05/2017 - High Caribbean Disco

[QueGuapo]

First complaint I hear about the music from Rancho...other than from the neighbours. Most people went there for the music and videos.

and I do too... but after hearing the same songs over and over it gets repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I loved both places and they are by far my favorite places in Sosua. This does not mean that I cannot criticize what I believe is one of the flaws...

[Mr. Smooth]

it picked up a little! i was in there aboutt 12:30, probably same number of camareras but only maybe 15 customers, or so it seemed
Ad did say it would pick up after 1 AM but I didnt stick around, had a beer and then left

I am assuming there was a huge word of mouth about this place beyond the Sosua News and other assorted sources as the opening drew closer. If it opens at 9, but not many people bother to show up until such a late hour, as Ad says they would, after only being open a short while, will it even make sense to have this type of establishment open 7 nights a week? How will it ever make any profit if so few people are in such a huge place for at least half of the business hours, especially since you need to go there to get there, and not being just another spot where you can wander in, take a look around, and if you don't like it, move to the next place in a minute or two?

If these lack of customers become the normal, then the survival of this place will wholly depend exclusively on a smaller, more devoted after hours crowd. If that turns out to be the case, maybe it would make more sense to only be open on a Thursday - Sunday night basis. Just speculation I know.

Ad should send some sexy waitresses to the Strip with flyers in hand to promote some early evening drink specials. Or food specials if/when the kitchen gets up and running. Just have them stand on the corner of Rosen and Clisante, smile and hand them to gringos. Gringos love to get a cheap drink!

Maybe see if he can get advertising on the vests of the motos. Post flyers in the surrounding campos like Abajo, Los Castillos, Montellano, etc. A billboard on the highway just outside the airport if the cost wasn't prohibitive. Get a website up and running.

Having that place survive can only benefit everyone involved. Expats have a place to go besides the usual, tourists have a new place to enjoy an evening out on the hunt or to take someone they met somewhere else to further enjoy a night out. Employment is provided for a good number of young people, many of those women being single mothers, and the powers that be in town can use that place to hopefully cause a sea change in the nightly environment of the main strip where the "in your face" naughtiness that has gone on for the last however many decades, might just slowly recede to a more subtle level.

And that goes for the WW crowd as well.

[QueGuapo]

I am assuming there was a huge word of mouth about this place beyond the Sosua News and other assorted sources as the opening drew closer. If it opens at 9, but not many people bother to show up until such a late hour, as Ad says they would, after only being open a short while, will it even make sense to have this type of establishment open 7 nights a week? How will it ever make any profit if so few people are in such a huge place for at least half of the business hours, especially since you need to go there to get there, and not being just another spot where you can wander in, take a look around, and if you don't like it, move to the next place in a minute or two?

If these lack of customers become the normal, then the survival of this place will wholly depend exclusively on a smaller, more devoted after hours crowd. If that turns out to be the case, maybe it would make more sense to only be open on a Thursday - Sunday night basis. Just speculation I know.

Ad should send some sexy waitresses to the Strip with flyers in hand to promote some early evening drink specials. Or food specials if/when the kitchen gets up and running. Just have them stand on the corner of Rosen and Clisante, smile and hand them to gringos. Gringos love to get a cheap drink!

Maybe see if he can get advertising on the vests of the motos. Post flyers in the surrounding campos like Abajo, Los Castillos, Montellano, etc. A billboard on the highway just outside the airport if the cost wasn't prohibitive. Get a website up and running.

Having that place survive can only benefit everyone involved. Expats have a place to go besides the usual, tourists have a new place to enjoy an evening out on the hunt or to take someone they met somewhere else to further enjoy a night out. Employment is provided for a good number of young people, many of those women being single mothers, and the powers that be in town can use that place to hopefully cause a sea change in the nightly environment of the main strip where the "in your face" naughtiness that has gone on for the last however many decades, might just slowly recede to a more subtle level.

And that goes for the WW crowd as well.

I have never been to this venue before since I started going to Sosua in 2010. I haven't been down there in 4 months since I was in other Countries ( Thailand, Nigeria and others) and I will be back this Friday so I will definitely check it out.
based on the informations I have gathered, I think it is probably too big for the crowd that follows Ad. Rancho Tipico and City lights worked well because they mostly gathered local expats or semi locals ( like me) and not really the WW in town. 40 people at the same time in Rancho Tipico or City lights were a very good crowd and made these venues look busy, but probably this is not the case with High Caribbean. Also I assume that the kind of expenses for the venues are different ( I believe that the rent and bills are much higher at High Caribbean compared to the previous two bars)
I think this place, to be successful, needs both the locals and the tourists, and this is not easy to pull it off... only time will tell...
We wish Ad good luck because more successful places there are in town and the better is for everybody.
I will definitely do my best to advertise this new venue to the people I know that live there just as I did in the past with Rancho Tipico and City lights. I have already spoken about it to a few of them that did not even know about this opening and we already agreed in going there this coming Friday to check it out.
I will certainly post my review here after being there.

[Irie]

What? Really?
I remember one of the main complaints about RanchoTipico/CityLights has always been the music/video selection... same songs over and over every night.
one time I was mentioning that to WickedWillie who told me that Ad has thousands of different songs in his music system but he was using only 30/40 songs... you could actually pretty much guess what was coming after every song... clients complained about that, the working chicas and the putas as well complain all the times about the music selection...

My reference was related to genre, not repetition. Two different subjects the way I look at it.

[QueGuapo]

My reference was related to genre, not repetition. Two different subjects the way I look at it.

I certainly concur but you were talking about mix, mix and how good Ad was at it so I just pointed out my opinion on the subject...
As you know well, I loved the place and dancing there.. I just wished there was a little more variety...

[TNT72]

Ad should send some sexy waitresses to the Strip with flyers in hand to promote some early evening drink specials. Or food specials if/when the kitchen gets up and running. Just have them stand on the corner of Rosen and Clisante, smile and hand them to gringos. Gringos love to get a cheap drink!

He needs to hire some first!!! Jesus.....

[Mr. Smooth]

He needs to hire some first!!! Jesus.....

No doubt they will get better looking as the night goes on but yes, point taken!

[Gutter Meat]

Is it still open?

[QueGuapo]

Is it still open?

Yes it is. Last night I stopped by around midnight and it was empty..
I checked it out a couple of times in the last 4 nights and I have to say it's not my cup of tea..
I stick to City Lights where I like the vibe better

[Westy]

Yes it is. Last night I stopped by arond midnight and it was empty..
I checked it out a couple of times in the last 4 nights and I have to say it's not my cup of tea..
I stick to City Lights where I like the vibe better

Last night ... well, it was Monday night. Still, "empty" is not a good sign.

Of course, I'm not there, and I don't come to Sosua any more, so my say-so isn't worth much.

In any case, the best thing is to stick with what we like.

[el_papi_chew_low]

and I don't come to Sosua any more.

why not?

[Westy]

why not?

I prefer Thailand and the Philippines. Mai pen rai.

[QueGuapo]

Last night ... well, it was Monday night. Still, "empty" is not a good sign.

Of course, I'm not there, and I don't come to Sosua any more, so my say-so isn't worth much.

In any case, the best thing is to stick with what we like.

Well I guess they need to pay bills and salaries on slow days too so...
but this is the main reason why this place will have a hard time to survive... I assume the rent and bills are high due to the size of the place... to be able to make ends meet it needs to be at least half full all the tims and it's far away to reach that goal... firt, in my opinion, the formula does not satisfy the locals ( I have spoken to many and not one told me he thinks the place is great) and there are not enough tourits in town interested in going there instead of Classico. This time I have to agree with Gutter Meat and I don't think it will survive long...

[j_d66]

Well I guess they need to pay bills and salaries on slow days too so...
but this is the main reason why this place will have a hard time to survive... I assume the rent and bills are high due to the size of the place... to be able to make ends meet it needs to be at least half full all the tims and it's far away to reach that goal... firt, in my opinion, the formula does not satisfy the locals ( I have spoken to many and not one told me he thinks the place is great) and there are not enough tourits in town interested in going there instead of Classico. This time I have to agree with Gutter Meat and I don't think it will survive long...

Why don't you think the locals will like the place?

I think it will help once they get the food going

As I recall Rancho Tipico started out pretty slowly and seemed to be pretty heavily occupied by locals before it got shut down.

They probably have to many waitresses right now but if the place ends up packed on a consistent basis they will probably need them.

[Mr. Smooth]

Yes it is. Last night I stopped by around midnight and it was empty..
I checked it out a couple of times in the last 4 nights and I have to say it's not my cup of tea..
I stick to City Lights where I like the vibe better

This example goes back to what I said in post #162. It might be a better deal, certainly less expensive to operate, if this venue was open from Thursday to Sunday. Having to rely on the late night crowd, if they even show up, in order to make the business work, might be just throwing cash down a rat hole the other nights of the week.

With several venues on the main strip within steps of each other, it has been the main section of town to hang out in for the variety of choices, as well as grabbing a bite to eat. Going to be tough to get enough people to change their habits and head out to the far end of town to make that place work 7 nights a week.

For the vets on here who go back to before 2007, what was the formula that made High Caribbean the apparent success it was back then? From what has been written here, it seems the location wasn't a negative as far as the chicas and gringos were concerned. Looks like it was the place to go. Was this before Classicos and Merengue were up and running?

I first came to Sosua in 2007, so I guess I just missed out on some good times back then.

[Jimmydr]

why not?

So many other places to go and NOT enough time.

[daddyooo]

I was there last night and they got fairly busy after 1AM

[j_d66]

I was there last night and they got fairly busy after 1AM

That would make sense that they are getting whatever tourist crowd that is around rather than locals right now

Since the bars downtown all have to shutdown at 1 during the week.

It seemed like not to many of the locals would stay out to late during the week but later on weekends

[Irie]

I was there last night and they got fairly busy after 1AM

They knew you were going to be there.

[snoozer]

This example goes back to what I said in post #162. It might be a better deal, certainly less expensive to operate, if this venue was open from Thursday to Sunday. Having to rely on the late night crowd, if they even show up, in order to make the business work, might be just throwing cash down a rat hole the other nights of the week.

With several venues on the main strip within steps of each other, it has been the main section of town to hang out in for the variety of choices, as well as grabbing a bite to eat. Going to be tough to get enough people to change their habits and head out to the far end of town to make that place work 7 nights a week.

For the vets on here who go back to before 2007, what was the formula that made High Caribbean the apparent success it was back then? From what has been written here, it seems the location wasn't a negative as far as the chicas and gringos were concerned. Looks like it was the place to go. Was this before Classicos and Merengue were up and running?

I first came to Sosua in 2007, so I guess I just missed out on some good times back then.

I believe the original High Caribe closed down in early '04 during my first 6 week stay in Sosua. Its closing coincided with the opening of Classicos and Sosua Life bar. The only other place was the Latinos Disco which was upstairs in the building just up from Brittania Bar, it seemed to cater to a mixed crowd but mostly locals. Domino Bar and 4 roses next to the Europa hotel was where the action was at that time although the Merenque Bar was starting to get more popular especially after Classicos was opened.

High Caribe did re-open briefly in 2007 I believe but I was told by a number of the chicas that they were not willing to pay for a moto to go there to look for customers when the gringos were all drinking on the strip. Of course it is a chicken and egg scenario; the gringos did not go there because the chicas were not there.