How many of you have opened or considered opening a hobby shop? I know some of you own one now. How much off the street business or Internet business do you do? I manage a hardware store currently and the average margins run around 43-45%, what is a hobby shop run around? I have a location that would start at 1900sq/ft and in a year or 2 would be expandable up to 2800sq/ft., is this a good size store to house a hobby shop?
The demographics of the area is a VERY rich area, and from what I have heard and seen, it should support a shop. I'm thinking of model railroading of course, RC (cars, planes, helis, boats), regular plastic models, maybe RPG games, kites, Thomas the Tank Engine.
I'm loaded with questions but I want the basics answered right now, to find out if this location is feasible.
Thanks
Ron
If your locals are wealthy it's a definite plus, but I've seen one hobby shop survive in an area almost void of model railroaders and the owner didn't/doesn't even use the internet, much less no how. Not even a webpage. He started out a few years before the internet was even common place, so anyone within 100-150 miles looking for MRRing stuff had to visit him. He's still in business, but not getting rich by any means.
Of the shops that I visit now, one is strictly trains and the other two have diversified and seem to prosper well enough.
The strictly trains is an old shop, in an old house that is literally crammed to the ceilings (12ft BTW) with train stuff. The selection is there, if you can find it. The aisleways were just like most layouts, way too close. It's not fun trying to squeeze by another customer while wiping out hanging inventory. That shop has been in business since MRRing was first introduced. It reminds me of an old hardware store, hmm, come to think of it someone told me it started out as one.
The two that have diversified seem to be the busiest. A few weeks ago I visited one that has trains up stairs and EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD downstairs (R/C,plastic models, dinosaurs, etc). I was the only customer up stairs that day, but when I walked into the land down below I was amazed at the amount of people who were in there, but it's summer and most modelers in the store were of the outdoor variety. In all fairness, the train section gets busy in the fall and winter. MRRing is a winter hobby and R/C stuff is the summer hobby, so SELL R/C stuff too!
I hope it works out for you! :thumb: