Coffee Shop with Books

Read a Latte

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Feb 28, 2004
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Has anyone tried the bookstore / coffee shop angle with any advice. I want to open coffee shop bookstore 4000 sq ft building used to be an old Burger King. Has major access to community college and major university...drive by road serves 26000 daily? also can use the drive thru for commuters? been thinking of this for years but now am able to possibly pull it off? any ideas are welcome! :-D
 

Rowley

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Mar 7, 2003
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my experience with some of my local bookstore franchises.

It is hard for me to find a large bookstore in southern california without it having a cafe located inside the store.

So yea, I am pretty sure it is a sound plan, but it does seem to invite the same crowds at least in California that are already going to the larger franchises.

If no other bookstores in your area have the cafe-appeal then I expect your bookstore-cafe would do well.
 

Read a Latte

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Bookstore Coffee

Is anyone familiar with the chain called Half Price Books? It would be a really well developed half price books with a coffee shop inside? Let me know if this is in your area and what you think? thanks
 

Coffee Guy

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Oct 19, 2003
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There are some half price book stores here. My question is since you are considering converting an old Buger King into a book store, why coffee and not something else? Keep in mind that coffee would only serve as an add on, whereas books will be your main focus. 4,000 sqft is a lot to work with and will be quite spendy. My thought would be to concentrate on the book store first, and then bring on coffee a little later. I say that because unless you plan to build the coffee lounge/bar at the same time, you might get off task. However, if you really want to build the coffee shop at the same time, be sure to have a good architect that can draw the plans to your liking.

There are a lot of companies out here that will tell you this is a great idea until you run out of money. I'd advise you to build the book store first and visit a few stores like Barnes and Noble, etc. and see what makes them successful, then create a model for yourself and tweak it.

Just my two cents.
 
G

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books?

Barnes and Nobles not only sells books, but also serves Starbucks coffee.

I think this is an excellent idea; however, competition is pretty tuff.

Amazon.com and Half.com are online places where most customers buy books from; not to mention that their prices are unbeatable.

If this is your first business, you may want to focus on offering only one product/service and go from there. The specialty coffee industry is something that you should stick to.


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Coffee Cup Joe

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Sep 27, 2004
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Cash is King

My sources always tell me that cash is king in business.

It might be worth taking a look at your numbers before deciding. It seems the more prudent thought is to develope the coffee business first. With that kind of traffic flow and a nearby college, it seems like a slam dunk feature. And then the development of the book venue might make more sense. You can fund that with the coffee sales.

Here's a thought for you. Depending on the size of the college, maybe buying used text books for resale is a safe way to start.

I once stopped into the worlds largest new and used book store in Portland oregon. Its called Powell's Books. They may even be on line now. Not sure.

They do a thriving business. Have a small coffee serving area. And they keep it far enough away to keep "grab and lounge types" from abusing the setup.

It seems like if you build coffee in first, you may even find something that works far better than a half price book store to add later.

There is a book out titled "The Purple Cow" by Seth Grodin I believe. Read that book. It will help you in arriving at something unique to add to your business idea.

I would be willing to bet that the 26,000 cars in traffic are more coffee drinkers than book buyers.

It would be cool to figure out how you could put maybe four drive up windows in for getting coffee. Seems like half that amount would be there already since it was a Burger King. Almost like putting four micro coffee shops in under one roof. Then if business is not to heavy you just leave select windows open.
Consumers hate waiting in line. Oddly, most will sit three or four deep in a car line. Some will drive by the establishment once they see the line up for a single window.
If you build a reputation of having four drive up options to better serve your customers, I think you would have a whopping business model.

Sounds like the template for a booming place is there. And coming up with just the right type of business to add to the coffee outlet is the key.

If Burger King dropped his crown there, food must not be a draw for the area. So, do some hard studying of the demographics to figure out what your secondary business additive will be.

And remember, "Cash is King". Go with Coffee to start.

I wish you well.
 

CoffeeGoddess

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Oct 13, 2004
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I almost dropped my Latte when I read this thread! My husband and I are currently putting together a coffee cart for our Downtown Farmers Market where I've vended garden goods for five years. The purpose of the cart is to finance my goal of having....(wait for it...)

A coffee shop/book store in what used to be a Burger King on a road that goes to the local community college and major university!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Can it possibly be that we are talking about the same site?

Toronto Road mean anything to you Read A Latte?

If so, perhaps we should talk about a joint venture! This would be good for things like, vacations, having a life....
 

CoffeeGoddess

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Oct 13, 2004
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:) :) Just to update the thread, yes, we're in the same town and looking at the same place. $10,000 a month rent?! For Springfield Illinois? No wonder the place has been empty so long with such a busy street. There's one other place up the road that just might do... 8)
 
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