In the current climate is it stupid to be thinking of opening a new busines

And it would have helped if Ispelt business right...

if you can afford to not make profits now then yes

depends on the business; may i ask what you are thinking of?

just a small newsagents in a town centre.decent enough spot.ive done the costings and would need to make approx £700 a week profit before making a bean for my self.£100 a day some £8 an hour and its something i did in my younger days so know a fair bit about it

As an aside, secondry position retail units are not in demand. I am assuming your renting? You should be able to strike a 'good deal'. Insist on an ingoing rental holiday, refuse a full repairing lease and only accept 'leave in the same state', complete with a schedule of condition. Do not accept a lease of over three years and ask for a break clause after 18 months. The rental will be the market rate and it is not worth playing brinkmanship as Landlords are loathe to lower the rent, as it reflects on other adjoining properties. Attempt to get any deposit waived and refuse any annual increments to the rent for the term of the lease. You will be expected to pay for the Landlords legal fees in drawing up the lease, ask these to be capped at £500 in the provinces and £800 if in London or one of the major connabations.

Best of luck.

thanks madas top advice sir

agree with the above from madas. if the landlord happy without a deposit he'll probably still want solid guarantors but it is certainly a good time to ask for a rental holiday.

Not a line of business i know but where i am everyone is diversifying, the newsagents now sell groceries and have fresh fruit stalls outside, take in dry cleaning and can do repairs, the obvious lottery tickets and sell travel cards. The local off licenses do the same tho and can be hard to discern the original nature of some shops, anything to survive the march of the tesco express

GL

Ahe Tesco Express and the Co-op I think that a lot of people (like myself) would rather shop at a local shop than give their hard earned to these type of places.I would love to know how much these firms pay their staff

you say that but a little parade near me used to have a butchers, a veg shop, 2 grocers including a sub post office and 2 newsagents. Tesco express opened where the old esso garage was and now only one of the existing newsagents has survived plus a halal butcher and a fresh fish shop as i guess these latter 2 have a niche over tescos

Snooze

Very commendable, but people do not want to shop elswhere unless the prices and quality of ther merchandise are the same!

I am sure that it is a good time to start a business provided you limit your risk. Short lease etc is great, but also ensuring no nearby competition etc is imperative. Good Luck though,

Thanks guys.The other thing is I will need 2 full time or 4 part time mebers of staff so at least I'll be pumping a bit back in the economy.18 month lease we would lose £70k if we opened and didnt take a penny.I am fairly confident we could make a reasonable profit especially if the huge bar/restaurant opposite re-opens

Hmmm

Well we have gone for it...Wish me luck fellas.Thanks again to all who contributed especially Madasabox.The estate agent actually though we knew what we were talking about...

Good Luck but if i may offer a tip ,don't get complacent about people prefering small shops to tescos or the Co-op . all the evidence of the last decade or so suggests otherwise

Fully agree people like to get everything under one roof but the only supermarket in a 3 mile radius opens 8-8 we hope to grab the early morning market

Fingers crossed it looks like a goer