Franchise Update

Remember when we first started to look for space for The Franchise and I said there was this perfect space but someone beat us to it; that is, there was already someone selling a product like ours in the perfect spot. However, their product was substandard and the store was grubby. Well, they went out of business. And so did a lot of other stores in this one area. People are now referring to the area as a ghost town, weird, may never come back. We looked at the empty space of the former store and my husband and I could not get out fast enough. It just felt wrong. It could have been ours, but it just felt wrong.


So today we are turning in an LOI for a space at an outdoor, free-standing spot. We are really cautious because we first built our business model on being in a mall with mall traffic. In other words, our business plan is based on little build out and a steady stream of people. Now we are facing a full build out that includes, literally, laying down a floor. The space doesn't even have door. They have to saw a damn whole in the front of the spot to show us the space. The point is, we are going to have to build it out from scratch. There are 4 walls, That's it. And we have to move one of the walls. Build out costs are higher than we expected, passing traffic way lower. We have worked the spreadsheets every which way. If we make the same income as the next closest franchisee, we lose money. You read that right. We lose money. But there are good reasons to believe we would do better. Good logical reasons. Also, it just feels right.


I get heart palpitations putting a quarter in a slot machine, so the risk is a bit hard to swallow. But then again, my husband and I still want to do it. We could walk away. We could sell our franchise right and come out relatively whole. But we look at all the risk, and all the work, and we still want to do it.