I am openning a shop. What equipment should I sell

It would seem that there are very few bricks and mortar shops making money on (new) retail high end audio. As several have noted, custom HT installations are now the bread and butter for these businesses. I've been an investment baker advising businesses for most of my career and my advice in this instance would be:

"Proceed with extreme caution." Beyond that, just 2 specific thoughts.

Most small businesses do not fail because they are inherently unsustainable. Rather, they simply run out of money. Make sure that you are adequately capitalized before you jump in.

Keep your overhead under control! This would probably be the first priority, since you face an uncertain cash flow stream. Any meaningful nut could sink you.

Good Luck.

Marty

The fact that Jim is still here, coming from an economy that was booming, to one that went totally bust, says that he is doing something right.

5 years on- 90% of all businesses fail in that time- this is not luck. Congratulations!

Hello Sounds real,

Tough road and absolutely not helped by our current economy, unfortunately and economy aside the few good dealers left are suffering from the evils and arrogance of the many, who for years did the naughty, naughty.

Had Lunch last week with a few who are still involved in the business (manufacturing ) and the consensus was that they are not expecting any recovery before last quarter 2011, thread lightly..

Tough times indeed, best of luck ...

Timlub:
Interesting, were you with Speakerkraft in the 80's

Yes, SpeakerCraft, Did you know us?