hehe...don't everyone answer at once .

If your serious about starting a drum shop you should be talking a class in starting a small business, reading up on the local, state, federal laws (not just tax stuff), doing some serious number crunching, etc...  Everyone underestimates the cost of starting and the cost of SUCCEEDING. You will not be making any money for a while.  Think of it as a long term investment and a very risky one at that.  You better have enough reserve cash to keep you off the street for the next 2 years and that's in addition to the capital you need to setup the shop, procure inventory, hire employees.  Don't forget insurance costs - plan on somebody triping over the double bass setup and suing you.  The three rules of setting up a shop 1)LOCATION, 2)LOCATION, 3)LOCATION!!!!!  Any more advice and I'd have to charge my normal fee  

Patrick (aka Timekeep69), you already know about my drumshop from the early-90's; spoke to Gaddabout on the phone at length.

I didn't have any business classes, didn't have any money, didn't borrow any money. I had my shop for 2.5 years, closing it when I decided to take a full-time road gig. When I closed the shop, I had $30k in inventory.

All that to say it can be done with little start-up costs. I just got some photos from my mom from my first shop location ... and it's hilarious. I barely had anything to sell in the shop! But I grew slow and steady, sowing the profit back into the shop ... living off my gigs.

Statistics from the Small Business Administration (SBA) show that two-thirds of new establishments survive at lease two years and 44 percent survive at least four years. This is a lot better than the previous long-held belief that 50 percent of businesses fail in the first year and 95 percent fail within five years.  You can check with the SBA for more info.

The most common reasons businesses fail are:

1.  You start your business for the wrong reasons.
Would the sole reason you would be starting your own business be that you would want to make a lot of money? Do you think that if you had your own business that you'd have more time with your family? Or maybe you wouldn't have to answer to anyone else? If so, you'd better think again.

2.  Poor Management
Many a report on business failures cites poor management as the number one reason for failure. New business owners frequently lack relevant business and management expertise in areas such as finance, purchasing, selling, production, and hiring and managing employees.

3.  Insufficient Capital
A common fatal mistake for many failed businesses is having insufficient operating funds. Business owners underestimate how much money is needed and they are forced to close before they even have had a fair chance to succeed. They also may have an unrealistic expectation of incoming revenues from sales.

4.  Location, Location, Location

5.  Lack of Planning
Anyone who has ever been in charge of a successful major event knows that were it not for their careful, methodical, strategic planning -- and hard work -- success would not have followed. The same could be said of most business successes.

I operated my aviation business for over 20 years.  My advice would be to contact the SBA and get the free startup info kit and that should give you more things to take into consideration.

Yes it can!  I started with a little less than half a shoe string and made it by working hard and lots of planning.

It's whatever you can afford it to be.  No way to answer your question without knowing your business plan.  Also, I'm not sure that your use of the term "consumables" is correct - are you stocking up on detergent, candy bars, etc or equipment and CDs. Hope you like shopping cause that's your job now (at least a big part).  I've known small business owners that spend most of their time bargain hunting, wheeling and dealing, attending every local auction, constantly online, etc... 

As Louis pointed out, there are a lot of free resources to educated.  You should probably get connected with your local chamber of commerce also although membership isn't free.  Regarding SCORE - it can be a great help but it all depends on the coach you get assigned.  They are not all great and the folks I spent time with 15 years ago didn't understand my business AT ALL and couldn't offer any help.  It's not their fault, they simply had no experience in my business which admittedly is not the local mom and pop shop model. So, like anything, it's buyer beware and don't have the expectation that they will give you perfect advice or tell you everything you need to know - hopefully you'll get better results than I did.  Good luck and I wish you all the success.

Drummer consumables: Sticks, heads, cymbal felts, etc.

With some of the drummers I've known you could also add cymbals to this list but I'll leave it off for now.

Im not hiring at this point but the better I get to know you, the better your chances.

   You are intentionally making it harder than it is or needs to be. I'm not going to debate this with you. The answers are simple; ask questions! You don't have to have a degree to own or start a business. There's a little thing called sole proprietorship. As you grow you can move into something else. If you need to protect yourself, do LLC or S-Corp. You don't have to have an accountant. You don't have to have employees.

I have experience owning and running a drum shop ... and I'm sharing my experiences ... take it or leave it.

Understood ... but you also don't want to have so much inventory on the floor that you can't move it. I would suggest trying to find a happy medium.

With my store, I grew to the point of being a Sonor dealer (HSS). I had a Net-90 with my first order and I had to order three kits upfront. How did I make that work? I worked hard to find several buyers in advance so that I could turnover the kits quickly. I sold two, had one on the show room floor that was then already paid for. The profit then went towards more kits. It was a slow process, but a lot less stress ... for me at least.

My suggestion is find out who will let you be a dealer. Some companies aren't going to let you carry their line because of loyalty or regional agreements. Get that settled first. Find out what kind of potential deals they'll work out with you. You'll have a better idea on what kind of money you'll need for inventory.

Since I took the poor boy path, my start started with used gear and consignments. I put my money on "bread & butter" items like drumsticks and drumheads, things that I knew would turnover quickly and would always be needed. You just don't sell a drumkit everyday, well in the town I was in. You're in a much bigger area so the demand will be greater as well.

I understand the concern ... wanting to have a cool place and something for people to look at ... I dealt with similar feelings. But for me, it seemed more prudent to have slow steady growth, growing with my business, instead of going into debt just to have the best showroom in the city. I'm amazed at how much money is wasted on fixtures and such. It can be cool and hip without buying brand new EVERYTHING!

Maybe you can start talking around to find out what other drummers are into and want. Not that it's a guaranteed sale, but you'll have a better chance stocking things that people actually want and will purchase quickly ... rather than having the cool, eclectic items no one can afford.

There are programs that you can purchase that have sample business plan templates that will help you come up with your business plan. I bought Business Plan Pro a few years ago to begin looking into making the Drummer Cafe an actual venue. Check out Palo Alto Business Plan Pro 2007.