secret cotton v-string “Hey, this is a topless bar right?” I joked and smiled for the digital camera. Apparently this is standard procedure. Alp then introduced me to one of the owners, a petite brunette about my age and the housemom. I asked to start right away, and Alp made sure the day housemom knew I was going to show up at 4pm for orientation. I was told to not wear makeup because they gave me the 4:30 appointment with the makeup artist. “Oh, that’s ok, I usually get ready at home so I can hit the floor right away.”

Orientation: The club has a very effective and welcoming procedure. The housemom greeted me and found a locker for me right away. I figured I would get a day use locker, but she actually wrote my name on the small 12×12 door. I was happy: it was big enough to stick my purse, money, makeup, and anything I don’t want stolen from my dancerbag.

All new Delilah’s entertainers get one week of free house fees and six sessions of free make-up applications. I sat right down in the makeup chair as soon as I locked my personal belongings. There is a makeup artist present all day for every shift.

Then I watched the 15 minute orientation video. It was definitely better than the Treasures PowerPoint presentation. The video was filmed in the club and went over all the rules and regulations. There was even a short section on sales and how to make more money.

After the video, I was introduced to Tori, who was my guide that night. I like the personal touch of having another dancer show the new dancer around rather than a housemom or manager rush through the orientation process. Tori showed me the three different VIP areas, the price breakdowns, explained the stage rotation, and introduced me to the DJ. She also stayed with me for the first hour and introduced me to some of the regular bar patrons, and pointed out timewasters, limited buyers, and potential VIP candidates (you know…the ones who like to try out every “new” girl)

Club Set Up: The club has 3 VIP areas. The upstairs Ruby Lounge is just for Black and Gold Delilah’s Club members. Dances are $20 and really the only difference between this lounge and the downstairs bar is that you need to be a member.
The Champagne and Red Rooms are downstairs. Bottles start at $160 and my time is $300/hour. Pretty standard.

Main Floor and Stage: The long runway stage is time consuming. Three songs when it’s slow, four songs when it’s busy. It is also very high isolated from the crowd. Only the last song which is performed on the center part of the stage is there even a possibility of getting tipped. The other stage locations don’t have a tip “rail” and the entertainer is about 10 feet from the patrons.

Dances are $20 both on the floor and in the private couch dance area. I found it odd that the private couch dance area was not an upsell. In Vegas, these would be equivalent to a 3 for $100 area.

Clientele and Environment: Older and wealthy. The majority of the customers I observed Thursday night were in dress shirts (screams traveling businessman to me) On Friday night there were a few bachelor parties and more casually dressed patrons. Since stage involves 3-4 songs, the DJ controls the music genre. This is smart, because he plays to the crowd instead what a bratty 19 year old stripper wants to hear. On Thursday night it was mostly classic rock with some oldies mixed in. I don’t think I’ve heard “Why do you build me up, Buttercup” played in a strip club before….and none of the girls complained about the music. Friday night the DJ played more top 40 and hip hop cross over music for the younger crowd.

The staff was very friendly. All of the floormen took the time to introduce themselves to me, and introduced me to a few VIP tables. Since Alp was not working that night, the manager on duty also took the time to introduce himself to me.

LockerRoom: “Everything you need is here!” Tori said. She’s right. There was a shower, bathroom stalls, tanning bed, makeup, shoes and costumes for sale by one merchant, jewelry and sparkly barrettes by another merchant. There were towels (if you needed a shower) a cabinet full of lotion, hairspray, bodyspray, toiletries, aspirin, tampons, calamine lotion, cotton balls, etc. Basically the dressing room was a mini Walgreens for a $15 minimum tip out. The buffet table: every shift has food for the entertainers. Spinach dip, crackers, chips and salsa, Hershey minis, fruit and veggie plate. Everything you would find at a holiday party. How do they expect the girls to stay thin?

Fees and Tip Out: $65 by 7pm, $85 by 9pm. Apparently these are the highest fees in Philly. If you work 4 shifts, the rest are free for the week. $15 minimum tip out to the housemom. Just the fabulous buffet in the dressing room is worth $15! $10 minimum to the DJ. No required tip out to security. “They are paid a salary by the club. You can tip them if you like, but don’t feel pressured to do so” the housemom told me. If you are local, they require a 3 day a week schedule to be submitted 2 weeks ahead of time. However, they welcome traveling entertainers and don’t require them to submit a schedule.

I think I’m going to visit Mom more often now….

Meet Me in VIP