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Not a hobby shop owner or operator, but I am a small businessman in a family business, and ehre is some advice: 1.) Rent. This is major overhead. Location is important but can you afford that location? This will probably be the most important decision you make, because the rent may be dirt cheap, but if the locale is bad, you're toast. Likewise the reverse -- good location, high rent, you are toast again. Your best bet is somewhere with good road connections, near tracks, low cost rent, and in a bedroom community, so you are near home and the layouts of your customer base. 2. Advertisement. Be careful. I always look at the ads in MR but not for hobby shops as much as either mail order or mfg products and specialty items. THE BEST ADS are the yellow pages!!! I cannot stress this enough! Don't go overboard at first, but be willing to put out $100+ for yellow pages. Best deal is usu an in-column box of 3/4" to 2". Be firm and don't let the salesman sell you on too large an ad, remember you still have to pay it even in your bad months! And be careful if there is more than one YP in your area. Research, and only advert in the reputable, used books. 3.) Inventory. If you don't have enough, no one will believe you are serious. If you have too much it sinks you. The big ticket items may give you great satisfaction when you sell one, but money actually is in mid-price point items and in acessories. Average retail purchases are of those items under $20, and average big ticket items are under $100. You will have exceptions but your best bet is to get someone to buy an "extra" that they didn't expect to purchase when they came in. You'll also have a series of products that are below $10 which will be frequent and profitable sellers. My bet is these will be scenery items, but that probably just speaks to my own weaknesses! BTW I would agree with whoever said you ought to have a working layout... and you might offer to host operating sessions there, or otherwise find ways of getting the gang to hang out there. And I'd advise stick to what you know. If you don't know RC planes, don't go there. Probably someone else allready does it better than you. Only do what you can do well. You will starve for a while, don't quit your dayjob, and you won't eat steaks for a while. Stick with it, don't stick your neck too far out with loans and such, keep your overhead low, be patient. Hope that is of some use to you! Alexander C. 3rd generation small businessman
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