Small Business Oppurtunities

[mylife]

What would be a good business to start up in a large metro college town?

The only things I could think of were:

Tanning salon (too competitive)
Small bar close to campus (can't find property)
Coffee shop (too many already)

 

[big4life]

Stay away from bars that target the college crowd. I live in a city with a large college population and unless you have live bands or something unique that the others don't have you won't last the year. I see 3 or 4 open every year and go under by the spring.

 

[vinylgroover]

How big is this town?

What is the climate, ie seasonal, always hot, always cold. Do any tourists pass by etc.

If it's strictly just a college town, any business will be tough. By nature, college kids are not flushed with cash. Any business that just relies on college kids for survival will do it tough.

You want a business with low capital costs. ie a fitout on a bar or cafe can cost anywhere upwards of $100,000, which will be impossible to recoup if it doesn't go well.

Give me more of an idea on the make-up of the town and i can come up with some other ideas

 

[cableo]

i like crafts stores, lots of hotties hang there too thats a bonus

 

[DetectiveJonKimball]

A kozmo.com like delivery service. Deliver snacks, movies, butts and whatever people want. Start out just with one small campus. Then expand. Charge a small fee or have a minimum order amount so you don't go broke like kozmo did.

There is a demand for this and people will pay for the convenience. Especially late at night when nothing else is open.

Back when kozmo was around, people at my fraternity in boston used it all the time. The delivery guy was there at least a couple of times a night.

 

[Hengst]

A Laundromat.

The investment is in washers and driers is what, a couple of hundred dollars each? and the return is huge at a dollar a load. Keep the place clean and friendly, maybe have a small snack bar/coffee thingy for the folks as they wait. Plus in a college town there is a built in market for this service.

 

[beastboy]

Whatever you estimate your expenses and bills to be add about 30-50% to that. Expect the unexpected.

 

[chrisoh]

start a gym, duh

 

[mylife]

check the legalities of this but..:

a alcohol DELIVERY service after hours.

Too expensive to obtain a liquor license and you have to buy a pre-existing one.

Originally posted by Hengst


A Laundromat.

Each dorm has laundromats for .75 a load and there's 894579485794574 of them off campus.

Originally posted by ChrisOh

start a gym, duh

every student gets free access to the on campus recreation complex and it's huge. too expensive anyways.





I'm looking into something similar to a Smoothie King. It's the #2 franchise to get in on right now and only requires 800-1200 sq. feet. The franchise fee is 75k so I'd rather start something similar but a different name. I found some space at the local upscale mall that's available for rent and I'm waiting for a reply on lease rates. Smoothie King is basically nutritious drinks made from fresh fruit and loaded with vits and supps. There's only one place like this at the mall but it's too similar to a Starbucks.