As many of you know I have owned and operated a sports card shop, Heroes & Legends, inside a local Mini Mall/Flea Market facility for the past 7 1/2 years. I have built a strong business. I have been featured in Beckett Magazines on three occasions for customer pulls. I have a pretty good formula for success in a non traditional retail format. However, I have recently been faced with a dilemma or opportunity depending on how you see it. Another vendor inside the facility where my shop is located is a friend of mine. He has been a customer of mine for several years. He also sells cards, but mostly low end .50-$5 base, inserts, RCs, etc. He has recently gotten into the custom framing business and is doing very well selling art prints and doing special orders for custom mats and frames. He does good work and has famed and matted several items for me that I have for sale across the aisle at my shop. The facility where we are located is only open on Saturday and Sunday. There are 3 separate shops located outside the facility across the parking lot that are rented independent of the main building. One housed a tool/hardware shop, one housed a clothing store, and one housed a eBay store where the guy would sell your stuff for you online. All 3 shops are now vacant.

My friend that I mentioned above approached me with the idea that we move into one of those buildings and become partners of sorts. The pros are that the cost would be the same or slightly less and we would have the option of being open any day of the week and not just weekends. My problem is that I have a job and still would only be there on weekends leaving my friend to watch over everything. The problem with that is that he doesn't really understand business and how to put forth a professional image. He always asks me for advice on ideas for his shop. He is also constantly misspelling player names on signs and dividers for his single card boxes. This irks me to no end because the players name is right there on the card! Just little things like that are red flags to me. I know he is trustworthy as far as making sure I get every penny from any item I sell. I just worry that his lack of knowledge of the card industry and players both past and present would look bad to potential customers that might stop by. For example, if someone comes in and asks if we have any Tommy Hanson cards, he wouldn't even know who that was and wouldn't even know where to look. This looks bad to potential customers. First impressions are big to me and I don't want anyone turned off by a bad first experience. Am I just too worried about this? I have just put so much time, energy, and money into my shop over the years and have slowly grown my business from a 10' X 12' booth to the most successful shop in the area. I pride myself on knowing my stock and being able to quickly locate anything and everything that someone might ask for. His lack of knowledge concerning business and the hobby scare me. I don't want to lose a friend but I also don't want to lose the business that I have worked so hard for.

On one hand I would like to explore the opportunity of a stand alone store open 6 days a week. However, I am still only able to be there on weekends so I would be putting a lot of faith in someone who, while honest, isn't very sports or business savvy. I would love to hear your thoughts. Give me some ideas. I'm always looking for new perspectives on a situation before making an important decision. Thanks in advance!

Obviously, I have no experience in owning my own business, partnerships, or anything of the like.

I honestly think you answered your own question in your post. You have a TON of doubts and don't seem to have much faith in a guy you'd be trusting most of your business to. I could be reading it incorrectly, but if you have as many concerns as your post indicates, I would pass.

EDIT: As far as your friendship is concerned, I haven no idea how to approach that sorry!

I have no idea

I agree with Tom. You made more valid points on why not to do it, than to do it. You said he's a good friend, but he doesn't know the sports card business. Keep him as a good friend. Good friends last for ever. Bad business partners hurt for ever.

Business + Friends = disaster (usually) If you want to keep the friend don't partner with him. It takes a really special bond between two people to successfully partner in a business, it's just like a marriage. They either work or they end ugly. From what you say about his business practices that just doesn't come off to me as someone I could entrust my business to.

First, if you are excited about the prospects of this and see improvement in profit, then I think it's a great idea!

If you are concerned about your friend being the guy in charge when your not there, then consider bringing in someone to 'manage' the things your concerned about, assuming having an employee would be necessary.

Of course that would probably eat up the improvement in profits plus bring a third party into the mix.

Personally, to borrow a term from our hobby, I don't see much upside for you. It will still be a weekend "job" for you but now it will be a full time concern. No matter what happens, 5 days a week you will always have the store at the back of your mind intruding into other parts of your life. I'm sure its there to some extent now but at least whatever happens is up to you and not someone else I'm sure you have thought of all the things I am about to mention but just in case, I'm going to go through them anyway.

Lets look at the potential locations first. How long have they been empty? How long was each of the last businesses in each location? Did the old businesses close or move? What is the traffic in this location during the week? Are there other businesses close by that will help generate traffic during the week? It may be just across the parking lot but that doesn't mean the people will follow. In another post I mentioned what I think is a similar venue near me (7 mile near in Milwaukee for those of you who know it) This is kind of out of the way and the place is deserted during the week even though interstate 94 and many, many thousands of cars go by each day. Of course there is no room there for stand alone 7 day a week businesses so the comparison is not 100% accurate but I think you get the idea of what I am saying.

Next lets look at the costs. How did you determine that he costs would be less? I assume you looked into the rental costs of the buildings in question but have you considered everything? Utilities, garbage, sewer and water, taxes, insurance, common area costs (parking lot etc.) Depending on the landlord and the lease these costs may or may not be included. I don't know what rent is for your space but what other costs are involved or is it simply a flat monthly fee? Yes, you have two guys who were paying rent (and it is usually pretty high in these types of places) and they can combine for one payment in the new place but you have to make sure that everything is considered.

Lastly, and I think this is the area that concerns you the most, is the business itself. You have already expressed concerns over your friend's sports or business savvy and I think that should raise the biggest red flag. You are obviously proud of, and rightly so, of the business and reputation you have built up over the years. Are you willing to risk that on the shoulders of an honest and well intentioned man who simply does not have the knowledge to foster it.

In all honesty, if I were in your shoes I would have to pass on the opportunity. You don't have to forget it all together but I wouldn't be in a big hurry to jump on it.

The last thing I will leave you with is this thought. If business were good enough in this new location would quitting your day job and doing this as a 6 day a week job be a possibility? If so, and this is something you might desire then the idea might warrant a bit more consideration. If, on the other hand, it would always be a weekend gig for you I would say pass.

Best of luck.

I have to agree. I wouldn't do it unless you plain on turning your shop into your full time 6 days a week job. not just on weekends.

From what you are saying your have your doubts and aren't sure if your friend can run the hobby shop for most of the week.
And you already have a striving business.
No reason of possible driving it in the ground.

To finish it up. If you don't have plans in the near future. of turning your hobby shop in your full time job. I would have to pass. I don't see the smartness of only being able to over see your business 2 days a week.

I had many reservations about this possible "opportunity" as I had posted above. My mind was 99% made up but after today I am 100% sure I will not be going through with this. I arrived at my shop this morning and my buddy met me and was very excited to share some news with me. He told me that a guy came by earlier in the morning looking for me, wanting to sell some really nice cards. He said the lot was filled with nice GU, AUTOS, and RCs. He said that they were all from the Upper Deck "Mesquite" product........... I asked him to repeat that and again he informed me that the cards were from the high end UD "Mesquite" product. "You mean Exquisite?", I asked. I think that pretty much sums things up.

Mesquite... really?

Now those would be worth starting a fire with, You could grill your steaks over them and they would have a real yummy flavor.

Its funny how sometimes some decisions just get made for you.

Just a little icing on the cake today when I arrived at the shop. My buddy was eager to show me his newest framed sports cards, which sell quite well for some reason. He takes a base card, puts it in a 5x7 frame, or 2-3 cards in an 8x10 frame with a mat and a nameplate. This week he had brought in 17 new pieces. Among the new stock were: Payton Manning, Carson Plamer, Ben Roethlisburgur, and Andre Johnson of the Huston Texans. He always asks me to spell check his stuff and I always find several items misspelled. He acted angry today when I granted his request and proofread his work. I suggested that maybe he should take the cards home and use them as a guide and type the names EXACTLY as they appear right there on the card. His answer, "I don't know what else to do because that is exactly what I did." I'm just not sure if someone who can't even do simple things like that will ever be very successful. You just can't help some people I guess.

Sounds like he wants to get in business with you so you can be his copy editor. Motivation and intelligence are often inversely proportional. It sounds like this is the case here. The guy has good ideas and lots of motivation, but not much in the way of intelligence. It sounds like you have made up your mind so any more comments by me would be senseless. Good luck with your business.

good call on not going through with this idea! I would just keep doing what you are doing, why fix something that isn't broke!

Justin

He is a great guy. I can't help but feel bad for him in some ways but at the same time how hard is it to hold a card in your hand and type a guy's name letter for letter? Last weekend, he approached me with his newest 8x10 display featuring cards of Steve McNair, Eddie George, and Frank Wycheck. It said, "Tennessee Titans : 1999 NFC Champions". Later that day he sold his Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris : M & M Boys display that I suggested he make. The same customer also bought his Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig display and his A-Rod & Jeter display. I explained to him that the Yankees are on the verge of winning their 27th World Series and anything Yankees would be hotter than usual for a while. Then he asked me the all important question, "Did Babe Ruth play before or after Mickey Mantle played?" Apparently someone had asked him to create a Ruth & Mantle display and that got the wheels turning in his mind.

My thoughts exactly! Thanks everyone for your advice/encouragement.