I have spoken with one of the two people that put this whole thing together at length. There's Nick, the guy referenced in the newspaper article, and Craig, the guy that owns the building, and partner with Nick with the arcade. I spoke to Craig.
First: the media has put a slant on the story that makes it sound a little too-good-to-be-true. Here's some details. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, as likely I'll forget something.
1) It's not *free.* It's a lease, for one year, of $800 a month. You cover electricity, heat, Internet, business insurance, advertising and all other expenditures. They have, however, taken 90% of the start-up costs and hard work out of their own pockets. You get the benefits of that hard work, and the money that has been put into the project thus far.
2) The area is extremely high-traffic, and is well situated for an arcade. The coffee shop next door is going to be turned into a bar, but a high-class establishment, not a rowdy place. It's within two miles of five schools. The town common is the next street over, and during the summer will have massive traffic from the weeklong fair, not to mention the nearby park, rec center and it's right along the road to a major shopping district.
3) It's currently approx. 1800 square feet. In about a month they're going to gut the entire building to renovate it, and in doing so will add approx. 200 more square feet to the arcade. It will have to be shut down for 2-3 weeks during this time. But when it's completed it will be practically brand new.
4) Here's the big part: the arcade is getting traffic - decent traffic too. But it needs more exposure. For the new owner to get the business to the 'break-even' point - ie the point where the money coming in takes care of the *business* expenditures (note: no salary to owner) it will likely take eight months to a year. The part where it makes enough money to actually support the family could take longer. So in order to make this work, I'd need enough money to cover the business expenditures for a *minimum* of six months, PLUS I still have to pay rent, eat, and clothe my family.
He called me @ 6:30 pm, and when we got off the phone I realized that 2 1/2 hours had gone by.
We talked about the business, his interests, our family lives. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy, who wants to do a good thing for the community. So even if this doesn't pan out (which it won't, unless I can somehow come up with about $20,000) I've made a valuable business contact.
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Topic: For Free: Your Own Arcade - Not Kidding (Read 9157 times)
