Location and space!

[Ram213]

Wasnt sure where the right place to post this was.

Hey all, I have been reading the forums for the past few weeks now and I finally made an account as I have a question.

So I am wanting to open a Coffee/espresso/gelato shop. The area I want to open it in is very busy! It has an AMC theater, Our NFL football and NHL hockey team right by and an outlet mall close by as well and its right in the middle of all the restaurants and the water pad (where many families go and take their kids and many couples walk around). It has much more traffic when there is an event and mostly busy on weekends. Especially winter time when they have Santa by, which is also near the store I want to lease. I am located in the southwest, so we are in the warmer climates so no snow :wink:

Here are a few pros/cons

(+) The location is very small! My cafe would have basically a kiosk,

http://www.thegrovela.com/upload/gue...jambajuice.jpg

It looks like that picture above, except its a rectangle and I can design it where customers can come in (not many) or I can do it the way Jamba juice designed it in the picture above.

(+) No coffee in the area! I have spends a few months now observing this area, and many of the people I have talked to have said customers keep asking for coffee and are wanting it. So there is a demand for it with no competition. No one serves any warm drinks at all, besides a yogurt shop selling soso hot chocolate.

(+) There is much foot traffic during the busy hours and mostly weekends

(+/- ?) The asking lease is $1,200 a month

(+/- ?) The center has a lot of couches and chairs near the store so that may help since I don't have space for sitting.


(-) There have been 2 coffee shops there (They used a store near the one i'm looking it expect it is 3,000 sq ft and I checked the latest ones yelp reviews and I guess they had bad service) First one opened back in 2006 and closed down and another opened in 2007-2008 and closed a few years after. So its been a few years since a coffee shop has been there.

(-) All the stores don't open till around 11am

I will try to add more info as requested but this a basic overview of the place. What do you guys think? I would love to hear your opinion as I know most of you have great experience and shops. (From reading your posts!)

 

[CoffeeJunky]

If you have tons of foot traffic, it must be a great location. But I am wondering why there isn't one as of right now.
I think rent rate is great.
I have a close friend who has Coffee and Gelato shop in the very busy mall with very similar booth type. He is doing around $12 - 18,000 a week. His biggest problem is getting reliable help since they need 4-5 people at all time.
He runs two different line. One for coffee and one for gelato. They are right on the entrance of very large mall.

I think key is having Gelato. He sells more gelato then coffee. He opens around an hour before mall opens to get the mall employee business for coffee and pastry. And closes when mall closes.
I think other coffee shops failed because high rent rate and also not many people are looking for sit down coffee shops.
I would decorate the booth very nicely with very inviting show case for the gelato. I think your employee should be wearing uniforms to boost image (hat, t-shirts, same color pants)
I like the sound of the location, rent rate .... Good Luck

 

[cestrin]

I'm VERY surprised that there isn't a local roaster at the Grove already! I haven't been there but I hear about it. I'd imagine that there is enough money there where people will be willing to pay just about whatever you ask for a cup. Good luck!

 

[Ram213]

If you have tons of foot traffic, it must be a great location. But I am wondering why there isn't one as of right now.
I think rent rate is great.
I have a close friend who has Coffee and Gelato shop in the very busy mall with very similar booth type. He is doing around $12 - 18,000 a week. His biggest problem is getting reliable help since they need 4-5 people at all time.
He runs two different line. One for coffee and one for gelato. They are right on the entrance of very large mall.

I think key is having Gelato. He sells more gelato then coffee. He opens around an hour before mall opens to get the mall employee business for coffee and pastry. And closes when mall closes.
I think other coffee shops failed because high rent rate and also not many people are looking for sit down coffee shops.
I would decorate the booth very nicely with very inviting show case for the gelato. I think your employee should be wearing uniforms to boost image (hat, t-shirts, same color pants)
I like the sound of the location, rent rate .... Good Luck

Yes I do believe will help especially during the hot summers, the only issue is that there is also a cold stone and a yogurt shop there. Thanks for your response, every opinion helps a lot so I appreciate that. Theres also only a sink in there, but do you think the process of taking that making another pipe to a water system that would directly go into the espresso and coffee machines would be easy? and of course the 2nd pipe would go to the sink.

 

[Ram213]

I'm VERY surprised that there isn't a local roaster at the Grove already! I haven't been there but I hear about it. I'd imagine that there is enough money there where people will be willing to pay just about whatever you ask for a cup. Good luck!

Yeah I know they had a few different coffee shops there, but I honestly forgot which companies it was. That mall is great though, always stop by there when I am in the LA area. and Thank you!