mainor5251 Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 This is something I havent reserached at all just an idea swimming around. Theres a building right on main street in this small town i live in, the building is vacant and has a drive thru. Now in this town there are 3 restaurants a subway and a donut shop. Its 1 block from a park and about 5 from all the schools. Seems like a good spot for an ice cream shop. Maybe 4pm-10pm 6 days a week and would still have plenty of time to do my first love, vending. Ok I'm done day dreaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man422 Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Mainor, I really like dealing/investing in real estate. It sounds like you have a pretty cool (pun intended) idea there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 I know a couple that had 3 Baskin Robbins locations for nearly 20 years. They would never consider another even if it given to them (their words). Don`t know exactly why but if you are going to seriously consider this I can put you in touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 my wife and I bought the building across the street from our pizza shop(where my ice cream machine is) in hopes of opening up a seasonal ice cream parlor.we hear it all the time from my costumers at work we talk to"oh we are going to DQ now for icecream now",in the future when our kids are more grown up we will persue this "dream".I actually bought an ice cream machine at an auction for it too,even if this wont be for 2-3 more years.if you plan on opening a seasonal store you will have the issue of getting and training new employees every year.ice cream has a tremendous profit margine.I plan on haveing a small arcade in mine too since the school is next door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I like that idea and the suggestions Antonio have as well. Put enough machines in there and the ice cream will be secondary income. Pool tables, Foosball, video games, scale machine, couple of crane machines, and a very large bulk vending rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 What ever venture you pursue, make sure you also own the building and the land. I have heard and seen too many horror stories of landlords closing down a business by not renewing a lease or jacking up the rent to extreme levels. As a business owner, you want to be in control as much as possible. Landlords can be real pricks and may destroy your business dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man422 Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 What ever venture you pursue, make sure you also own the building and the land. I will second that. Just as Jax said, then you have a more long term & stable picture of what your expenses will be. Plus you're building equity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Exactly! Look at what the bigger players do. Walgreens, CVS, McDonalds, KFC, ect. They all own the building and probably the land. Even Starbucks is now doing that. Every time I see a new Starbucks, they build a separate building in the shopping center parking lot (with a drive through). When Starbucks was closing down stores a few years ago, most of them were in malls and shopping centers that they were leasing space from. And to continue the landlord bashing! Another problem is that some will not fix problems on a timely basis. I lost a few locations when the business moved and they told me that the landlord would not fix the air conditioning or even a leaky roof! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Uhh. I was a landlord for about 11 years. It can be exactly the opposite too. I had some real wacko's. Destroyed my property several times. I was really happy the day I sold. Never do that again. But made a little money at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 This is something I havent reserached at all just an idea swimming around. Theres a building right on main street in this small town i live in, the building is vacant and has a drive thru. Now in this town there are 3 restaurants a subway and a donut shop. Its 1 block from a park and about 5 from all the schools. Seems like a good spot for an ice cream shop. Maybe 4pm-10pm 6 days a week and would still have plenty of time to do my first love, vending. Ok I'm done day dreaming Why not an ice cream truck instead? You could work the same hours (4pm-10pm 6 days a week) but have a higher per-sale profit when you consider the expenses of owning an ice cream truck vs owning an ice cream shop. Ice cream truck would come with it's own set of headaches - but, frankly, I think the headaches would be a lot more in number and a log bigger in size with a brick-n-mortar ice cream shop. Plus - with an ice cream truck instead of an ice cream shop - the investment would be a lot less without a huge drop in potential income. And my favorite part -- NO EMPLOYEES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I can picture it now. Mainor the Good Humor Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 All joking aside. That's not a bad idea. I can remember chasing after them when I lived in Florida. Very rarely see one around here. My Mom used to hate them as much as bulk machines. Just remember to get their money before you give them an ice cream or they'll run on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainor5251 Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 For a clearer picture, there are no drive thru places here and no where for the kids to hang out absolutly no where. So a small shop with drive thru and dine in area 3 or 4 arcade games, an air hockey table, a crane and some toy and candy bulk machines. Serving hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, ice cream, milk shakes. Alot of people in this town commute 35-45 minutes to work everyday and get home 5:00pm or later so the kids could come to the shop and hang out til there parents get home, maybe keep them from getting into any trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 What ever venture you pursue, make sure you also own the building and the land. I have heard and seen too many horror stories of landlords closing down a business by not renewing a lease or jacking up the rent to extreme levels. Landlords can be real pricks and may destroy your business dreams. Jax, you hit the nail on the head! My part time job is at a pizza parlor. The owner started out as a mom and pop type pizza place, the building rent was $800/month on a 5yr lease. 3yrs ago, The business owner turned it into a national pizza chain franchise. Jan 1st 2011 the lease will be up, the building owner wants $2500/month starting Jan 1 The business owner in the last 5yrs has put in a new central air roof unit because the building owner won't replace the 20yr old one that is junk. And he has also had the roof resealed. He wishes he would have known about the increase sooner, because he said he could build a building to corporate specs, and the cost would be around $2,000 a month for 10yrs land included. He isn't too sure that he could get the paper work finalized with corporate, a building built and have it up and running under 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I agree with you that you would have to have some other type of food along with ice cream,ecspecially if open all year round. a disadvantage with the ice cream truck is that you would have to actually do it as a job and spend the time driveing around witch I dont think you wanted to do.but it is a great idea sherlock and not having to deal with employees is a great advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mage Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 My understanding is that when a business leases a property, they are supposed to be the ones maintaining it, and fixing things, not the landlord. One of the benefits of business property management. (Higher vacancy rates is one of the drawbacks.) I know of one business that has a contract with an infinite renewal. in fact the landlord doesn't want them there any more because they run a business in most of the building, and want to expand. Not sure if they negotiated a cap on rent increases or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I think it depends on the lease agreement who does what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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