FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[finsleft]

I figured the lawyers were to be the target audience (i.e., customers).

Will this include a franchise for the Cruzin Cooler?

It would be nice to have a basis for deducting trips back to SJU.   

Now you're thinking! Every trip you took would be deductible, as long as you stopped at liquor stores (what are the chances of that?) and scoped out innovative marketing techniques. If nothing else, it could be our own beer-buying co-op. We buy from ourselves, then pay dividends on the profits.
I'm in.

[janesvilleflash]

IF you get serious, I would look into investing ten grand. I live in Wi., but have two kids living in Mn. Has potential.
I see the bookkeeping and manager as the biggest "problem".

[frankrickard]

OK me boyz,

I have been sitting on my deck overlooking the lake reminicing about today's events in my life.

As an entrepeneur, I smell out opportunity and have the time of my life going for it.

This is serious guys, if you want in, then be ready to deal with it:

GOAL: TO BUY A LIQUOR STORE IN THE ST CLOUD AREA
RE: BECAUSE WE CAN

As the discussion has gone today, we have multiple professionals that can add to the prospect of buying a liquor store. We have:

1) Lawyers
2) A Banker
3) An insurance pro
4) Me, who already owns 3 in Wiscy and knows the biz.

We still need an accountant.

Now, if we all lend most of our services for free to this venture, then it will be a true partnership.

So, what does it take?

1) At least $10,000 per partner to buy a store, leaving about $700,000 worth of debt service. That would be at least 8 partners.
2) Our legal guys to take care of the partnership/corporation documents and ongoing needs.
3) Our accountant (who we don't have) to take care of the books, maybe the biggest job.
4) Someone who is in the biz to run the joint. Will need a management fee of some sort.
5) A real estate person to find us a buy.

  Sounds good and scary at the same time, right? Well, that's the life of an entrepeneur.

My companies do over 75 million in retail sales a year, and yes, it can be scary.

But, it can also be very fun and profitable.

So, chew on it. Bigger and greater companies have started on less of a whim.

I am just an entrepeneur, and this stuff comes to me. 

Don't forget about the in you would have at the local good beer distributor as well...we could have 5000 case displays of Hamm's in the store

[Kilted Rat]

OK me boyz,

I have been sitting on my deck overlooking the lake reminicing about today's events in my life.

As an entrepeneur, I smell out opportunity and have the time of my life going for it.

This is serious guys, if you want in, then be ready to deal with it:

GOAL: TO BUY A LIQUOR STORE IN THE ST CLOUD AREA
RE: BECAUSE WE CAN

As the discussion has gone today, we have multiple professionals that can add to the prospect of buying a liquor store. We have:

1) Lawyers
2) A Banker
3) An insurance pro
4) Me, who already owns 3 in Wiscy and knows the biz.

We still need an accountant.

Now, if we all lend most of our services for free to this venture, then it will be a true partnership.

So, what does it take?

1) At least $10,000 per partner to buy a store, leaving about $700,000 worth of debt service. That would be at least 8 partners.
2) Our legal guys to take care of the partnership/corporation documents and ongoing needs.
3) Our accountant (who we don't have) to take care of the books, maybe the biggest job.
4) Someone who is in the biz to run the joint. Will need a management fee of some sort.
5) A real estate person to find us a buy.

  Sounds good and scary at the same time, right? Well, that's the life of an entrepeneur.

My companies do over 75 million in retail sales a year, and yes, it can be scary.

But, it can also be very fun and profitable.

So, chew on it. Bigger and greater companies have started on less of a whim.

I am just an entrepeneur, and this stuff comes to me. 

How about a doc to put some initials behind any and all medical claims made by the liquor store regarding our many fine products?

Additionally, I seriously want to know if the following is legal:
Delivery liquor store
In Oxford, Ohio where my sister goes to Miami of Ohio, they have a liquor store that delivers.

I figure that kegs including set-up and tap we add $20 for delivery.
$10 for orders under $100 with mandatory ID checks on delivery which should maintain legal coverage to the level provided to normal liquor stores, right?

Obviously customers would be free to tip a la a pizza delivery business, the best location I can think of is either on/near SCSU campus or Waite Park where we could hit all 3 (SJU, SCSU, and CSB but mainly the 1st two).

Especially for guys like me who are recent grads, how many times have you been/were you drinking in your apartment/dorm and been almost out of beer or out of beer/had a keg run dry and you have no one sober enough to drive?

You have 2 options neither of which are good:
1. Send in the "most sober" guy on a beer run with 3 drunk co-pilots.
2.  Go without.



Thoughts?

[tmerton]

When I was in school in Austin, TX, they had a drive-through liquor store.  You pulled up, told 'em how many kegs or cases you needed, and they brought it right out and loaded it in your car.  I seem to remember one of these in Norman, OK as well.  Not a bad deal.   

Still, I'd like to know about the product mix and all that.  Fins showed us a Cost Plus in St. Cloud that had a pretty good selection of good wine.  I suspect the profit margin on beer and liquor is respectable but not great, while wine might be higher.  What's the market like, Fins? 

I'm in if this has legs.

[Touchdown Tommy]

Yes the bricks and mortar store must have a "drive thru" window.  This is an ingenious and outrageously convenient option.  I've seen some really cool and elaborate setups to speed this process up.  The store would be equipped with a metal roller rack (similar to what you'd see in most factories to move product around) and someone would take orders while there would be college kids in the cooler putting the desired beer/liquor/wine on the rollers with an end destination of the drive thru window.

Any ideas for naming it?  May I offer Touchdown Tommy's Palace of Love. 

May I suggest that the Corporate Offices be located in South Fla.  All "Meetings of the Minds" would take place under the watchful eyes of the beach, a few mojitos, and plenty of cold brew.

[tmerton]

Yes the bricks and mortar store must have a "drive thru" window.  This is an ingenious and outrageously convenient option.  I've seen some really cool and elaborate setups to speed this process up.  The store would be equipped with a metal roller rack (similar to what you'd see in most factories to move product around) and someone would take orders while there would be college kids in the cooler putting the desired beer/liquor/wine on the rollers with an end destination of the drive thru window.

Any ideas for naming it?  May I offer Touchdown Tommy's Palace of Love. 

May I suggest that the Corporate Offices be located in South Fla.  All "Meetings of the Minds" would take place under the watchful eyes of the beach, a few mojitos, and plenty of cold brew.

No corporate offices in skeeter and gator country.

Canadian state governments understood the metal roller racks very well - ever been in one of the old style Canadian liquor stores?  You looked at a catalog (no pics, just a price list) and then gave your order to someone in a ticket window, who was in a full Sargent Preston uniform, who looked at you with some disdain for your weakness.  They then had two of TDT's metal roller racks - one on the wall to the left for beer and ther other on the wall to the right for everything else.  It had all the ambience of a bus station.  I think we can do better.  Heck, even the Canadians figured it out - eh?

[frankrickard]

All liquor stores in this area do not put kegs in cars or take them out of cars...they do all other things though...

[Johnnie Red]

BDB, that is not a bad idea. Another thought might be to add some food to the menu. There is a restaurant in Eden Prairie that is on highway 212 out in the middle of nowhere called Lion's Tap. All they serve are hamburgers, french fries and beverages. The place is very successful. We could sell Stiftungsfest burgers and pork burgers from Ruck's in Belle Plaine. I know those would sell like wildfire.

[DuffMan]

KR, I know of several stores in the Twin Cities that deliver, so there can't be any MN law against it.

[BDB]

OK, we have a few set in the group.

tmerton
fins
me
possibly janesvilleflash

I am going to up the number of needed partners to 11 if we stay at the $10,000 entry fee.

A typical full blown liquor store will sell for about $750,000. But, some of them will be carrying $200,000 worth of inventory. How you deal with inventory is negotiated at the time of offer/acceptance.

But if we have $100,000 for down payment and another $10,000 for start-up costs I am sure a bank will look favorably on that situation. (sumander?)

Plus, we need an odd number of partners to break any tie vote about the business as there will be disagreements about certain issues. Majority rules in this case.

tmerton, the national average margin for liquor stores is around 18%. 80% of the sales will be beer which has a lower margin of 14-16%. Liquor sells for around 26% and wine in the low 30's.

Blended together you end up with the 18% which is a profitable level given a reasonable debt service.

Even though liquor and wine are only 20% of the sales, it will account for 75% of the inventory.

[DuffMan]

As a young fella, I don't have $10,000 to invest, but I will expect substantial discounts

[BDB]

On the gasoline side of life, if you are needing to fuel up in the next couple days I would suggest that you do it before noon today.

The services I subscribe to that help me on the buy side are suggesting $80 crude today.

The middle east is blowing up me boyz, and that will crank the heck out of oil prices.

[DuffMan]

Thanks for the warning, BDB.

[finsleft]

Or we could buy the La Playette. 

Wonder what SJU Student Accounts Office will say when I tell them the tuition check will be a little late this fall because I just bought a liquor store.