We are considering opening a hobby shop in our Central Wisconsin town of
10,000 and an area population of 25,000.Are there any store owners listening in that could give me some words of wisdom?
Thanks JOhn >
"John >
In a small market area you will have to cover multiple hobbies to have enough of a customer base, you can't specialize on just plastic military models or radio control. That may make initial capitalization (lots of stock) a problem. Second point is to remember that most shopping centers charge a flat rent/square foot up to a certain $$ figure of sales volume and then they start getting a percentage. You really have to have a large volume of sales to make it in an S.C. If you can find a building of acceptable size and a livable rent you are lucky. Grandad's down in Virginia is in an industrial park, which may have different rate structure than a Shopping center.
Good Luck! Bill Shuey (who got burned many years ago in a tropical fish store venture)
"John >
In a small market area you will have to cover multiple hobbies to have enough of a customer base, you can't specialize on just plastic military models or radio control. That may make initial capitalization (lots of stock) a problem. Second point is to remember that most shopping centers charge a flat rent/square foot up to a certain $$ figure of sales volume and then they start getting a percentage. You really have to have a large volume of sales to make it in an S.C. If you can find a building of acceptable size and a livable rent you are lucky. Grandad's down in Virginia is in an industrial park, which may have different rate structure than a Shopping center.
Good Luck! Bill Shuey (who got burned many years ago in a tropical fish store venture)
In article , "John
yea, don't bother wasting your time
John- I have just opened a model shop up 5 months ago. Email me and I will answer any questions you may have.
Steve Kasza Bronto Models
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.