__/ [ John Bailo ] on Thursday 01 June 2006 16:57 \__
> thad01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>> So my purchase of an old industrial warehouse building to convert into
>> loft apartment / office / shop space / mad scientist laboooooratory has
>> fallen through (never try to buy a building from a seller with a
>> severe drinking problem), but their might be a silver lining. I've
>> stumbled across another building that just popped on the market a few
>> blocks from my current place. It has retail frontage on the first
>> floor and a large apartment up top. My girlfriend has long considered
>> opening a coffee/tea house, and I could put my business offices and a
>> training center in the back. Of course it would be an Internet cafe
>> and run Linux on all the net stations. We've even considered calling
>> it The Penguin Cafe or some such. Of course I've only just talked to
>> the real estate agent about it, so its a bit early to count the
>> penguins before they've hatched, so to speak.
>>
>> We only just missed out on another great retail space a few days
>> earlier. A nice corner frontage with upper apartment and a huge
>> lot (would make for nice outdoor seating), smaller than the current
>> one but the price was right.
>>
>> Of course our fallback plan is to just buy another cheap duplex,
>> sell the current commercial property for a huge gain (the real
>> estate market is really cooking in my current neighborhood) and
>> then bank the money until the original warehouse property is
>> seized by the city and sold at auction. We've already got
>> inspection and appraisal money tied up in the place, so we are
>> reluctant to give up on it completely. The whole Internet cafe
>> idea is tempting though. If we make the place an open source
>> resource center, host gaming events, offer computer training...
>> I think we could build up a non-local clientele beyond the
>> standard walk-in traffic.
>>
>> As dreams go, its not a bad one. :)
>
> Don't know where you're at -- but real estate is falling in value in
> many American cities, so it might be worth your while to wait.
If you carry on with this dream, I wish you the best of luck. With Internet
cafes, location and /visibility/ to the public are probably the most
important factors. Remember that to most, the ideaology of Open Source (or
some Linux mantra) is utterly meaningless. That said, many are curious, so
they may enter the shape as means of getting a taste of Linux. Be sure to
sell some popsicles, right beside the Penguin. But no popsicles when using
the keyboard...!
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Here be hills, there be dragons!
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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