small business start-up and loan questions

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Originally Posted by smolakian

I agree with your assessment of Golden, thats kinda what I was trying to say. But, Bent Gate in terms of skiing isn't in the Alpine market (they do do pretty good tunes though). Alpenglow has the lock on Boulder ski traffic (PERFECT location IMHO). But, we don't have a core shop anywhere West of the city. If you opened something up near Denver West / CO Mills with easy access from 6th and I70 you would totally get the business. There a are real skiers in Denver that want to go to a place that isn't a chain. I want to know that if beer or a bud accompanies my skis when I drop them off I'll get preferential treatment and remembered the next time I come in (and not get the cops called on me). We also want a shop that carries skis from the smaller companies and that doesn't lag behind the trends of shape and fatness. BIG skis are hard to find in any of the suburban stores and that makes me really distrust letting them mount or work on them. It also seems like the people that work at a lot of these stores aren't really that INTO skiing/riding either.

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Like I said, both of these stores are slated for continued growth- I'm talking upwards of 40% for the next few seasons. They are looking at new niche lines, especially in alpine and alpine crossover/AT. Without actually spelling it out, I know what the buyers are looking at and the direction they want to take their respective businesses. With no disrespect to your thoughts on a new shop in that area, unless I had VERY deep pockets with not much to lose, I wouldn't touch that market with a ten foot pole.

Everone has there own definition of success. Figure yours out, it is basically a balance between time and money. Often small business fails due to lack of money and the owner working to many hours. Include your salary in your business plan. Be honest pay yoursealf what you are worth! Dont work 7 days a week for 12+ hours a day for an extended period of time. You will get burnt out and not be on top of your game. Keep to your strenghts and pay others for thiers, consultants, lawyers, accoutants, etc. You can do a lot but not it all.
I wish you the best of luck and I am sure there are plenty of mags to help you get things going as well as a lot more to buy stuff!
I work in the wine industry and have helped a many small family wineries recover from near bankrupcy. I as well have my own winery in the works. Just got trademark and the rest of the permits and will be launcing web site soon and releasing wine in May.

Good Luck Man.....It takes guts and dedication but it'll be worth it.

Tons of good info in this thread.

I'm 5 years in now and it was the best decision of my working life. I was too much of a chickenshit to get a loan, had some money saved, went strictly consignment at the start, built or bought 2nd hand equipment & fixtures, did pretty much everything myself, and managed to get the ball rolling for around 10k.

The first few months were TIGHT and I worked a LOT, and then gradually as funds permitted, I started getting into closeouts, new retail, repairs, mass quantities of ex-rental / heli skis. Now, consignment is prolly about 30% of my total annual sales, everything in the store is paid for, and i'm making a comfortable living working no more than 40hrs a week. This type of progam may not be possible in the big city but food for thought.

From my experience:

Learn to do your own bookeeping and do it religiously.

Be careful with hookups and bro deals.

Try not to buy anything unless you have the $$.

Get into bike P&A and repairs.

Try to keep it small enough so that you don't really need staff and expect to be there pretty much every day the store is open (your customers are gonna want to see YOU anyways).

High-end bicycle suppliers seem to have a problem with consignment stores (at least around here).

I could go on all night, but if you have any q's feel free to PM.

Go For It

Marsh,

I don't know how I missed this thread. Congrats! This is huDge!

Anyway, I'm willing to help out in any way possible until I leave for Jackson. Coming from a family who has tried (and failed/succeeded) on starting retail operations I know how much work can go into this. (my extended family has done a lot with Quiznos)

Regardless, I'm in to help build the shop, bounce ideas off, put together a business plan, contact banks, whatever(hopefully you have some source of equity...there is certainly a higher "price" on debt as of late)

Just let me know

-Jeff-

Congrats & good luck! Be prepared for lots of hassles & hours.

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Originally Posted by Tap

whatever you do, make it cool, with a lifestyle part of the shop and all, so you can keep people hanging around....isn't there a shop in Seattle that was just profiled in Powder that was like that?

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Evogear is the shop that was profiled. Brice has a great shop. How about taking it one step further and if a person happens up to the counter and says "Got Change for a Nickle?" the person behind the counter hands over a PBR. A nice touch I would say.

Jay

Good to hear you are making change happen in your life. First a shop change, now a business idea. Best of luck to you. For a solid guy like yourself with the respect of the maggot community, you shouldn't have too much trouble getting on your feet. Anytime I have a bad experience with a shop, I am ready to never go back. And it seems like this is pretty regular. Just the other day, actually Tuesday, I took my broken rear wheel to a bike shop in town and they told me it was done, nothing they could do to help me. I was like what, are you kidding me the wheel looks fine for the most part, some of it has to be salvageable. So I take it to another shop and they are like, yeah we can send that back no problem. I would have at least been appreciative if the first shop tried something. It seems like everytime I talk to you, you always have advice on what part to get and the appropriate cost. That is why I pretty much quit going to the big bike shops in town. They just suck. If you open it, we will come.

PM on the way

Hey Dude, I can't write a formal business plan, but I can give you tons of marketing advice. I can also hook you up with a micro business lending company that would probably help you write the business plan for free or low cost. They loan only up to $60k though.

open a shop in Summit. the Glide shop is the only place wortha shit and they don't retail much of anything.

congrats and good luck!

cant wait to buy from you

any idea when/where you are gonna start the shop marshal?

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Originally Posted by mr_gyptian

open a shop in Summit. the Glide shop is the only place wortha shit and they don't retail much of anything.

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I like Wilderness sports in Silverthorne and Mountain Outfitters in Breck... if you are talking about more trad Alpine shop... The guys over at MSO are pretty helpfull. Not sure about the qualitiy of any of their tunes though.. cause I tune my own shiat

My little contribution is this... get a LQ license and consider serving beer! I have seen more and more shops starting to do this and it seems like a good idea.. that way when you have a bunch of guys hanging out in your shop all the time at least you can make a few bucks on the suds. Although you might have to limit your employees drinking ;)

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Originally Posted by Jax

Not to mention trying to get a rep to open you up as a dealer without risking their current business with Alpenglow (Christies) or Bent Gate. Keep in mind most of this applies to ski industry- I've been in the bike industry, too, but not as a buyer or a rep. But I'm pretty sure distribution rules may still apply.

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a long time ago i initiated opening a mountaineering retail store. above was the biggest reason i did not follow thru. i just couldn't get the lines i thought i needed to be fairly successful.

i later started another business with my wife that we ran for 6 yrs and then sold. it was not very profitable and it was a ton of work!

im now involved in another bigger business that is successful, yet still a ton of work!

be careful starting a business that relies on peoples expendable incomes. when the economy is strong, things are good...when its bad, its real bad. save your money as you make it!

good luck!