Vancouver Courier News

Feb 2009
"STRIPPED BARE"
...
For exotic dancer Samantha Mack, performing in "Vancouver" now means travelling to Cloverdale, Maple Ridge and Aldergrove. Fewer stage show opportunities also means an increased reliance on selling private dances and self-promotion--be it increasing her web presence or hawking autographed posters, condoms, lighters, fridge magnets and other personalized swag when she performs at clubs. Then there's the cost of "upkeep."
"I always joke that before I had implants, before I had a tan, before I had hair extensions, before I looked stripperific, you know I was making great money," laughs Mack.

She got into the business in 2005 after she lost 100 pounds, took pole dance lessons and changed her job description to what sounds like a Hollywood movie plot of lifeguard by day, stripper by night. "But as the years go by, it
definitely changes," says Mack, "and there are lots more young couples and girls who come in, and girls aren't known for being big tippers, girls aren't known for getting VIP dances, so at the bars it's not the old men's club that it used to be."
These days, Mack splits her schedule between competing in fitness competitions and dancing, although she spends less time at home. While the local strip club landscape dries up, it's booming in Alberta, fuelled by an influx of young men fresh off the oilrigs with disposable income and a few rowdy nights a week in which to spend it. "The next six months of my life looks like the majority of my time will be spent in Alberta," Mack says, a few days before embarking on an eight-week tour of the prairie province. "There's definitely more clubs, and more reliable clubs out there."
Besides an intimate knowledge of small-town Alberta, Mack says exotic dancing has given her the tools for starting her own business. Once she reaches the ripe old retirement age of 30, she plans to start a fitness company for large women "who want the chance to feel sexy and empowered."
"I've had to go headfirst into self-marketing. I feel I can run pretty much any business out there... You learn pretty quickly how to work with people and mediate the public and entice them into what you are trying to sell."
As for the decline of strips clubs in Vancouver, Mack thinks once the Olympics are over and "everyone calms down," the market will improve. "It's huge in Alberta right now, the quality of the shows, the quality of the girls--the positive attitude is fantastic. But I think once the Olympics are done, there will be an opportunity for girls again. It's just whether the people who are in the industry at the time want to take that opportunity."