Ever wondered why it is so hard for a club to stay relevant in Namibia? Yes? No? Maybe? There are a few things that club owners/managers do wrong in managing the affairs of a club. One critical one is these club managers struggling to successfully walk the thin line defining a club, pub and a lounge. A club is open from the evening until early morning, having facilities such as a bar and disco or other entertainment. A pub is an establishment for the sale of beer and other drinks, and sometimes also food, to be consumed on the premises. A lounge is a public room in a hotel, theatre or club in which to sit and relax.
You see why it is a thin line? Let’s give it a Namibian perspective. In Namibia, a pub is a respectable place where I can go for a drink and try my luck at a slot machine (if one adds a jukebox, than that would make it a shebeen). From a Namibian perspective, a club is where there is a dedicated Disk Jockey that will play music for you to dance to on a dance floor. A lounge is where there are no slot machines, no jukeboxes, no dancefloor but just tables, couches and bar chairs where one can have a pleasant conversation while listening to music at a low tempo and low volume. Lounges do not really need Disk Jockeys…a playlist would really do the trick.
Now in Namibia, lounges tend to become clubs…pubs and shebeens all in one! That’s bad for business. That’s desperation written all over it. That means the market you targeted with your lounge will cease to attend your spot because now the crowds are mixed. Hence lounges all over the country tend to struggle to stay afloat once they are guilty of mixing these three components. In my many loose conversations with your typical urban professional…you’d hear them utter with pure frustration that they are unable to enjoy the night life because they do not want to be at a spot where their daughters and sons’ friends are dancing Quadradinho things.
They want to get to a spot where like-minded professionals meet for a social drink or two. And if they had one too many, they would not want to worry about a person that is not of their class noticing them and “tweeting” about it. They want the comfort of going to a spot to have a conversation or two without screaming. They want to be served and not go stand at the bar and fight, bribe your way through a heavy line to order a drink. And once you reach the bar lady…you are forced to order the whole bar because you never know whether you will get a chance to reach the front line again. Fellow club owners/managers…let us get these few things right. As entertainers, we need to get it right because 60% of our business is done at our establishments.
Until the next Loop, we say #GMTM
Song of the week: Eddy Ross: My best friend
Flop of the week: Charroh: Amen
Need an Actor? Contact NSK for a quote at naobebsekind@gmail.com