The reason why those places lost money and closed was because they only were charging $5.00 to get in and had open bar for 2 hours. That was too cheap and the $5.00 a head wasn't making them enough money to cover the expense for the 2 hour open bar.
My friend plays in a club I used to play in. On Friday nights he starts at 6pm. 1 hour open bar, buffet and DJ. It's $10.00 to get in and you have to get there early to find a place to park.
The place is making a killing because it's so packed in there on Friday night that within that hour you'll probably get 2 drinks and not 8 to 10 drinks like the places you mentioned. Those places even if it was back in the 80's should have closed. For $5.00 all you should have gotten with that is to get in.
If they wanted to get people to come to the place since they were only charging $5.00 to get in to just let ladies come in for free the first 2 hours and guys pay the $5.00 to get in. If men see that they have a lot of women going into a place then that will have them wanting to see what's going on inside. Once they get in there and see a ton of women they won't be so eager to run out the place. In return some will want to buy the women some drinks to talk to them making the owner. Add that combination to a DJ that can really play some hot that people will want to listen and dance, then you have a winning combination.
