Trick is very responsive and Dom Moio is one of their endorsers, so it wouldn't be the worst decision to at least listen to what they have to say. It would also mean you could sell Trick pedals, which are very popular.

I'm not sure if it's west coast regional headquarters or something larger, but Kaman has a huge portion of their operation in Scottsdale. I remember this because Vinnie brought a small combo to town for one of their shindigs, and one of the reps was calling every drummer he knew in town to come check it out. More than a few drummers were wetting their pants with anxiety trying to get to Scottsdale Air Park that night before Vinnie's band left the stage.

Yeah, I just want to have enough in the store to make people want to come back.

I AM looking for anyone interested in investing.

That's pretty much the standard response at our local store.   

Years ago when I was playing on the road I chose my equipment based on what most shops would have in stock.  It was safer to play something that you could replace or find parts for than to play what you liked the best. 

Wow PJ, I'm sorry to hear that.  I'm sure you've gone through the numbers, but please remember, that just because the mortgage industry is being hit hard, it does not make an iota of difference to YOUR risk.  If YOU can make your payments, then you're fine.  For example,  if you take out an equity loan and it increases your monthly payments by $X, then so long as you can make the payment from your combined income sources, then you're fine, the state of the mortgage industry is irrelevant.  Just 2 cents of advice from a banker.   

have you thought about  contacting the Small Business Administration? (i believe, may be wrong tho) that their goal is to help small businesses get running (with grants/loans), help with goals to keep it running and helping get realistic outcome to income ratios.

just my $.02

good luck either way!

Thanks guys!

My financial situation will be better ina few years where I will be able to finance it myself (long story). I bummed because the place I as going to rent ws perfect and the owner cut me a really great deal.

I'm just worred that with the mortgage business is the state that it is, home values will be coming down and Ill end up upside down.

I talked to a few stores in Phoenix. Bizarre Guitar is doing away with their drum section all together due to lack of sales. The Drummer's Den is doing well but he's more about lessons than anything else. His store is VERY small.

I'm still building drums. I do that from home so there's no overhead. When things settle down, I still plan on opening something up.

Thanks for all of your help and advice!!

I'll have another shot in a few years. I'll be better off financially too so it won't be as high a risk.

I'm with Bart on this. You buy as much inventory as you can prudently afford and keep reinvesting. if you find the local multi-line distributor, they can source most of the supplies you need. Since you have experience building and teaching, you can earn revenue focusing on repairs and teaching and juggling. My brother and I started a music academy and small project studio about a year ago, and we're going into our second year. We deliberately stayed out of retail and focused on teaching, but some of our lessons learned may help you. The biggest mistake we made was spending money on advertising which returned nothing. We got more out of free ads on Craigslist in a week than we got out of 6 months of paid ads.

Be really careful in your hiring, even contractors need to be on board with the vision you have and share the passion for the business. They need to promote the business as much as you would, so they need to share the passion.

While it seems like a good plan to carry some of the higher end kits that GC/Samash don't carry, you may opt for carrying less kit inventory, and spend more on special snares and higher end cymbals where you're more likely to get friendly terms with the suppliers if your not 'competing' directly with the bigbox guys. And as a buyer, i'm more likely to pick up those cool items, but I don't buy kits everyday (or every year for that matter). And drumheads, when I need them, I need them and I want to get a full set and I'll go to my mom and pop store first and even pay a little more but I want what I need. To have a full line of heads in every size and configuration could cost $10k, so that's where you have to plan to spend, and continue to restock. Nothing worse than needing a full set of Aquarian Studio X clears and the shop has everything except the 12"!!! And the store owner should want to keep me out of GC/Samash. If it's time to shop for a new kit, I'm probably going to order exactly what I want, so I'd want my guy to provide that service and order it and take care of the issues that inevitably come up. I'm friends with a local guy here in Dallas, and he has several kits on consignment, and he'll buy used so he always has kit inventory available for someone who walks in looking to buy a kit, but this inventory costs almost nothing. But he gets to sell heads, cymbals, hardware, thrones and lessons. I know my biggest challenge in that business would be not buying all the cool stuff I'd want to own.

Also, if you find a shop going out of business, and buy out their inventory, that's a good way to pick up a bunch of stock...cheap.

Get your licenses in order, pay your taxes, get a good accountant/accounting software and keep track of everything, from the beginning.

The store is being shelved for the time being.

Anyone want a custom kit?