Corporate reach seems to march forward with time itself. Corporatization creeps into ever facet of our society. Including strip clubs. That doesn’t always toll the bell on fun as Larry Flynt’s place in Vegas goes to show. But it certainly isn’t a promising development either. When small shops are squeezed out of the way a lot of character goes with it. Just ask anyone who visited New York’s Times Square in the 1970’s what they think of the place today.
With the rise of corporate chains comes a sort of vanilla familiarity. So you see the same old McDonald’s in Miami and Madrid. You find Hooters in Los Angeles and Bangkok. And you even find strip clubs of the same ownership all across the United States.
Cheerleaders is a chain of strip clubs spread across America like a bad rash. They have taken the mold of the show bar style place and extended it all around. They set up strip clubs with stages behind bars that patrons can’t get anywhere near. And they did all of this long before social distancing was a buzz word.
While Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club tries to portray itself as an upscale safe and sanitized version of the tried and true titty bar it falls flat. With dancers standing on a stage well behind a bar customers have no real way to interact. They can’t even tip. Well at least they can’t tip unless they want to roll their bills up into balls and toss them towards the stage. There is no charm in that. If anything it is about impersonal as you can get. It may even border on the disrespectful.
Prices are high from the outset since they attempt to combine a cover charge and valet fee. In an area where other strip clubs give out free drinks with their cover charges it just doesn’t make sense. Unless you figure that this corporate club is targeting businessmen, tourist and first time couples who don’t know any better or care about how their money is spent. Before you blame me for being a Cheap Charlie please look at some of the other places I have researched around the world. I have no issue with places that charge a premium price. But only if they offer a premium service.
We also have to compare apples with apples. I wouldn’t dare to put Cheerleaders up against a place like Fase II in Medellin or even TS Music Strip Theatre in Tokyo. But I do look at the other adult entertainment available in the vicinity. These days brick and mortar establishments also have to compete with the wide world of free porn and adult webcams.
As it stands Cheerleaders has high rates that aren’t justified by anything found inside. They do serve food along with their overpriced drinks. But who wants to eat dinner in a strip club anyway? This is another ordeal seen in the corporate clubs that I could do without. There are plenty of restaurants in the United States. I can take a break from eating while trying to view some tits.
Unfortunately I would need the binoculars from Darling 1 in Macau to get a good view of the dancers at Cheerleaders. Yet I don’t think that would be worth it. Without speaking ill of anyone let me just say that the dancers I’ve seen working Cheerleaders are average at best. Like I said there is nothing inside this place that justifies the pricing scheme. Don’t even get me started on the VIP rooms and the like.
Most of the floor is roped off as “reserved seating”. Apparently this is meant to prepare the club for a rush of hundreds of people requiring bottle service. In the meantime the mere run of the mill customers are left standing inside or fighting over the handful of seats that aren’t kept for the high rollers. This is especially irritating when strippers who don’t even take off their tops literally beg customers for tips by saying they’re not making any money. It’s almost as if the big spenders aren’t showing up at all. I don’t blame them.
Sure American strip clubs are really just places to pass some time. They are no go go bars or hostess bars or anything else. I understand that. And I can even enjoy these places from time to time. Especially when they’re well run and offer a value equivalent to their rates. But when a place looks like a Burger King of boobs with a similar level of customers service I just can’t tolerate it. So I move on to greener pastures. And I give this place one-half star. 
Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club. 3100 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 USA. Click here for a map. Open every day from 4:00 PM until 3:00 AM. Phone: +1 412-281-3110. Website: http://cheerleaderspittsburgh.com
Do you think there is a market for this?
Somebody invested a lot of money.
I didn’t see any huge influx of people. But maybe the people who invested in the club know something that I don’t. Cheers.