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Why does one nightclub think it can work where another failed?

I’ve been a fan and student of the nightclub industry for many years, having spent 3 years working on a concept that one day I will open. I often see nightclubs open, then close, then another open, then close. There needs to be some switch in investor’s heads that goes off to trigger them not to reopen a club in a failed location, IT DOESN’T WORK! On Scottsdale and Shea, a pizza restaurant went out of business. It was empty for months and then finally somebody started doing work on it. They were planning on building a nightclub. There already had been a small lounge 3 doors down open and fail after trying to convert a space into a club, but for some reason Taste Ultra Lounge was supposed to be great. They opened, and failed. Shocker

Now I read this in the paper today:

Where Taste Ultra Lounge once stood, now Black Card Ultralounge opens tonight. The party starts at 11 p.m., with DJ Fashen working the decks, spinning hip-hop and Top 40 dance. The pan-Asian-themed Taste hosted big Super Bowl parties this winter, but has been quiet/closed since the spring. Now the new club promises the kind of amenities and lifestyle accoutrements associated with those who have Centurion American Express card. But based on the benefits of the AmEx concierge service, and the requirements a person has to meet to get one of those cards, we sincerely doubt bottle service and a designated VIP entrance really lives up to the Black Card hype. It also makes us uncomfortable that promoters keep referring to the Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard location as “North Scottsdale,” as though that is, in fact, North Scottsdale, and as though that geography connotes something particularly covet-worthy. But see for yourself Saturday.

Details: 6910 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, 480-991-2833, blackcardscottsdale.com, myspace.com/blackcardscottsdale.

Don’t they get it? That spot is awful, it is going to fail again like every other club that has tried to open on Scottsdale/Shea besides the Buzz. Why don’t people get it?

Video from Sprout Fest

Here is a great video that Cody made documenting the crazy week that was known as Sprout Fest!

Blog Update and Changes

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be updating and expanding the blog a lot. I’m finding a lot more interesting things to write and post about so I want to develop the site a bit more. Stay tuned.

BK

Cool startup company of the day…

Yuuguu

Yuuguu is a FREE and easy to use application for working with your colleagues or friends over the web.

I’ve tried a bunch of things similar and this is one of the better ones and it is free. With built in messaging and chatting it eliminates the need for an external messaging system while using the program. Try it out and let me know what you think.

iPhones at Best Buy

It is expected that Apple and AT&T will start selling iPhones at Best Buy very soon. For all you Apple loving people this will give you one more place to wait to buy an over hyped phone that isn’t that special. There are probably 8 people at Sprout that have it and everyday I hear about some issue or how the 3G isn’t fast. I love my Sprint phone and network, never have an issue getting online fast. Going to upgrade to Treo 800w soon, built in wi-fi, GPS turn by turn, and windows mobile.

Sprout Launches New FanKits Service

Sprout launches new FanKits service, a powerful social media marketing tool

Sony Pictures Entertainment partners with Sprout to harness the power of their FanKits service to connect its brand with fans

San Francisco – August 12, 2008 Sprout (http://sproutbuilder.com/), the premier platform for easily creating, publishing and managing rich media Web content, today announced the launch of its FanKits service. FanKits enable entertainment and media companies to connect and promote their branded content to consumers by allowing fans to create and share branded widgets within social media sites.

The FanKits service helps entertainment companies and brands turn users into “brand ambassadors” by encouraging fans to create, remix and share branded widgets with their friends. By utilizing Sprout’s FanKits service, entertainment and media brands can inspire fan creativity while also managing and customizing the engagement and brand experience. Brands can customize the look and feel of the FanKits widget builder by determining which features, components, and assets will appear within the service. Additionally, brands will be able to maximize the effectiveness of FanKits campaigns by accessing detailed reports on key metrics such as widget creation, distribution and virality.

Users will be able to build widgets to promote their favorite movies, music, games and sports teams on social media sites. Users can personalize their widget by adding photos, videos and slideshows or they can ‘remix’ another fan’s widget to create their own.

“FanKits provide a catalyst for interaction between fans and their favorite entertainment content within their social media sites,” said Carnet Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of Sprout. “With the rise in social media participation, the FanKits service is a revolutionary new way for entertainment brands to connect and engage with online entertainment consumers, and better yet, track the impact and success of their ongoing social media marketing programs.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment will use Sprout’s FanKits service to encourage user interaction around its entertainment content. The partnership will launch with Sony’s upcoming comedy, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, so fans can build custom movie-themed widgets and share them on social media sites. Fans can also create and listen to their own “infinite playlist” within the FanKits widget builder using embeddable music playlists from leading social media network imeem. The imeem service allows users to create, embed and share custom playlists, mixing and matching millions of songs and videos.

To see the FanKits service in action, visit http://sproutbuilder.com/sony. Or for more information visit http://sproutbuilder.com/fankits.

About Sprout

Sprout is the premier platform for easily creating, publishing and managing sophisticated rich media content on the Web. With Sprout, anyone can quickly and easily build widgets, minisites, banners and other rich media content for their blog, social networking profile or web site. Sprout is based in Honolulu, HI and San Francisco, CA. To learn more, please visit http://www.sproutbuilder.com.

About Nick and Norah

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a comedy about two people thrust together for one hilarious, sleepless night of adventure in a world of mix tapes, late-night living, and, live, loud music. Nick (Michael Cera) frequents New York’s indie rock scene nursing a broken heart and a vague ability to play the bass. Norah (Kat Dennings) is questioning pretty much all of her assumptions about the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band’s secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist opens in theaters nationwide on October 3, 2008. For more information, visit http://nickandnorah.com.

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Cool site of the day

PingMe

PingMe takes a unique approach to keeping track of things you need to do - it’s mobile and interactive. Just create a Ping, set a date and you’ll receive a reminder by E-mail or TXT to your phone. Not a good time? Pings are interactive! Just reply to the message to reschedule for a later date or time. You can even create new Pings on-the-fly from your mobile device, or tag your Pings to create contextual to-do lists. Pings are also social! Our new contacts system allows you to share, send and receive pings with other users. Coordinate tasks and collaborate with friends, family, and colleagues while staying flexible and in-touch.

Lack of Posts

Sorry for the lack of posts. Life has been crazy with visitors every weekend and lots going on at Sprout. I have lots of posts ready to go, just need to get them all written.

Starbucks doesn’t own Peet’s Coffee & Tea

So being in SF there are a lot of Stabucks and just as many Peet’s. I think both taste good, I’m not a big coffee lover. I have heard a lot of people say on occasions that Starbucks owns Peet’s and that is not true. There are some close ties. This link explains the history of Peet’s. I’ll point out some of the more interesting parts that’ll clear this up.

In 1984, the year espresso machines made their appearance, Jerry Baldwin bought Peet’s, adding it to a portfolio that included Caravali, a wholesale coffee brand, and a small Seattle chain known as Starbucks. Inspired by Peet’s, Baldwin and his two partners, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl, had pulled together $8,000 in cash and loans in 1971 to found Starbucks. That was when Baldwin first met Peet; in 1971, he and his partners traveled to Berkeley to learn about Peet’s coffee before Arthur Peet would sell it to them for use at Starbucks.

In 1987, Baldwin sold off Starbucks, which then had only six stores, to Howard Schultz, a former Peet’s employee who had left Peet’s in 1986 to start his own coffee company, Il Giornale. Baldwin’s reason for selling off Starbucks was that it would never be as good as Peet’s. The deal included a noncompete agreement, which expired in 1992, the year that Starbucks went public and began its astronomic expansion worldwide.