What should always be remembered about pool tables is that while they lack the aura and instant earning power of the AWP machine, a good pool table will always out-earn an AWP over its lifetime
A half-decent pool table will give an operator 10 years of faithful returns – and should cover their investment in a year. A good one will still be making money after 20 years. Billares Sam knows of some of its tables still operating after 30 years.
And the upkeep of a pool table is no more than the replacement of cloth and cushions from time to time, regular brushing and the supply of fresh cues and occasionally balls.
This is preaching to the converted, however, for any operator who has operated pool tables will know all of this. I am perhaps preaching to the uninitiated, the operators who don’t have pool tables, don’t know that their performance can be greatly enhanced by competitions and tournaments, or indeed, those who know these things but still buy cheap locally-produced models.
The difference between something thrown together in a back-street workshop and a pool table turned out by one of the very few remaining manufacturers of international standing, can be remarkable. An operator in New Zealand buying a Billares Sam from Spain might worry about higher initial price and shipping costs, over a product made down the road, but keeping in perspective the thought that the Billares Sam table will still be working in 10-20 years should be the clincher. And anyway, Pablo Madariaga at Billares Sam (based near Vitoria in northern Spain) commented: “A major manufacturer is more likely to produce good tables without high costs because of the volumes they can produce.” He feels that Asian manufacturers are the prime competitors and that the quality of their tables is showing signs of improvement, while European manufacturers in local situations have higher manufacturing costs.
Link Pendley at Valley-Dynamo in the US, agrees: “It is a challenge for us to land our product at a cost that could possibly cover the purchase of four or five locally made tables. Yet our superior quality, brand value and return on investment overcome these obstacles in most cases and allow us to export to more than 40 countries.” On the longevity issue, Pendley agrees that a good manufacturer will see the tables deliver up to 15 years’ service. “We routinely see 40-year-old Valleys still in service. We don’t build in obsolescence to bolster sales; we rely on the league system and innovation to maintain our 90 per cent market share in the US and growing international sales.”
This feature can be read in full in the July 2012 issue of InterGame magazine.
