The FINANCIAL — Despite the turmoil in the political and economic situation in Georgia two new, totally different places of night entertainment have been added to Tbilisi’s night life: G.U.R.U. night club and Diva Show Girls. Nearly 2,000 clients have visited the latter since October 29, 2008, Patricia Delon, businesswoman from Israel and Diva’s Director, told The FINANCIAL.
“When we’re talking about opening this kind of club, we’re talking about investing millions in the business,” Nugzar Chkhetia, Manager of G.U.R.U club says.
G.U.R.U. club opened on 22 November. The club is located at 12, Rustaveli Ave. where one of the most popular clubs in Tbilisi – Noa-Noa – used to be. Up until now the most popular clubs in Tbilisi were NightOffice and Cubic.
“Club life has been quite quiet recently in Tbilisi and in Georgia. We are going to bring it back,” Chkhetia told The FINANCIAL.
“There are not many clubs in Tbilisi and we wanted to show what club culture really means. Our clients will be those who don’t go to NightOffice or Cubic. Our segment will be VIP clients.”
“G.U.R.U club is going to be a trendsetter in Tbilisi’s night life. The name comes from Indonesia. The word Guru is for a cool person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and uses it to guide others. G.U.R.U. is for those cool people who have good taste in music and appreciate spending time in a comfortable environment,” Chkhetia says.
“In addition to this, service at our club will be as customized as possible so that each of the clients is served as an individual. Entrance will start generally at 22:00 and the party will not finish until the last guest leaves the club,” explained the Manager of G.U.R.U.
If you want to check your sensibility line, than you should visit Diva Show Girls.
“Diva Show Girls opened on 29 October and nearly 2,000 clients have visited the club since then. It’s surprising to see so many female visitors. Women celebrate their birthdays here with their friends. Our visitors are mainly Georgian and foreign businessmen though. The main segment for Diva Show Girls is foreigners staying in Georgia. For this reason the advertisements are going to be in those media sources which are closer to foreigners,” Patricia Delon, Director of Diva Show Girls, told The FINANCIAL.
“Currently I think that in Tbilisi we don’t have any competitors as we are the only ones offering this type of show. Foreigners say that they are already bored with traditional Georgian restaurants and they come here to relax and receive the kind of entertainment which was previously unavailable. We try to offer the kind of service that attracts visitors and brings him or her back to the club. For this reason I think we are on the right track to developing this business,” said Patricia Delon.
At first getting a license for a strip-club would seem difficult in Georgia but no difficulties were met by the management of Diva Show Girls. There were no problems with getting the license for the club. The problems were avoided as the introduction was done in a proper manner. Entrance is not allowed for those younger than 23 years old. The main segment of clients ranges from 30 to 50 year olds. The entrance fee, which is 50 GEL, includes the show and a drink. The dances last on average 5 minutes.
If you really want to be what strip-dancers call a “Superman” in the club, you’ll need about GEL 400 in your pocket though.
“Our clients thank us for creating a new place where you can relax, have fun and enjoy spending time with your friends. In general Fridays and Saturdays should be the most active days, but there are days when many people unexpectedly visit our club, such as last Tuesday when there were more people than on Friday. On Fridays and Saturdays people start arriving at 20:00 pm and then leaving at 2:00 am. The other half come at 2:00 am and go at 7:00 am,” added Delan.
G.U.R.U. club invites foreign DJs with their vocalists playing at the club. On Fridays there will be house music and on Saturdays Deep House. At the club you can watch the performances of beautiful, professional dancers. From December, on Thursdays G.U.R.U is going to offer live jazz performed by foreign musicians.
“In Tbilisi there’s a lack of opportunity to regularly listen to live jazz music. Our target markets are not only Georgians, but also foreigners living in Tbilisi. Many of these foreigners are bored with typical Georgian restaurants and G.U.R.U is going to be a new page for them,” Nugzar Chkhetia told The FINANCIAL.
“As for a marketing campaign, we know well that our main marketers are our satisfied clients. Each of our visitors has the capacity to spread the information to 1,000 other potential clients. For us positive word of mouth is going to be the major strategy in publicizing our club.”
Investing in G.U.R.U are Georgians as well as foreigners. There are VIP seats for around 100 people. In total the club has the capacity for 400-450 visitors.
There will be only foreign DJs playing at G.U.R.U and one Georgian DJ who will play regularly. 80% of the DJs who came and played at NightOffice or Switch were invited by the current management of G.U.R.U. At this club DJs will receive the highest payments in Georgia.
Diva Show Girls is a Georgian-Israeli investment. According to the club’s owners the initial investment was GEL 300,000 and because of ongoing investments this sum increased to GEL 350,000. The main costs were for reconstruction, equipment and bringing the girls. The building is taken for a long-term rent and for this reason the building wasn’t very costly.
There used to be a restaurant here. The design of the club is a mixture of antique, gothic and hi-tech. This spectacular mixture of different styles makes the whole show even more attractive.
“At first we were afraid of coming here because of the recent war. But when I came and saw how well organized this club was, I understood that working here was worth it. There were some other offers in Japan for example, but as it is a new club and the first strip-club in Georgia I decided to come. Plus the reaction from the audience has been very positive,” said Melissa, one of the dancers.
As in other foreign strip-clubs, Diva Show Girls offers you a Crazy Menu. Payments for the Crazy Menu are made in Divas, which are coupons. Each Diva is worth GEL 10. The Crazy Menu offers a wide variety of dances: Table dance – 3 Diva; Lap dance – 4 Diva; Slow dance – 5 Diva; Romantic Date (half an hour) – 15 Diva; Private dance – 10 Diva; Sexy BD – 15 Diva; Full Strip – 25 Diva; Show in VIP Room – 20 Diva; Buying her clothes – 30 Diva; Dance with all- 30 Diva; and Erotic Table – 60 Diva
If you want to privately rent the club out it will cost you USD 5,000. If you want to buy one extra hour after the club closes, in this case you will have to pay 70 Diva, which equals GEL 700.
The tips and revenues from the Crazy Menu go in to the pockets of the dancers. The source of revenue for the club is the sale of tickets and the bar. The most expensive drink is Don Perignon which costs GEL 750 a bottle. Moet & Shandon costs GEL 250.
“G.U.R.U club is bringing in the cocktail culture. At clubs in Georgia Vodka, tequila and whisky were the most popular drinks. That was because nobody offered anything better. In our menu you can find about 100 kinds of cocktails. This number is a record number for clubs in Georgia. We have our own special G.U.R.U cocktail which became popular from the very day of the club’s opening. There’s a G.U.R.U cocktail for men and for women. The one for men costs GEL 55 and GEL 45 for women. The ingredients are also different.”
Ingredients for the G.U.R.U. men cocktail include: Vodka, Absinthe, Redbull and Gin.
Ingredients for the G.U.R.U. women cocktail include: Absinthe, Vodka, Grenadine, Apple Juice, Sprite and Gin.
Ticket prices will be ranging from GEL 30 to GEL 50.
Ladies younger than 18 and gentlemen under 21 are not allowed.
Face control will be of high level.
The most expensive drink in the menu is Hennesy Paradise which costs GEL 140 for 50g. If you buy a bottle, you will receive a 20-30% discount.
“As for the new strip-bar Diva, I think that they will have their own segment, which will probably be mainly foreigners. This will be a new kind of entertainment for foreigners in Georgia so I think that that business could have a future.”
“If you want to have your own style and niche, a club for 1,500 people wouldn’t be appropriate. 400-500 people for 3 days a week, is the proper number of real clubbers that you can have in Tbilisi. G.U.R.U offers more to its clients than any of the other clubs in Tbilisi and Georgia. For this reason the prices won’t be the same. G.U.R.U has no competitors currently as we are the first. We intend to offer the highest quality standards; we are going to put serious financial efforts into it. The payments for foreign DJs will be round several thousands USD.”
According to the club manager the corporate event market is attractive. For this reason there will be an opportunity to rent the club, but only on non-working days. This service will be available for serious organizations and not for the wider masses. The price for renting won’t be the same for every client. The club is going to customize prices and make individual offers. But this price will be higher than in NightOffice, Cubic or Zen Club.
“As for the barmen, G.U.R.U. employs some of the most experienced ones in Georgia. They have been working in all of the leading clubs on the market. And we are proud that they’ll offer the kind of quality that G.U.R.U club deserves.”
“The main thing about this business is what kind of offer you make. You can’t resist the pleasure that we offer here. We searched for the best dancers in Ukraine. From 480 dancers we chose 15. Our dancers are different. Diva satisfies the many different tastes of various customers. For this reason we chose girls that are not like each other. We are going to change the dancers monthly so that our clients don’t get bored. Currently there are 8 dancers and in the next month 7 more will be added,” said the Director of the club.
“Before the New Year we will already have the statistics of our regular clients, their age groups and other necessary information to introduce VIP Cards. There was a case when one of our visitors asked me to give him a VIP Card straight away. He said he would pay USD 600 every month and would come twice a year. I refused and told him that at our club it doesn’t matter who you are on the outside. It matters who you are in the club and what you are ready to give in exchange.”
Omega Company provides Diva Show Girls with security. At first club management was advised to have at least 8 security guards. But as there’s strict face control and they are not letting in the kind of people who would make any trouble, currently they have only 4 highly trained, professional security guards.
Written By Levan Lomtadze
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