I am thinking about starting/opening up a retail business here in Arizona, but I know obviously things like these take a lot of planning, but I have no idea where to begin. I have a general idea of what I want to do and I even threw together some mock floor plans. Basically I want to have a front room with pool tables and games for the under 18 crowd, and then have a large lounge area sectioned off for the 18+ who want to rent out hookah's or oxygen machines. I would also like to incorporate a smoke shop into it as well, not a full blown shop just a small inventory of high-quality glass products (tobacco pipes and hookah) for sale, probably behind the bar area where I could keep the hookahs. I know there probably is not a lot of money in this but honestly it's just something I would enjoy doing every day and not hate my job you know? Kids in Arizona are always looking for a place indoors to hang out since it's 110 out, and the hookah bar I used to go to (strictly hookahs and pool) is always packed. So where do I start? Should I throw some business plans together and see how profitable this would be and how much I could afford or what? How do I check retail rent costs? I threw together some numbers and I expect to sell at least 20 hookahs on a slow night and 40 on a busy night, and that is about $5700 a month if I rent out each hookah for $8.
I'm the perfect guy to answer your question. So in my city there is a bunch of hookah lounges. Basically these are places that rent out good hookahs to people for blank an hour. You have to be 18 or older to get in. I recommend starting one of these. They're killer money. Don't sell hookahs there. In the long run you are losing potential customers that will buy and just do hookah somewhere else instead of coming to your place. Allow food too, maybe some pool tables. These places are a great success, as some people will come in and rent a hookah for let's say 8 dollars an hour, and they will stay for around 3-4 hours. Easy 20-30 dollars an hour off each hookah. They pay for themselves within a day. These business are profitable, you should first put together a business plan with basic information such as How many hookahs, tables, Sodas/Drinks, maybe food, location, possible workers, and etc. Business plan first, then just do don't worry about it too much.
I was planning on doing something like this, but instead of renting by the hour, I will rent by the bowl, since a bowl only lasts 45min-60mins, so it's basically the same thing? I plan on getting high quality hookahs, and you are right selling them would be a bad idea since I would loose customers in the long run. I plan on being an active employee, working 5-6 days a week, this is a passion and I feel this would be a great career for me. How can I check how much tables and such would cost? Any good resources for stuff like this?
What I would do is hop onto Google and begin researching the price of the pool tables and anything else that you'll need to buy. That would be the best place to start.. You can then start getting a good idea of how much everything should cost.
I am going to get started on a business plan tomorrow, figure out the costs for everything. Would I have a problem getting a small business loan being 21? I have decent credit, but not alot of history, only 1-2 years of using a credit card.
first figure how much you'd be spend in starting this type of business and how long is the return of investment.
im partners in a hookah wholesale business out of the chicago, il area. When you need bulk, lemme know