By
Phil Leckman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Local nightclubs in cutthroat competition for fickle UA dollars
On a Friday night on Fourth Avenue, it is easy to see why UA students are so important to Tucson's bars and nightclubs.
Crowds throng the streets, packing smaller clubs and lining up outside the most popular destinations like Maloney's, O'Malley's or Club XS.
The sidewalks are packed as scantily clad club-goers hustle to and fro in the chilly evening air.
On such a night, operating a club within walking distance of the university seems like a guaranteed gold mine. But in reality, many of Tucson's bar and nightclub operators say it is an unpredictable and difficult business, and one prone to intense competition.
"It's unbelievable what clubs will do to each other," said Asad Khan, owner of The Rock nightclub, 136 N. Park Ave.
Khan, a 1995 graduate of the University of Arizona's Karl Eller School of Business, has owned The Rock since 1998. He said the nightclub is his "passion," and he runs the club on top of another full-time job to prove it. Despite his love of the business, however, Khan is still dismayed by the rough-and-tumble battle clubs wage for student dollars.
"It's very, very cutthroat," he said. "I had no idea it's as tough as it is."
Other club operators - even at established venues - said they were similarly taken aback by the fierce competition between nightclubs. Matt Snyder is assistant general manager at Maloney's, 213 N. Fourth Ave., which is currently one of the most popular bars with the college crowd.
"Everyone knows Maloney's," Sndyer said. "Once they (students) turn 21, it's the place to be."
Despite his own club's secure status, Snyder said he is often startled by the intense competition to attract students.
"It's kind of a bad situation," he said. "Other establishments try to low-ball you. It's gotten to the point where other bars basically are giving the house away. People are selling dollar beers - you're not going to turn much of a profit that way."
As a result, Snyder said, the number of bars that can stay in business for the long term is small.
"You see new bars popping up and lasting six months or until summer," he said. "It's pretty bad in May, once the students leave."
While his own club can usually survive the down time, Snyder said smaller businesses are often not so lucky.
"It's kind of tough for us, but I can't even imagine if that's what you're relying on solely," he said.
The Rock's Khan agreed with Snyder in that smaller venues often have a harder time bringing in student dollars. He freely concedes that his own club has, at times, been among them.
"We lost the college crowd altogether for a year," Khan said. The Rock survives, he said, because students comprise a relatively small part of his business, "only thirty or thirty-five percent." Nonetheless, Khan stressed the importance of attracting the student crowd.
"I'm not an O'Malley's or Maloney's - I'm not at the top like that," Khan explained. "We're a small bar - we have to attract an audience."
Attracting this audience, however, can often be difficult.
"I think you have to get the right people in, the ones people look up to," Khan said. "How do I know who those people are? I have no idea."
Other club operators voiced similar sentiments - yes, the student crowd is important, but how do you bring them in?
"It's always an advantage to have that extra amount of people to try to tap into," said Larry Horvath, entertainment coordinator at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
Despite the appeal of the UA crowd, he said, bringing them in to stay poses a challenge.
"It's the most difficult demographic to deal with ever," Horvath said. "Trends come and go so fast."
Horvath does have two tried-and-true approaches, however.
"I think there are two big things," he said. "The college crowd is driven by drink specials, and they're starting to lean more toward theme nights."
Rick Johnson, the Congress's general manager and Horvath's boss, added some ideas of his own.
"There are two constants," he said. "Guys go where women are, and people go where people already are."
Maloney's Snyder agreed that drink specials are important.
"I think students come to depend on that because they're on a fixed income," he explained. He added that while his club has tried theme parties, especially for holidays and special events, they try not to overdo it.
"We try not to go overboard with theme parties because you don't want them to flop - you want to make sure it's done right."
The Rock's Khan also conceded that drink specials are important. But he argued that his club's ambience is ultimately what draws crowds.
"People come here because of the music, not just drink specials," Khan said, who also doesn't believe in flyers and said his business has improved since he reduced his promotional budget from $10,000 to zero.
In the final analysis, however, Khan said he was grateful that his large local crowd allows him to survive with or without the fickle college crowd.
"When the kids are gone, I still need to make money," he said.
