I have a plan in my head for an occult bookstore and possibly a coffeeshop. The coffeeshop is entirely optional in my plan.
First off, I'd have to find space, find out how much rent will be, set up a budget for the company, and then do the business plan/file for Small Business Administration loans/business loans...and hope I can get said loans.
I've found some promising spaces around here:
1st: Mt. Prospect and I'm in love with the storefront. It's laid out well and has some interesting fixtures left over from the previous occupant (a flower shop).
The corner endcap of the building had signs up last month proclaiming that a Doggy Daycare and Day Spa was coming soon. Upscale yuppie types...in many ways, ideal customers. I'm also thinking the "Charmed Ones" types will be thick and heavy in that area too. Could be a double edged sword. I could be swimming in wannabes (who are paying customers, but spiritually way off base) or I could have a small base of hard core customers but little actual business...
2nd: One of four vacant store fronts on Palatine Rd and Windsor Rd in the Pal-Win Plaza. It's an older strip mall with about a 50% occupancy rate. It's anchored by a Dollar General...space should be rather cheap...but can I draw in business in that location. It's off Palatine which makes it easy to get to... One of the spaces had a bunch of cool fixtures left over that could easily be turned over in my store.
Location 3 is off Elmhurst Rd and Dundee Rd...nice looking space but I don't think I could afford it. It's on two busy roads and in a commercial district.
I should still run around tomorrow and get phone numbers and addresses and call on them. As far as vendors, I know I can order en masse at nice discounts through Llewellyn Books in Minneapolis, I've also found a nice candle, herb, incense, essential oils distributor as well that does nice trade pricing.
As for the coffee shop side of things, none of these locations take a coffee shop into account.
The other big bugger in this... is that I still have a burning urge to open my store/coffee shop combo in St. Cloud. I'd have the store on one side and the coffee shop on the other...I'd be open late for students/last minute ritual needs ;) and would probably offer wireless internet access...
I have lots of ideas in my head...I just need to get some major stumbling blocks resolved and get moving on it all. St. Cloud is still active in my head as I have friends up in MN and they were pushing me to open my shop in St. Cloud and I know they'd be willing to help me get started and get things running. A few of us were actually looking at a building in St. Cloud. It was a three story building in downtown on East St. Germain. We were thinking of making the first floor the coffee/book shop, the second floor would have ritual rooms/teaching space, possibly a couple of massage rooms for chakra/energy work, and possibly a reading space/overflow for the coffee shop...and the third floor we were thinking of making into large loft/warehouse apartments for ourselves and saving ourselves money in that regard...
The ideas are there, the tools are there, but something just isn't happening like it should. I have a strong hunch on what the problem is down here...and I can't fix it, only learn to live with it.
2 comments:
funny, i've wanted to work in an occult bookstore since as long as i can remember. well, i really wanted to own one, but just working in one would work.
if you open it around here, lemme know if you need another employee. :D
I like your idea of the layout of the St. Cloud store description. Open Book in Minneapolis has a format similar to that, without the housing component. You'd have to check on zoning regulations for that to see if it is permitted use.
It seems to me that a store of this type would be more of a destination than a passer-by type of business. The coffee shop option may work, but the start-up costs of that may be high and the competition is going to have name recognition and more money than you're likely to have available.
Keep exploring and the right opportunity will present itself.
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