General > General Technical Chat
Who wants to buy a Fry's store with me?
<< < (4/5) > >>
SL4P:
You’d be better off buying the name, and then franchising it out to local retailers.
Set the rules for styling, pricing, and customer service, arrange the wholesale contracts,and hope for the best.

It could be fun, if you manage the costs well enough, but it’s not the 90s any more.
tom66:
Isn't rent for one of those stores going to be ca.$20k per month, minimum?

So you need to figure out how you get annual income of $240k/year just to pay the rent - after all other expenses like insurance, city taxes (if applicable), heat and power, and any staff.

Where I used to live, we had a hackspace in a dirty industrial area of town.  The rent on that was still £2,000 per month, for 2500 sqft.  You need 100 active members at £25 a month just to cover costs, and that's with directors putting in 10-20 hours a week of free time. Not to mention major headaches like health and safety for members - liability insurance for hackspaces is still very difficult to get, and rather expensive and has restrictions on what members can do (for instance, you're not even allowed near a cordless drill unless you've had a proper induction with trained members and it's all been signed off.  The circular saw requires a training course...)

I applaud you for considering it but work out whether there are 1,000 other people in your town that are just as interested and willing to put say $30 per month towards it.  If so, then it's probably a viable model, but, until then...
nctnico:

--- Quote from: ataradov on February 28, 2021, 04:17:56 am ---Starting a new retail business is not a good idea. Nobody would want to buy a TV from you. You would have to spend millions on marketing first so people even know you exist.  And you would not even get the stuff at a good price from suppliers with the low volume. So I'm not sure how that can ever make any profit.

The only path that makes any sense is a maker space with membership fee.

--- End quote ---
Yep. Getting into retail starts with a massive amount of advertising and a clear focus on the target market. Even people experienced in retail can fail big. A couple of years ago a large retail chain selling household items, electronics and clothes went belly up in the NL. Hudson's Bay thought they could take over but they failed (and lost nearly a quarter billion US$) and now the stores are empty again. Analysts say the main problem was lack of strategy.
jmelson:

--- Quote from: ataradov on February 28, 2021, 03:46:39 am ---That what TechShop was. And it failed miserably.

--- End quote ---
Yes, and it was a sad case.  BUT, I think they went about it wrong.  All the equipment was brand new, it was run like a **BUSINESS**!
And, the membership fees were astronomical.  Yes, some single guy in a high-tech job living in an apartment could see it making sense.  But, a married guy with a house with a basement would see it as a ton of expense for limited usefulness.

TX/RX labs in Houston is an AMAZING makerspace, caters to a bunch of different interests, and does NOT look much like a "business".
They DO seem to be making their crazy take on the makerspace idea work for them.  If you look them up, their web site just does not do them justice.

Jon
duckduck:

--- Quote from: tom66 on February 28, 2021, 09:53:05 am ---Isn't rent for one of those stores going to be ca.$20k per month, minimum?

So you need to figure out how you get annual income of $240k/year just to pay the rent - after all other expenses like insurance, city taxes (if applicable), heat and power, and any staff.
<SNIP>

--- End quote ---

I started my IT career working at a small computer store. I did repairs and upgrades. One of the owners said "Can you imagine being the general manger at the local Fry's store: 'Oh no! Oh no! We only sold US$100,000 today!' "
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod