My father and I have recently been discussing starting up a small convenience store in a local office building. The space for rent is about 1,000 sq. ft., and the rent is set at about $1,450 a month. We are in south Texas. The building itself is 8 stories tall and I would guesstimate houses anywhere from 32-50 offices. I am not really sure about how much traffic it gets. I will try to get more details on this soon. There is also an adjoining building of approximately the same dimensions.
There have been a few delis that attempted to use this space, and the last one was making money but according to the owner not enough to really cover the amount of work she was doing. To be honest, she was making full meals as well as simple sandwiches so I can certainly understand that. In speaking with the owner of the building, we've found that we might be able to get a deal on the rent (we were thinking of asking for $1,250 a month) as the store could help bring in clients to any empty offices.
Let me know if I'm giving too much detail or not enough, I'm trying to give you a feel for why I think this might work.
The nearest convenience store is not very far away, but because of the stoplights and traffic it takes about 10 minutes or more to get there and back.
The idea I have is just for a very basic convenience store. Obviously we would not sell alcohol, and even though there are smokers in the building, I'm lax to sell cigarettes just because of the license requirements, fees, and potential liability it could bring to the store. I was thinking pre-wrapped sandwiches, burritos, bottled/canned sodas and a fountain drink, and some basic office supplies - you know, pens, pencils, paper, etc. as well as asprin, rolaids, the likes. Candy bars, chips, newspapers, etc. I don't really want to mess around with things like hot dogs or anything that requires more preparation than a pot of coffee. We won't have to worry about installing a bathroom because the building already has them.
Ideally, we would like the store to be self-sufficient with perhaps 2 or 2.5 employees. Our hours of operation may vary, but initially we were thinking something like 7a-2p - just enough to catch people on their way in in the mornings and then the lunch rush. There is also a small university here that operates in the evenings, and that may be a potential venue for more business if we were to keep later hours.
I have no idea about opening a convenience store, to be honest. I have a close friend who is a tax guru who can help us handle the legal issues (licensing as an LLC or Inc., etc), however what I am looking for is resources. I need a way to find what numbers I should be crunching as far as cost vs. profitability. I am very new to this, and honestly we just started brainstorming today. I don't expect anyone to have all the answers, but if you could point me in the direction of some resources (even printed media from a library), I'd really appreciate it.
There have been a few delis that attempted to use this space, and the last one was making money but according to the owner not enough to really cover the amount of work she was doing. To be honest, she was making full meals as well as simple sandwiches so I can certainly understand that. In speaking with the owner of the building, we've found that we might be able to get a deal on the rent (we were thinking of asking for $1,250 a month) as the store could help bring in clients to any empty offices.
Let me know if I'm giving too much detail or not enough, I'm trying to give you a feel for why I think this might work.
The nearest convenience store is not very far away, but because of the stoplights and traffic it takes about 10 minutes or more to get there and back.
The idea I have is just for a very basic convenience store. Obviously we would not sell alcohol, and even though there are smokers in the building, I'm lax to sell cigarettes just because of the license requirements, fees, and potential liability it could bring to the store. I was thinking pre-wrapped sandwiches, burritos, bottled/canned sodas and a fountain drink, and some basic office supplies - you know, pens, pencils, paper, etc. as well as asprin, rolaids, the likes. Candy bars, chips, newspapers, etc. I don't really want to mess around with things like hot dogs or anything that requires more preparation than a pot of coffee. We won't have to worry about installing a bathroom because the building already has them.
Ideally, we would like the store to be self-sufficient with perhaps 2 or 2.5 employees. Our hours of operation may vary, but initially we were thinking something like 7a-2p - just enough to catch people on their way in in the mornings and then the lunch rush. There is also a small university here that operates in the evenings, and that may be a potential venue for more business if we were to keep later hours.
I have no idea about opening a convenience store, to be honest. I have a close friend who is a tax guru who can help us handle the legal issues (licensing as an LLC or Inc., etc), however what I am looking for is resources. I need a way to find what numbers I should be crunching as far as cost vs. profitability. I am very new to this, and honestly we just started brainstorming today. I don't expect anyone to have all the answers, but if you could point me in the direction of some resources (even printed media from a library), I'd really appreciate it.
Tags:
convenience,
store,
new,
business,
business,
plan,
resources,
entrepeneur
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