Second Location

[PAPShop]

Looks like we have an opportunity to open a second shop in a town about 30 miles away. Any advice, tips, etc?

 

 

[xrac]

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[SprinklerMagician]

That is a different business strategy you are pursuing.

 

My questions are these:

 

1. Does opening up a second shop create any competitive advantages that cannot be obtained with one shop?

2. Does the second shop run on its own or does it eat up your time constantly? Could you go out of town for 2 weeks without things falling apart?

3. Can you hire and pay good people to fill the positions created? Hiring good guys is almost impossible now.

4. What will you be doing on a day to day basis and do you want that change?

5. Is your client base resilient in recessions?

6. Is there enough room in the market for it or will that location be slow (a profit looser) for the first while?

7. Have you got it nailed? Are you doing well at what you are doing now? Don't think that getting bigger will solve all the headaches of the day because it will just make them worse. You have to have everything figured out before you scale.

 

If you can answer favorably to those questions then I say go for it.

[Jmazur]

Taking over a second shop is quite a challenge. I did it 5 years ago. First off, There should be little to no debt on first location(my recommendation). First location should have people and processes in place to run independently without you. Take a 2 week vacation and see how many times the shop calls you, and how all of your numbers look. They should be the same as if you were there. When you take over the second location, you will spend most of your time there, and need to not worry about the first location. The second location will give you enough to worry about. And the end goal needs to be that each location runs independently whether you are there or not.

 

It may be 2-3 years of hard work, but is worth it and could pave the way to more locations. Be careful, do your homework, and dont overpay just to have a second location.

[HarrytheCarGeek]

Money wise, what are you looking to get our of it?

 

What is you exit strategy?

 

What kind of return on investment are you willing to find acceptable?

 

Is the capital you are taking into this new location better invested elsewhere?

 

More important, your TIME, are you getting an acceptable return for your time that will be invested in this location?

 

Let me give you a hint, can you control an interest in the new location within an acceptable return on you investment?

 

There are some people that control and have interests in dozens of independent and franchised shops that do not take much of their time and are very profitable interests.

[PAPShop]

Thank you all. This is a unique opportunity.

 

The shop is turn key with equipment. The previous tenant was locked out due to being arrears on rent and everything else. The landlord owns the equipment and we will include that in lease with an option to purchase.

 

The business was very busy and profitable. The tenant was locked out because the manager (the owner's son) was pocketing everything and daddy did not listen to everyone telling him about it.

[mspecperformance]

Doesn't sound like a well ran shop if the son was allowed to take all the money.