The biggest nightclub in Nigeria, Quilox, is currently struggling to stay in business. While many other high-profile nightclubs in the country have shut down or are restrategising, owing to low patronage from fun lovers, it is not the case for Quilox.
The Point gathered that although Quilox is still functioning, the club, which has recorded a huge drop in profit is struggling at the moment.
It was also learnt that certain people, including celebrities, had blacklisted the club because of the alleged “incessant insults” they were always getting from those running it. Recall that last year Oritse Femi was thrown out of the club. It was reported that he did not make booking for a table before coming and wanted to do things in his own way.
An inside source, who spoke to our correspondent, said that the club was always “looking scanty” on Saturdays and Sundays as patronage had dropped. According to him, when the club was established in 2013, it was always jam-packed and rowdy on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. But now, the story is a different one. The source, however, quickly pointed out that the current situation had not affected the club badly because their CEO had other businesses.
“People still come to party on Fridays, but the number has reduced as well and it has affected our sales. The truth is that money is not circulating as it used to be. So, everyone is spending with care. The first thing people think of now is food and how to survive. The only time we are certain of high patronage from customers now is when there are events or birthday parties,” he said.
According to findings, most of the customers, who still buy drinks or spend money lavishly at Quilox, are ‘yahoo boys’ and business men, not musicians.
When Quilox was set up in 2013, the original plan of the CEO, Shina Peller, was to open branches across major cities in Nigeria and some African countries like Ghana and South Africa. While it could be too early to write that off, the early signs do not appear too good. It is now four years since the Lagos branch was commissioned and nothing has been clearly done about Peller’s dream.
Peller, however, admitted in a chat with The Point that the increase in dollar rate had affected the club’s business, too, because it had been importing all its drinks.
He said, “Since most of our drinks are being imported, clearing charges, Customs and everything will definitely shoot up their prices. If you are buying, for instance, a drink for N100, 000 and it is now N150, 000, you cannot pass that increase to your direct customers. So, the situation of the economy is definitely affecting the business, big time.
“There have been, at least, about 25 per cent drop in profit. But you cannot close a business, it is our source of income. Though we are struggling to make ends meet, I can assure you that it is a business that still generates revenue and we make a bit of profit. But the profit cannot be compared to what we were making when dollar was N190, for example.”
