TUESDAY, January 10, 2017
www.kamloopsthisweek.com
B3
BUSINESS
David Bilkey, Q.C. dbilkey@bilkeylaw.ca
Harmon C. Hayden hhayden@bilkeylaw.ca
Experienced Senior Trial and Mediation Lawyers
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
Complex Commercial Disputes Personal Injury Estate Litigation Property Claims
Kamloops Billiard Club has eight pool tables, a full-sized snooker table, televisions and bar tables and stools. While a liquor license is in the works, charter members have no plans to add a restaurant.
Club to host league play From B1
Right now, drop-in is 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. It costs $15 per hour per table for up to four people. “The general public hasn’t seen a pool room in Kamloops and I don’t know how much of a market there is or isn’t,” Marshall said.
A PASSION, NOT PROFITABLE
It’s not cheap to shoot pool at the club, but Marshall said pool halls don’t make money. “You just do not,” Marshall said. “We’re not doing this for money, we’re doing this because we love playing pool and, if it can pay our bills, great. If it doesn’t quite pay our bills, we’re OK with that anyways.” Deborah Howell, former owner of Executive Billiards in the Southgate industrial area, knows that all too well. “It was kind of hard keeping the doors open when you couldn’t pay the bills,” Howell told KTW. She still has a sour taste in her month five years after closing the Laval Crescent hall. Howell said not being able to obtain a liquor licence or sell food crippled the business, with the sheer space required to
house 10 pool tables and five karaoke rooms costing more than revenue coming in. The hall was open about 20 years and had a shady history. Howell said the previous owner “let things go. “We tried to make it more family-oriented and that didn’t work either,” Howell said. Marshall does not plan to open a restaurant at Kamloops Billiard Club due to costs, but Kelly O’Bryan’s has delivered food to them.
BACK IN THE DAY
Howell called the pool community in Kamloops “family.” At its peak locally in the early 2000s, she said, 36 teams played competitively, with each team having up to six players. She recalls five halls in the city at that time — three downtown, one in North Kamloops and hers. But once they closed? “Bars were the only place to play after that,” she said. The Dirty Jersey on the North Shore became Kamloops’ unofficial pool hall, offering 8- and 9-ball league play. Other watering holes, such as Carlos O’Bryans, The Central Station Pub and the Kami Inn downtown, have tables, but players
more often wait in queue than grab a cue. Howell still receives messages online from people who miss Executive Billiards and she knows members of Kamloops Billiard Club are old customers. “Hopefully, they can keep enough regular members to keep the doors open for them,” she said.
FROM KAMLOOPS TO VEGAS
While Marshall is in a league of his own when it comes to commitment to the game, others can join
league play as per the Canadian Cue Sport Association. “The leagues, they go all over,” Howell said. “You can win trips to Toronto and play in the nationals. Vegas is the internationals.” Kamloops Billiard Club will hold league play on Thursdays and more information can be found online at cdnqsport.com. Other events include non-professional tournaments on Fridays and a snooker league on Saturdays. A junior league is also in the works.
301-186 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC V2C 5R3 Tel: 778-471-4350 www.bilkeylaw.ca
On January 25, I’m inviting everyone over. JAMES MACAULEY, AT CHARTWELL SINCE 2011. If you’re like James, you never miss an opportunity to get together with friends and have fun. That’s why you’re all invited to our Robbie Burns event. Join us and learn why our residents feel so at home at Chartwell. CHARTWELL.COM
SALESPERSON OF THE MONTH
DECEMBER 2016
JOHN MISERA
ROBBIE BURNS Wednesday, January 25 4:30 pm
john@kamloopsdodge.com
Kamloops Dodge Chrysler Jeep would like to congratulate JOHN ON ACHIEVING SALESMAN OF DECEMBER 2016.
Since 1968
(250) 374-4477
2525 E. TRANS CANADA HWY, KAMLOOPS, BC VIEW OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY ONLINE AT WWW.KAMLOOPSDODGE.COM
1789 Primrose Ct., Kamloops
Make us part of your story.
778-376-2003 Conditions may apply.