TimothySaffles.com

For the last year and a half or so, I have been working on the idea of opening a retail coffee shop in Chandler or Gilbert, AZ. As a matter of fact, just before I was about to make a move on a retail space that I really liked, I noticed a sharp market move (and subsequent economic move for the worse) and decided to hold off on opening the shop.

Thrillingly, my foresight (and, to be fully honest, some combined personal circumstances fortuitously thrown in), worked out very well.

I just read an article in our local Gannet Corporate Rag entitled:

Tough economy taking toll on Chandler restaurants

…that got me to thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t actually set the coffee shop into motion.

I would like to go into further detail as to why the retail idea is a poor one, but let’s just sum up: online businesses are much better. Less overhead, no long-term contracts, more flexibility, relatively new and growing markets, easy and cheap advertising, global and local market reach and much more that I’m not thinking of right now.

So, unless you are already established and have about $1 mill in the bank, start off small online.

(Also, I read somewhere that rising fuel prices are adding to the bottom line of online stores because people are less willing to drive in order to make purchases. Now I can’t find the link. Don’t you hate it when that happens?)