My Store-y

I apologize for being absent from the blog for a little bit. There's been a lot going on during the last week or so.

First up was Bree's birthday week. Since I've met her, I've been able to enjoy her family tradition of having a week long birthday. During that entire week, you're sprinkled with presents and taken out to dinner any number of times. The birthday week led to a number of events that kept me nice and busy.

There was the night out at the Alehouse that left Bree so hung over that she spent most of the next day vomitting everything she'd eaten over the last month. Charming, I know.

A trip to Sea World with her parents occupied another day - a very pleasant day, I might add.

Simon's Bakery for dinner on her birthday was an occassion of note - a charming little bistro here in Sarasota that is just delightful. Food of note: Sesame Tuna with Seaweed Salad appetizer. To die for.

Since Bree's birthday, I've started to find time for myself again (she's too obsessed with the Nintendo DS I bought her to notice the universe around her). Item of note there is my store-y of the week.

It looks like it would be entirely feasible that I may be starting my own business within the next couple of months.

The owner of my local comic and game shop is looking to close down by the end of the year or so, and is willing to sell me his entire inventory and fixture set for a seemingly low cost. Bree and I have both wanted to own a comic shop to call ours for some time now, and we've got dozens of ideas just pouring out on how to run a successful shop (they range from expanding the miniature gaming section to video games to reintroducing the anime crowd from the area, as they currently have nowhere worth going).

We've projected that we'd need about $50,000 worth of startup capital to get the ball rolling in a serious direction. And the funny thing... we've got it! Just have to cross the 't's and dot the 'i's and the money is ours. This is where the questions come up...

Are we absolutely serious about this? Can we put in the time to make it work? Can I put in the time to make it work? I'd be the primary handler of the store - Bree would remain working at the hardware store while I did this.

But I guess the biggest question is this: is the store worth what the current owner wants for the inventory? There is a good deal of product that hasn't turned over in years... but it's hard to tell whether or not a change in marketting strategies would remedy that.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be doing a complete inventory of the store to see if the viable product outweighs the currently inviable product, and just how much of the "worthless" product I'll be stuck with in the end. If the decent product is at or close to the asking price, this would be worth my time... if it isn't... well, we'll see what happens.

Hopefully, in a few months time, I'll be posting about what it's like to own my own business.