Owner Bruce "The Moose" Goodman said he is in no hurry to sell the business, but will do so "if the offer is right."
(A profile of Goodman straight from our archives is below.)
Realtor William LeValley said the $195,000 asking price includes the business, the 5,000 square foot building, 16-space parking lot, the liquor license, equipment, a 30-seat bar and a dozen pool tables.
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“It has a lot of possibilities, but it needs some work inside,” he said.
LeValley said the building is legendary.
He remembered going there to watch pool games when he was a kid back in the 1960s.
"It was a big-time pool hall," LeValley said.
The pool hall’s history stretches back in time.
Credit: ddn archive
Credit: ddn archive
Goodman, a comedian, said Belmont Billiards was started in 1925 as a tobacco and candy shop in what was then Van Buren Township.
The shop became a local hangout for men.
They eventually persuaded the owner to add a pool table.
It just grew from there,” Goodman said.
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Liquor was added soon after prohibition was lifted in 1933.
It was a men’s only club until 1979 because it had only one bathroom.
Goodman said he and his brother Gerald "Gary"Goodman, then an employee at the pool hall, bought the business in November 1998.
A celebration of Gary’s life was held at the Belmont Billiards days after his April 16, 2016 death.
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“We don’t want to be hip. We don’t want to be cool,” Bruce Goodman said. “We just want people to come in and play pool.”
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