08-04-2002, 10:17 PM
Ok, you have the money firmly in place, assurances from city council that you can open a pool room in theer sanctuary, a budget(you do have a budget, don't you), and a firm grasp of what size of pool room you are going to open. All of this should be addressed in your business plan you took to the bank, you might even have a good idea of where you are going to open up. I didn't.
I'd only been living in the city for less than a year and was spending most my time at my 9 - 5 job. I had a good idea of what the good parts and bad parts of the city were, but I needed a better idea.
If you are going to make a mistake, this is the one place you don't want to make a mistake. I almost did and almost paid dearly for it.
Location, location, location - I wanted a middle class neighborhood. If you open in a rough area, you will get a rough crowd, better class people will be scared of coming to your room. On the flip side if you open up in a high class neighbourhood you will be overun with yuppies. It all depends on what type of room you plan on opening. What type of clientele do you want? I wanted pool players, plain and simple. But I didn't want them to be scared of leaving their cars parked outside at night. What I ended up doing was spending countless hours driving around at night. If I was scared of getting out of my car, I crossed that area of the map. I also made friend with a city policewoman. She was able to tell me crime rates by area, and a plethora of other helpfull tips. I eventually found the area I wanted, time to find the exact location.
Once you have a general idea of where you want to open up, now its time to find the highest traffic area that you can get a building in. What I did was found the address of every 7-11 in the general area. 7-11's are famous for being in the busiest traffic sectors of the city. I decided on a specific area. The area was about a 20 block length right along a main route. I found a building(more on this later) and was negotiating a lease. I went around the residental area(immediately behind the commercial section of the main route) that I would be doing business in and talked with several residence. Most were very supportive. Then a major SNAFU. We will call her Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown - Ms. Brown was about 65 years old, widowed, and what some would call a little nosy. It seems that she had previously lived across the street from a dance club and had major problems with vandals and noise, she was not going to let that happen again. Ms. Brown could be described as a bit of a crusader. When word of a pool hall with a liquor lisence sprung up, she sprung into action. Before long a petition had circulated and a meeting was called. At the meeting I was made out to be the bad guy who's evil little pool room was going to infect their neighbourhood. Never mind the 500 other commercial building also on the street. By the end of the meeting, they wanted reports on noise levels, traffic and a million other things. I went to see my lawyer, he assured me that I could open up there, it would just take a little more time. But, my patience was short and I really didn't want to do business in a community that didn't want me there. I said screw it, and started over.
Once again I went and found a new area, got the support of the local district(we called a meeting first so that I could explain what I wanted to do). In retrospect it was the best thing that ever happened. The first location was on the very outskirts of the city, the new location was in the very center of the city. Many people have since told me they wouldn't have driven 30 minutes across the city, but were willing to drive 15 minutes to the center. By moving to the center, I possibly opened my business to many more people.
In Episode 3 I will talk about finding the perfect building, it's harder than it sounds.
I'd only been living in the city for less than a year and was spending most my time at my 9 - 5 job. I had a good idea of what the good parts and bad parts of the city were, but I needed a better idea.
If you are going to make a mistake, this is the one place you don't want to make a mistake. I almost did and almost paid dearly for it.
Location, location, location - I wanted a middle class neighborhood. If you open in a rough area, you will get a rough crowd, better class people will be scared of coming to your room. On the flip side if you open up in a high class neighbourhood you will be overun with yuppies. It all depends on what type of room you plan on opening. What type of clientele do you want? I wanted pool players, plain and simple. But I didn't want them to be scared of leaving their cars parked outside at night. What I ended up doing was spending countless hours driving around at night. If I was scared of getting out of my car, I crossed that area of the map. I also made friend with a city policewoman. She was able to tell me crime rates by area, and a plethora of other helpfull tips. I eventually found the area I wanted, time to find the exact location.
Once you have a general idea of where you want to open up, now its time to find the highest traffic area that you can get a building in. What I did was found the address of every 7-11 in the general area. 7-11's are famous for being in the busiest traffic sectors of the city. I decided on a specific area. The area was about a 20 block length right along a main route. I found a building(more on this later) and was negotiating a lease. I went around the residental area(immediately behind the commercial section of the main route) that I would be doing business in and talked with several residence. Most were very supportive. Then a major SNAFU. We will call her Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown - Ms. Brown was about 65 years old, widowed, and what some would call a little nosy. It seems that she had previously lived across the street from a dance club and had major problems with vandals and noise, she was not going to let that happen again. Ms. Brown could be described as a bit of a crusader. When word of a pool hall with a liquor lisence sprung up, she sprung into action. Before long a petition had circulated and a meeting was called. At the meeting I was made out to be the bad guy who's evil little pool room was going to infect their neighbourhood. Never mind the 500 other commercial building also on the street. By the end of the meeting, they wanted reports on noise levels, traffic and a million other things. I went to see my lawyer, he assured me that I could open up there, it would just take a little more time. But, my patience was short and I really didn't want to do business in a community that didn't want me there. I said screw it, and started over.
Once again I went and found a new area, got the support of the local district(we called a meeting first so that I could explain what I wanted to do). In retrospect it was the best thing that ever happened. The first location was on the very outskirts of the city, the new location was in the very center of the city. Many people have since told me they wouldn't have driven 30 minutes across the city, but were willing to drive 15 minutes to the center. By moving to the center, I possibly opened my business to many more people.
In Episode 3 I will talk about finding the perfect building, it's harder than it sounds.