Club hopes to entice with new Wii

By Jeanne Starmack

The Youngstown Club wants to attract new members.

YOUNGSTOWN — In the cool, comfortable confines of the Youngstown Club on the fifth floor of the Commerce Building downtown, Marcus Hernandez was pitting his golf swing against Tiger Woods’.

Well, Tiger wasn’t actually there. He was on screen through the club’s new Wii, Nintendo’s interactive video game system.

There it stood, in the corner of the club room across from the bar, with Tiger up on the big screen.

Hernandez, a club member from Poland whose company, World Financial Group, donated the Wii, thought he played pretty well against Tiger.

But he was mainly hoping to help the club score at its open-house Wii party Friday night by winning over some new members.

Along with Wii, there were free snacks and half-price drinks.

There were also, however, no takers. From 5 p.m. to around 8 p.m., only one couple had stopped in. They didn’t play Wii and moved on to another restaurant.

Not good news for the club. Around for 100 years, it’s hoping these days to bolster its membership roster.

“It’s a best-kept secret,” said Rob Vossler, executive chef and operations manager for the club as he sat for a moment at the bar, in a room tastefully appointed with couches and chairs grouped into conversation areas. Next door, a dining room full of white tablecloths awaited patrons.

“It’s an awesome place,” Hernandez added. “You can’t beat the service or the food.

“It used to be the most exclusive place in town,” he said, boasting members of “anybody who’s anybody.”

Now, the club has about 350 members. It’s image of exclusivity has evolved into a nice place to come for a good dinner — with free parking.

The Wii party, Vossler said, is one of several gimmicks he’s using to try to lure people in to see what the club has to offer.

There’s dinner, of course.

“You can go to McDonald’s and spend $20, or for a couple more bucks, you come here,” Hernandez said, where they know your name and what you like to drink before you even sit down.

There’s a grill room, meeting rooms and party rooms. Premier members, who spend $125 a month for a membership, don’t have to pay extra to use those rooms for an event, Vossler said.

But if that’s more than your budget allows, spend less. Membership fees range from $30 a month if you are a Youngstown State University affiliate or alumnus up to premier. A minimum $60 of spending is required every three months.

The club is not hard to get into, said Vossler — you don’t have to be sponsored by a member.

“You fill out a membership application and it goes before a board of directors, which is a formality,” he said.

Once you’re in, you can have your wedding, graduation party, rehearsal dinner or shower at the club.

Or, of course, you can stop in after work on a Friday night and play Wii.