Lottery winner’s luck runs out: Paulie G’s pool hall in Olympia set to close

Paulie G’s, a pool hall business started with lottery winnings that made a name for itself by selling sub sandwiches, will close next month after five years on Devoe Street in Olympia.

Owner Paul Girard, 47, who ran the business with his wife, Trish, said the business recently started “going backwards again,” taking on more debt after business slowed in November. It will close Feb. 2.

Girard said there’s always a lull in business over the holidays, but this time there was a “huge drop,” he said. That led the couple to notify the landlord about their decision.

Girard said he couldn’t take on more debt.

He said the pool hall and their sub sandwiches had a following, but they faced increased competition from Jimmy John’s and Jersey Mike’s Subs. He said they couldn’t compete on price and weren’t willing to sacrifice on quality.

However, their subs have been popular enough that the couple may focus on food after the pool hall closes. Girard said they successfully sold their sandwiches at the Thurston County Fair in August. He brought three days’ worth of food and it sold out the first day, he said.

The business recently lost a major source of revenue. Between 2013 and July 2016, Paulie G’s sub-leased its space on Sundays to medical marijuana providers. He earned enough income on those Sundays to cover the rent for the pool hall. But that income disappeared after the state required medical pot providers to meet the same regulatory standards as recreational pot businesses.

There have been plenty of highs and lows in Girard’s life.

Girard won a share of the state lottery in 2004, ultimately splitting an $8.3 million jackpot with another winner in July of that year. His ticket was worth $4.15 million, according to a story in The Olympian. Girard opted for the lump-sum payment and took home about $1.16 million after taxes.

His pool hall business was profiled by The Olympian in 2013. Girard said at the time that he found himself running out of money and in need of work, so he opened Paulie G’s.

Asked on Tuesday whether he had a nest egg left from his lottery winnings, Girard simply said he was hoping to sell a 10-acre plot of land in Idaho.

He also wishes he had opened the business on a “main drag,” he said. Paulie G’s is visible from Pacific Avenue, but the business faces north, not south, and access to it is from Devoe Street. He thought he could turn it into a destination and location wouldn’t matter.

“I guess it was out of sight, out of mind,” he said.

Brent Undesser of Lacey, a caregiver for a 42-year-old disabled man, stopped by Tuesday to play pool.

“They had the best subs in town, by far,” he said.

Until it closes, Paulie G’s is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Lottery winner’s luck runs out: Paulie G’s pool hall in Olympia set to close."