Conquest351 wrote: See if they will bring you a bunch of beer and you sell it and then pay them for it.
Don't do that since that is illegal.
Conquest351 wrote: See if they will bring you a bunch of beer and you sell it and then pay them for it.
Don't do that since that is illegal.
@AC: No thanks. That is waaaaaay too close to "restaurant" for my liking. I would probably do growler-fills though, if the interest was there.
@dyintorace: I think it's time to cash in on the shop. We're up over 20% for the year...in the slowest part of the year, and one of the biggest selling points is the location. It'd be a freaking fantastic business for somebody a little younger with a little more time to commit to actively seeking out new customers. Business will be paid off in January, so it's pure juice, minus the berkeleying taxes, of course.
@BAMF: I'm already the furthest thing from a "hands-off" business owner. Work doesn't scare me, though it would mean more hours.
Of the 9 years that I worked for Coca-Cola, here in Ohio, I lived with a girl for 5 years who's family owned multiple convenient stores.
This tends to vary from state to state but here in Ohio, all hard liquor (over 40 proof) is only sold in state approved stores (which the state limits how many there are.) We did not have the hard stuff but sold ample beer with some wine. We could carry more wine but our clientele was more Boones Farm than it was Pino Noir. It made no sense to tie up cash flow in the expensive stuff. We were also more of a Nascar crowd so the beer was not high brow either.
In addition to the beer/wine, there was also chips, soft drinks, coffee, lottery and smokes...lots and lots of tobacco. Boy, do you have some big money tied up in tobacco.
The customers want to rob you blind on tobacco. A pack is small and easily pilfered. A carton is really not that big but it is the most expensive single package of anything you have in the store. A carton weighs just more than half a pound. With a retail of $50 per carton, that is easily $100 per pound. A smart thief will clear the cash register then grab a plastic garbage bag and fill it with cartons which he can easily convert to cash back at the trailer park/apt/projects.
Of course, the easy answer here is to not have self serve cigs, but...the contract that you sign with the powerful cig companies may not actually allow this. Or, if you do, you forgo a lot of benefit which really results in lower cost structures and higher profits.
As much as pilferage is an issue, I can not stress it enough, the real robbery will happen from your employees. You may think you can bee there all the time when the store is open but the demand for longer hours will really take a toll on you.
We hired a mostly single moms. We worked them all full time, at steady hours. The liked this because it gave them predictability. They all had health insurance and could add their kid on cheaply. This was the big incentive of the job. Because of this we had many long term employees. Two years is long term because in many ways, the work sucks. The downfall would often be a new boyfriend who would start to understand what kind of money flowed through the place. He would then encourage the "entitlement" sentiment in the employee that they should get a larger portion of that money. You had to be diligent at "not trusting" the employees. Most of their scams were short term meaning they did not go long before you detected them, but... Now that you have detected it, you are out the money - they spent it (or boyfriend spent it) and you have a prosecuted and fired single mother who you will never get it from.
I could go on and on about police protection. We were ultra lucky that we were the closest coffee to two police stations. One being the 1x1 mile village that we were located in and the county sheriffs who covered everything outside that 1x1 mile range. We held the reputation that there was always a cop in the place. The village cops were so unbusy that they even demanded that when a run to the bank was done, that they be called. The cops would never handle the cash directly but the travels to and from were done from the passenger seat of the cop car! Yeah, full police escort for bank runs!
Since we did check cashing, it was nothing to bring in $100k, twice a day on a busy Friday. For this little village, they considered the movement of this cash to be the greatest risk in the entire village at that time so they insisted...great. The partnership was strong. Over the years we donated the two cop bicycles the village had (at nearly $1k each.)
Customers never seemed to figure it out but we had a frequent customer card for cashing checks. This card included details like digital photo, address, place of employment, closest relative, etc. The cops were in that database all the time like a whole second set of booking photos and details on dirtbags.
They were there 20 years or more. The neighborhood continued to change, the margins got smaller, the theft more blatant and they got older. They since have sold it all. They were never crazy rich but they were comfortable. Had I stayed in the family, I too would have pushed to get out.
Do you have a good source for replacement livers?
When I was younger there was a place by my house - "Leo's Liquors". The guy was always sitting by the register smoking - always looked warmed over dead.
Then it closed and was gone after 20+ years - I was totally shocked that a liquor store could go out of business. Maybe Leo died?
dyintorace wrote:AngryCorvair wrote: could you also get a permit for in-store consumption, then have a deli counter and a few tables inside where people could sit down and have a sammich and a beer? more work, more stuff to clean, but probably better margins.This place has been open by us for a few years now. Not sure how successful they are, but it is an uber-cool store. Best thing about it is, like AC mentioned below, you can drink in the store. I don't know what that entails, but it is sweet to stop by there, pop open a beer and drink it while building a sweet mixed 6 pack. They also have ~2 beers on tap (in a back room) so they sever draft beer as well. might be easier to just serve alcohol, rather than get into food too. http://www.tipplesbrews.com/ As for the strip center you're looking at, could you possible relocate the frame shop to the same location? You could potentially have both businesses running at the same time.
Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Do you have a good source for replacement livers?
I was kind of hoping whatever is currently inhabiting the cage in your basement...for a nominal fee, of course.
The biggest downside to me is selling to people who you know are alcoholics. That is, if you give a E36 M3.
Both of my parents and many of my aunts and uncles had a drinking problem at some time in their life. It killed my father. My godmother got so bad, she was trading personal items at the liquor store for hooch. She once traded a custom made leather jacket for a bottle of something. Thankfully she got straightened out.
spitfirebill wrote: The biggest downside to me is selling to people who you know are alcoholics. That is, if you give a E36 M3.
I can think of very few jobs that don't have some moral issue. This one is just on the surface level.
In reply to spitfirebill:
We joking called our place "Vices"
Smokes, Beer and Lotto paid the bills. No one "needed" any of them and even fewer could afford them.
So basically this would become the site for the GRM version of "Clerks" ??
If Poopshovel opens a liquor store, I wanna work there. That is all. And I rarely drink, nor do I need the $$$, so I'd not steal. As long as I can keep my beard.
Anybody bring up the GRM discount yet?
Yea, you're gonna wanna do that, that's just good business practice there.
JohnRW: THANK YOU!
Spitfire: Sorry your patents are alcoholics. The guy who owns the liquor store didn't make them alcoholics. I hear a lot of Muslim countries have pretty strict "no alcohol" policies. If legislating morality is your thing, I'd start there.
Turboswede: Oh god. It's already "CLERKS" at the shop. If possible, I'd have a shop kitty just so annoying customers could ask me what his name is. ;)
mndsm: Dude, I'd hire you in a heartbeat. Beard required for all male employees.
I currently offer the 20% friends and family discount to all GRM'ers. I'd absolutely knock a percentage off...though 20 is probably a stretch, considering the tiny(?) margin.
jonnyd330 wrote: Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.
You should come up here soon and visit the brewery. You can take tours and they have lots of beers on tap in their "tasting room". Awesome place to hang out.
dyintorace wrote:jonnyd330 wrote: Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.You should come up here soon and visit the brewery. You can take tours and they have lots of beers on tap in their "tasting room". Awesome place to hang out.
Conversationjack! I'll be down there probably middle of next month to rehearse with the band. Would love to take you and the crew out for beers.
In reply to poopshovel:
just kiddin' about the discount Poop 
Adrian_Thompson wrote:Maroon92 wrote: The whitest richest part of south central Michigan about 6 years ago.Out of interest, where specificaly? If you mean literaly the richest whitest that would be Franklin, Bloomfield Village or Birmingham
I wouldn't really consider any of those "central". Gull Lake is the answer. North end, specifically.
Interesting anecdote, one of my regular customers holds the record for worlds largest collection of pre-war Cadillacs...
If YOU are gonna stand behind the counter, it will succeed.
If not, crapshoot.
SVreX wrote: If YOU are gonna stand behind the counter, it will succeed. If not, crapshoot.
Aww man. Thanks dude. Wait. I think that's a compliment(?) 
I am behind the counter AND doing production, ordering, marketing, delivery, and janitorial work all day every day already. Don't see any need for that to change...though I may finally make someone else clean the E36 M3ter.
poopshovel wrote:dyintorace wrote:Conversationjack! I'll be down there probably middle of next month to rehearse with the band. Would love to take you and the crew out for beers.jonnyd330 wrote: Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.You should come up here soon and visit the brewery. You can take tours and they have lots of beers on tap in their "tasting room". Awesome place to hang out.
Come to my town and beers are on me. 
dyintorace wrote:poopshovel wrote:Come to my town and beers are on me.dyintorace wrote:Conversationjack! I'll be down there probably middle of next month to rehearse with the band. Would love to take you and the crew out for beers.jonnyd330 wrote: Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.You should come up here soon and visit the brewery. You can take tours and they have lots of beers on tap in their "tasting room". Awesome place to hang out.
Pretty sure it was my town before it was your town, but whatever you say, boss!!! Seriously though...ah hell, let's fight over the check in person.
poopshovel wrote:dyintorace wrote:Pretty sure it was my town before it was your town, but whatever you say, boss!!!poopshovel wrote:Come to my town and beers are on me.dyintorace wrote:Conversationjack! I'll be down there probably middle of next month to rehearse with the band. Would love to take you and the crew out for beers.jonnyd330 wrote: Yummmm they have Swamp Head there, there is a craft beer bar near me that has their Midnight Oil that stuff is good.You should come up here soon and visit the brewery. You can take tours and they have lots of beers on tap in their "tasting room". Awesome place to hang out.
Doubt it. I was born into existence in this town in 1969.
In reply to dyintorace:
Wow, I thought I had been here a long time moving here Jan 1, 1980.
I've wondering about all that inventory. We have a little liquor store near the house, and he has just a ton of inventory. Did he have to pay cash for all of it? Is there some kind of financing system for liquor? I can say that the man behind the counter--the owner--does have a revolver strapped to his belt, and we're also in a very decent neighborhood.
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