Great time to reopen this paintball field

**nj18** · 03-31-2009 01:58 PM

Hi,

As you may know paintball is the biggest growing extreme sport out there, and is statically safer then bowling.
I'm a paintball player and the closes paintball place to me has been closed since June of 2007 and the guy who wants to buy it doesn't have enough money to reopen it. This place is called Factory paintball arena in North Chicago. It use to be a big time paintball place since it's indoors (the only place you can paintball during the winter), there were some good players paintball there. The reason why they closed is because that the place was mismanaged, the guy who own the place was not a business man, PM me for a post about why it closed and how the owner mismanaged it.
It does not take a paintballer to own the place, you can have a paintballer come in and manage the place for you.

The are no places to paintball anywere close to here, the closes is in Wisconsin or in the city of Chicago and that's not a easy drive! The paintballers that live in the suburbs north of Chicago have to drive 2 hours to play at a field! Many people have been asking for a place to play, and this will be the only field for miles around. The place does need some fix up, new bunkers, and a air compresser but since it place has been just sitting there for so long I think you can get it for a pretty good price, this field just need a smart business man. I can help with getting out the info of this field on the paintball forums, I know many people have been dieing to see Factory Paintball reopen.

I'm not the owner trying to sell this, I'm just sounding the many paintballers wishes and telling you about a opportunity.

Private message me with questions

**Scott Sutherland** · 04-02-2009 08:27 AM

It may be hard to find cheap space in such a dense community. Good idea though, certainly sounds like a supply vacuum.

**nj18** · 04-02-2009 05:59 PM

The paintball place is in kind of right on the edge of a run-down area, though it's pretty close to Lake Bluff (a very nice town) and it's across the stress from Great Lake Naval base. So it's not in a bad community, it's just enough to lower the price

The place has been sitting there for a year and a half so I got to think this guy probably doesn't want it sitting in his hand for too much longer.

**SCJeff** · 04-02-2009 06:49 PM

I would definitely reopen it if you think you can manage it better than the past owners.

Correct promotion would be very important.

My buddies dad owns a field down here in south carolina, and the closest field is over an hour a way. He pushes package deals, goes to school and sets up, teacher vs. student weekends with discounts and does the same for businesses you just have to find a way to drive enough people there.

the only problem i might for see being a problem is that it is an indoor field/arena. The electricity, water, etc is going to be a big factor compared to just an open field with a stand. You'll have to watch the numbers very carefully to make sure you can still make a profit. I understand that its chicago and its cold, but In my opinion having a field instead of arena would be a better choice, but then again, i don't know how it really would work up in the north due to the weather.

**nj18** · 04-02-2009 10:08 PM

I can't be the manager but I think that the old manager would be a great man for the job. With new ownership who know something about paintball I think this place can be successful. The old owner turned down the heat in the winter even though the manager said that the pipes would break, but the owner didn't listen to him and the pipes broke. So yes it will be expense and the manager will know much better then me (I'll send you a message with my email so we can talk some more).

**nj18** · 04-04-2009 08:01 AM

There is also a field about 30 minutes away which is outdoors, it's mostly as airsoft field because the speedball field is crap. If you got some new bunkers you will be able to bring in airsofters and paintballers.

**chrispalko** · 04-05-2009 09:33 PM

Safer than bowling, huh? I'm going to use this to convice my girlfriend to go paintballing with me.

My input: Talk to the previous owner, get the numbers on the costs, write a business plan, see how much capital you need, AND LAUNCH IN THE SPRING (well, whenever the temp is nice enough to not use alot of a/c.). I don't know too much on heating/cooling up north, I'm in Florida. If you don't use too much of that resource at the beginning, you can spend your money marketing and developing that client base for the winter time.