Empty Warehouse Ideas

[CMARRIOTT01]

Evening all,

Scouting through these forums I know the general feeling towards giving advice regarding a location before a business idea is negative but I have come across a warehouse that may be available to myself at a very good rental cost.

Current use:
The warehouse is currently being used as a retail furniture shop and has been successful for the last 25 years.

Location:
Slightly off set a local high street for a medium sized town on the outskirts of Nottingham (England). Has carpark for 5 - 6 cars.

Reason for moving:
The furniture shop is being moved to a larger outlet but still in the same area as the warehouse (this rules out continuing with what has been successful for the last 25 years.

My Ideas:

• Venue for local gaming competition. With my profits being made from offering refreshments and charging an admission fee.
• Indoor paintballing/Laser venue.
• Private storage venue
• Storing large stock for wholesalers.
• Gym

Any additional ideas or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

[Mega B]

Welcome to YE the thing that concerns me about this Warehouse project is the parking or lack of it,to make it a going concern you have to have a fair amount of visitors but were would they park ???

[mjb96]

Out of the ideas you posted, I think the storage idea might work the best. You would obviously have to find some way to break the warehouse into personal units of varying size. From here you can rent them accordingly with price varying on size.

This also seems to deal with your lack of parking issue as there wouldn't be a large crowd gathered all at one time as people would come and go as they needed.

There may be a whole bunch of other stipulations and such that I have no idea about involved with a storage company, but at first glance that seems to be the best bet.

[CMARRIOTT01]

A storage company was what first popped to mind for me as it would require little staffing costs but when speaking to people about this, the first response was regarding how much profit could actually be made in the current climate.

I would be suprised if I was ever full to capacity in the current climate.

[rogercbryan]

• Venue for local gaming competition. With my profits being made from offering refreshments and charging an admission fee.
• Indoor paintballing/Laser venue.
• Private storage venue
• Storing large stock for wholesalers.
• Gym

1- To many legalities
2- Moderate start-up expenses w/ moderate advertising expense - need about $50,000 USD
3- Depending on the design of the warehouse and its size this might be your best option. Your major expenses will be insurance and advertising - need about $5,000 to $50,000 USD
4- This has the lowest start up costs but you would need to find a wholesaler who needs this service and you would also need insurance - need under $5,000 USD
5- A gym is way to expensive to start unless you have a ton of money you should stay away from this idea - need around $100,000

I'm basing my assumptions on business in the US. I would wager to say the same would hold true for those across the pond. I would go with the self storage idea. In the US people have more junk then they know what to do with. Creating a place for them to store vehicles, boats, boxes... and what ever else would be a money maker if it is done right.

[mjb96]

A storage company was what first popped to mind for me as it would require little staffing costs but when speaking to people about this, the first response was regarding how much profit could actually be made in the current climate.

I would be suprised if I was ever full to capacity in the current climate.

Yea, the main thing here would be a strong comparison between your monthly operating costs and what income you would have based on filling out the units.

Are you trying to turn this in to a fulltime venture as your main source of income?

[CMARRIOTT01]

Roger,

Would you mind explaining some of the legalities regarding providing a games competetion.

I will give a small detailed explanation of how I beleive it would work:


Start up costs would be the cost of the consoles, cost of the TV’s, costs of furniture, cost of the game. However I believe because this would target a young group of kids and give them something to do I may be eligible for government funding to assist with starting up (around 50% of the startup costs)

The tournament would be run once a week with an entrance cost of roughly £10 with a prize for £300 for the winner and £150 for runner up.

Alongside my admission costs would be a private run shop on the premises to generate a further income.

I would also provide a membership option at £5 a month which would then provide the subscriber with a position on an online leader board. This board would be updated regularly and provide an incentive for competing on this leader board.

Additional income may be available by offering a pitch to fast food vans/ice cream vans etc

I believe attracting players would be easy. This would be done via word of mouth, via facebook, via leaflets at local schools, radio coverage and newspaper coverage. By providing an option for young kids I would be able to provide a lot of media attention.

My only problem is lack of experience in hosting events such as these so I do not know all the legalities you may have in mind.

[rogercbryan]

Roger,

Would you mind explaining some of the legalities regarding providing a games competetion.

I will give a small detailed explanation of how I beleive it would work:


Start up costs would be the cost of the consoles, cost of the TV’s, costs of furniture, cost of the game. However I believe because this would target a young group of kids and give them something to do I may be eligible for government funding to assist with starting up (around 50% of the startup costs)

The tournament would be run once a week with an entrance cost of roughly £10 with a prize for £300 for the winner and £150 for runner up.

Alongside my admission costs would be a private run shop on the premises to generate a further income.

I would also provide a membership option at £5 a month which would then provide the subscriber with a position on an online leader board. This board would be updated regularly and provide an incentive for competing on this leader board.

Additional income may be available by offering a pitch to fast food vans/ice cream vans etc

I believe attracting players would be easy. This would be done via word of mouth, via facebook, via leaflets at local schools, radio coverage and newspaper coverage. By providing an option for young kids I would be able to provide a lot of media attention.

My only problem is lack of experience in hosting events such as these so I do not know all the legalities you may have in mind.

Ahhhh... sorry when I see the word 'gaming' I think of gambling... I didn't know you meant video games. This would be extremely expensive to start do to all the needed equipment. How big is this warehouse? This may have a big effect on what I'm telling you.

[CMARRIOTT01]

I don't have the exact measurments to match but it would easily be able to hold 25 gaming stations with an inbuilt shop.

It has an upstairs area also.

[CMARRIOTT01]

If it was to hold events I beleive a food/drink store on site would generate the most money.

[rogercbryan]

If it was to hold events I beleive a food/drink store on site would generate the most money.

That is very labor intensive...

You want the simplest business that can generate a fair amount of income... Do you have $25,000 USD to set up the gaming consoles?

A simple storage facility is still your best bet. Low start-up costs, low over head, and minimal labor requirements.

[CMARRIOTT01]

The events would only be held once a week, leaving the warehouse free to my landlord for his use during the week (lowering rental costs for me even further).

I don't have the full start up costs but from some research I do believe this could be supported if the Government believed it would help the local community.

With the current media attention surrounding kids on the street I believe I would be eligible for a grant.

[SophieM]

Personally, I would put the warehouse into a variety of uses.

A storage facility is the most obvious one and depending on the size of the space may be the only idea that could be implemented at any one time. I would use about half the space for that.

I like the idea of a gaming venue, though possibly the parking might be an issue if people are going to have to travel to it, though if there is some kind of free/cheap parking nearby you could get around the problem. The thing posted above about costs is quite a good point, but maybe you could work out some kind of deal with Game or somewhere like that where they provide the consoles and you give them a bit of space to sell games during the events, give out leaflets and generally put their name everywhere.

You could also hire it out as a conference or day training centre, approach local companies and training companies and offer them it at a cheap price, you could add on extra features such as catering to boost the price you would get (obviously outsource it at to a catering company at a cheaper price).

Another idea would be to use it as some kind of auction venue. If you could get hold of a group of people with lots of spare stock (for example clearance of shop items or even business equipment) you could buy it off them cheaply, if you did this a lot with the same kind of thing (e.g. the business equipment) you could have a large auction. Though probably with this it would be easier to rent it out.

Rent it out as a sports centre to local clubs in need of a cheap area to practice whatever they do. For example an football club looking for an indoor practice area or an athletics club who can no longer go to the local leisure centre.

You could also use it as an art gallery. I don't know if you watch The Apprentice, but you could do something like the time they had to put on an art gallery event. You could rent it out to some kind of local artist group for them to put on a big event or find any kind of touring exhibition looking for somewhere to hold their next event (maybe you would have to approach them first though and ask if they are doing something like that).


You could use it as a music venue and put on concerts for local unsigned bands, though you might have to use a lot of money on security arrangements.

As you can see I have tried to think of some things that can be done once and then cleared away, though most of them could be run multiple times. I hope if you decide to rent out this space it'll be a success for you (whatever you decide to do with it). Most of them might not work for you and you might not like them...but hopefully they'll give you a starting point!

[newyorknewyork]

during halloween i would make it a haunted house and the other time a indoor game room and put put golf.

[newyorknewyork]

I know this guy who lives in the country and he planted a corn maze, people walk through the corn and try to find their way out. at $5.00 a head and 10,000 visitors he made 50 thousand dollars! that year. He sold the corn afterwards.