ForumsAdvertising, Sales and Marketing

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Hi Fellows,
I need your kind and professional suggestions regarding the business in NYC
that I'm about to jump in.

I have a college friend who has been into convenient store business for more
then five years and he has been making good profit out of his couple of stores.
I had talked to him a while back that I'd be interested in partnership opportunity
if you open up another store which he said he would open in near future.

He recently found a spot, obtained lease, done
construction/renovation to suite the store needs, and put the inventory in as
well. He opened the store less then a month ago. The reason he didn't involve
me from the beginning is that another friend of his was supposed to be partner
who had to back out for some reason and that's why I was informed and I showed
interest.
I requested few days so I can come to the store for a couple of hours to see
area/customers/ business etc... and so far I like it. The daily sale is not too
bad for the new shop. The deal just to understand and is an example: is that he
spent for example, 30K in renovating the store and 70k for the inventory. He
said I can join by giving him half of the amount he has spent which is 50k
however at the time we come to the agreement, we'd do inventory again and split
the share accordingly.

I would like to find out how best we can make this transaction and how would
the transition go? Should I ask him to add my name into all the relevant paper
work like, store lease, corp/llc , etc.... I need to find out more from him
whether the business is under corporation....I assume if my name is added to
the corporation as a 50% shareholder that would take care of all the areas
where I'd have to worry about my name being present such as utility bills,
lease, contracts with vendors etc...?

Also, I'm required to pay my 50% share upfront and that would be in form of
cash/check. In this scenario, can I get any loan if so, how?

Is there anything else that I should know before I finalize the agreement?

I hope the picture is clear if not, I can explain.

I would really appreciate your feedback!