[gators]

Would be in Orange Park/Middleburg area, probably about 20 minutes south of jacksonville.

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thank you!

Hey! Send me the address when you find a place, I am right near there!

[northflacards]

This is why it will fail. You absolutely cannot go into this type of venture thinking it will be a secondary priority behind another job. In order to make it successful you must be willing to make it your life, an average 12-14 hours per day of managing inventory, funds, bills, upkeep, and all that's in addition to having doors open and handling customer needs. You have to be open as much as possible to cater to consumer's hours and not expect them to match yours. Some people get off work at 5 while others have Wednesdays off. Others can only run errands on a Sunday morning after early mass. Nothing turns buyers off faster than being unable to enter a business in the first place.

I'll give you a perfect example that mirrors you. Seattle had a longtime dealer who ran a shop called Brown's Cooperstown who eventually decided to retire and sold what was a successful business with a large consumer base. The new owner believed that he could continue to maintain that level of profit while devoting limited hours so he could teach school and run his Sportlots account. The store was open during the afternoons only on most weekdays and closed by 5 pm. It was also closed Sundays through Tuesdays. It was closed forever within a year, the only shop within the city limits of the 13th largest market in the country. A shop with nearly 30 years of history behind it was gone in a year's time because an owner ran it like an afterthought.

Thanks for the input...
doors would be open starting at 9 in the morning to 8 or 9 at night. I would think that is "catering" to the consumer.

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Hey! Send me the address when you find a place, I am right near there!

will do!

[pacrimcollectibles]

Thanks for the input...
doors would be open starting at 9 in the morning to 8 or 9 at night. I would think that is "catering" to the consumer.

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will do!

If you think you can handle that type of workload then I wish you all the best. I myself can't imagine functioning very well for very long on 4 hrs sleep per night. I'm not trying to tell you to forget it, just be very careful and know what you're getting into. Talk to a few other owners and see what the ones that will respond advise.

[bbills1999]

Northflacards just wondering what is your Business Plan? You have Obviously been thinking about opening a Shop for a While so you must know what you want to do ..


Also if we know exactly what your plan is then the Advice can be alot better overall

[RobbinsDynasty]

Been working on this for awhile as well. My goal is to open one up by 30. I'm 26 now. I'm in the Daytona area. Let me know as I would like to stop by and give you the consumer view points. If you get a chance to get down to Orlando area Big League Sports Cards runs a very organized friendly shop.

[northflacards]

If you think you can handle that type of workload then I wish you all the best. I myself can't imagine functioning very well for very long on 4 hrs sleep per night. I'm not trying to tell you to forget it, just be very careful and know what you're getting into. Talk to a few other owners and see what the ones that will respond advise.

This is the one that sounds the most like my dad,haha. I already have that workload, it would just be focused more towards cards, which is what I want. It is not a secondary thing like others have been saying, but oh well. Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

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Been working on this for awhile as well. My goal is to open one up by 30. I'm 26 now. I'm in the Daytona area. Let me know as I would like to stop by and give you the consumer view points. If you get a chance to get down to Orlando area Big League Sports Cards runs a very organized friendly shop.

We should definitely get together sometime, that would be awesome. Just let me know, Daytona is about an hour away but Orlando is probably a little bit more of a drive.

[RobbinsDynasty]

There are two good sports that I go to. Big League is about an hour from start to finish 20 minutes is fighting traffic lights. Thats is the Cassellberry/Altamonte area. The other is Orlando Sports Cards is in the Orlando/Kissimmee Area. Thats about 1.5 hours total drive. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to get your product. I have really dropped from buying boxes from card stores because they cant seem to keep prices around internet prices. Anyways but personal service goes a long way. People will come back just because they know they will be taken care of. Some thing I look for in a shop. Single for set building. Pictues of hits that have came out of the shop. Membership program with incentives. Discount prices special events and such. Post a want list for the shop. Not only keep a track of what people want but also post a list of the hottest players that you are looking to put on display in your shop. Say prior to his last game R.A. dickey was on a hot streak. maybe get a couple decent cards or Dickey and may be to parlay that into a bigger buy then it would be normally. Also build a relationship with the Jacksonville Suns (i believe it to be the name). I know there is a minor league team up there. Grab bags. White Envelopes filled with 80s and 90s commons with maybe 1 or 2 $1 cards to get rid of some volume. Great for the younger kids that are into sports but not the best with keeping up the condition of where cards need to be. when i think of more ill post more.

[mikeschlueter783]

Not a card shop owner - but do own a business...............KEEP OVERHEAD LOW!!!!! It'll kill you!

[chevy man 22]

I agree with the card show idea because it can be done on the weekends, costs very little , and you get your customer base built up. Then after you've done that a while start mentioning to them that you are thinking about opening a small shop in the area and see what their feedback is. If you get a lot of good feedback then it can't hurt to try a short term lease on a place and if things work out you can extend it later on.

I will say this though stay away from the high dollar stuff because most of your customers that come in aren't going to lay down that kinda cash on 1 pack of cards with 2-3 cards in it. You can always customer order something from a secondary dealer for a client if they ask for it. That way you are ordering only what the customer wants and aren't stuck with a bunch of high dollar stuff nobody wants.

[dallas_collecter84]

I am thinking about opening my own shop in the next few years. I am 27 now, so hopefully by 30. The one thing that I took away from my favorite LCS owner when he retired was this, don't care if someone comes in and spends money. Make him/her feel welcome and always talk sports with them. If you can shoot the breeze with someone and they feel that they can come hang out at your store they will spend money with you. He did that for over 25 years and it served him well. I wish you the best of luck with your store and if I am ever in the North Florida area I will stop in. My shop will be in the Ft Worth, TX area.