small space - good location

johnmurph01

An opportunity has come my way to take up a small booth (70 sq ft) with its entrance facing the entrance to a supervalue. Its in the meath / kildare area.

I think its a great location enjoying lots of footfall from people entering the supervalue but with supervalue being so close (10 ft) I might find it hard to compete against them.

I was thinking:

- Mobile phone kiosk
- Good Coffee kiosk(although SV sells it also and there are other cafes in the complex)
- A vintage sweet shop

Ideally whatever is going to be sold needs a small footprint and doesn't need a whole pile of space for stock etc.

Has anyone any ideas what might work in such a location?

seamie11

hiya,just reading your post,i design install a large range of sturdy timber swingsets,and ive recently designed a 2 seater swingset,absolutely very sturdy,takes up about 8ft x 8ft,can send you pictures,ive been selling quiet a few of them here in Limerick region,i also install them,so customer doesnt have to do a thing,they can take my weight,14 st,might sell up there,especially if plenty of footfall
regards seamie11

johnmurph01

eh....

8x8ft Swingset in a 70sq ft kiosk

Probably a bit on the tight side!

colly_06

Ha ha

a1guy

I would go for the mobile phone end.
Doing the unlocking & repairs
Selling parts ( chargers , covers and batteries )

johnmurph01

Thanks for that - that's a good shout.

maxer68

check the age group going in / out of supervalu. Different branches have different age groups.

Mobile phone stuff probably won't be of interest if its an older group.

Have a look at other similar size shops in other towns. Old style sweets are yesterday's use but if rent is cheap, may still be enough. A nice Ice Cream / coffee stand may be another option to add to it.

Maybe check out the sweet / choc shop that opened in naas recently beside the post office.

busbrokers

I agree with maxer...ice cream /coffee the way to go.

DrivingTestTips: Brian

Bookie!!
Flower Shop!!
Coffee Shop!!

maxer68

DrivingTestTips: Brian wrote: »

Bookie!!
Flower Shop!!
Coffee Shop!!

at 70sq ft, flower shop would be only one to squeeze in. - about the size of a small bedroom.

yearplanner

Key cutting or shoe repairs?

ssbob

yearplanner wrote: »

Key cutting or shoe repairs?

or both? Including leather specialisation(belts and leather jacket repairs etc)

I would advise against a flower shop, seen two in Cork recently that were in a similar booth in shopping centres that have gone bust however what has remained at least until now are those juice bars and coffee kiosks.

It really depends on the demographic of the footfall though.

johnmurph01

Recon the footfall is late 20's to 40's

Coffee is a possible, there is a cafe 'upstairs' in the complex but serves muck as coffee goes. There's alot of keys needing cut to pay someone's wages though I would assume however its relatively high margin.

maxer68

I'd say a mix between coffee, icecream/frozen yougurt/milkshakes & trad sweets.
There was a coffee / frozen yogurt & ice cream store in Carlow until 2 years ago and he did quite well but closed as he returned to Italy. It was about same size.

Have a look at the milkshake bar on aungier street in dublin that makes shakes with the old style sweets. (it was on dragons den recently)

Cianos

johnmurph01 wrote: »

Recon the footfall is late 20's to 40's

Coffee is a possible, there is a cafe 'upstairs' in the complex but serves muck as coffee goes. There's alot of keys needing cut to pay someone's wages though I would assume however its relatively high margin.

In this case I'd go for coffee. You can sell good coffee from a very small space. Use the space wisely and make it very attractive looking and it should work

ssbob

Cianos wrote: »

In this case I'd go for coffee. You can sell good coffee from a very small space. Use the space wisely and make it very attractive looking and it should work

And you don't have to just be a coffee shop, you could also have your take away snacks like croissants or whatever or if the space allowed, do a coffee and shakes stand? Targetting a wider demographic then. Especially if the ages of the people are as mentioned above.

007.57

Car Care products!! great margins, 80% impulse buy, large car park beside you, you'll be on to a winner.

Stock items like wax, polish, air fresheners, wipes, tyre pumps, instant inflators, car mats, most products are small and you'll be surprised how many items can fit into your store. Summer is the perfect time to sell these types of products as sales normally increase x10.

I saw an 'Auto Glym' exhibition stand at the Irish Times Motor Show and it was about the size of a small bedroom and stocked wall to wall of products, sold very well.

Later you could expand to provide a car cleaning business in the car park, see them a lot at Tesco.

PR Reilly in Dublin have everything you need and can set you up in a few weeks. Contact them

Coffee shops have strict health and safety requirements, phone shops need to stock a massive range of accessories as a lot are phone specific. There are over 20 different chargers alone you would need to stock. and Key cutters need to have great knowledge of keys and locksmith skills as a poor quality ket cutters will get a bad rep for producing keys that dont work! my local is terrible - took 4 attempts to get my key right!

unnameduser

laptop repair centre? any other competition in the area?

seamie11

hi 007,are guys actually washing the cars at Tesco,is it a mobile unit,my brother was telling me very populat in UK,but i havnt seen many doing it here,was thinking of it myself a few months ago
seamie11