Has anyone heard of this?


Hi guys, I tried to post this over the weekend, but I don't think I was clear. I am doing a marketing project and had to come up with a small buisness idea. I need to get feedback from people outside the college community so I thought this would be a good place to start.

My idea was a home theater store where you can rent out a home theater room or 2 channel listening room by the hour to watch movies. This would be different from a demo room at a retail store, because there would be no sales pressure involved. Let's say there could be a room with a modest home theater setup, a mid-level setup, and an all-out-assault setup. Also there might be a couple 2-channel setups for music. You could come in and relax and listen to CD's or music on your computer, get coffee, etc.
Now, the more I put into this project, the more questions I have to answer from my professor, so, as of right now, lets say people can bring in their own source material to listen to, maybe there could be some available, but then I would have to address copyright stuff. Also, there could be an advertising aspect as well. To cut down on cost, I could have some of the systems on loan, or at drastically discounted prices if I advertise the store that provided them to me, at least in the begining. So, all that out of the way, my question to you guys is:

1) Has anyone ever heard of a setup like this before
2) Does this seem like something that would be profitable
3) How much would you pay for something like this (per hour, lets say for now)

Also, there could be some big events, Super Bowl, March Madness, World Series, etc.
This could be aimed at people like me, with no money to invest in this hoby, yet love it, or people shopping around that want the experience first, buisness outings, and students & buisness study rooms/private working space.

So lets say 5 to 6 rooms, one may be a 2-channel system with Paradigm signature S2s, maybe a 2-channel setup with B&W 700 series, a home theater with Klipsch reference, a home theater/surround sound audio with Paradigm Studio seris, maybe the Klipsch THX Ultra 2 system in one room, and then the big dog with B&W 802's or Martin Logan or something.

Let me know what you guys think. I'll be heading to the mall to interview people in the next couple of weeks with these same questions to see what the general public response would be. Thanks for your time
turk944

Showing 1 response by mcfarland

OK. I'll try to answer as best I can. First, add up the cost of the equipment, furniture, and decorations. Include the cost of treats to sell (storage, refridgeration, warming trays, etc. Then figure out how many square feet you are going to need. Then try to figure the cost to build the rooms (typically 50-100 dollars/sq ft., depending on trim level. You will need at least 2 wheelchair accessable bathrooms. Now, once you figured that cost, figure out what the rental of the space will be. Amortize all those expenses over the next five to 8 years by dividing the expense / number of months. Don't forget, phone, utility bills, garbage removal, snow removal, and maintainance/cleanup expenses. Each time you rent a room for a movie/party, you will tie up that room for a minimum of 3 hours. Then figure how many times per month you will need to rent rooms just to break even. You will probably need to sell equipment and use the rooms for demonstration which will mean that certain rooms will not be rentable at all times. Rotsa Ruck! You'll need it.