First, don't set up in a street level store front. Walk ins will drive you to the poor house. Make it a second floor walk up with frontage on the street, so you get plenty of daylight. Second, Hours should be 1PM to 8PM, Tuesday to Saturday. Of course extend other times by appointment only. Hire sales people, not audiophiles. You can train them into audiophiles, but hard to train an audiophile into a salesperson. While mentioning salesperson, try to hire gals. Very important they be attractive to the point the customers will want to flirt. Have, in addition to an open sales space, four listening rooms. Room 1, $1k-3K systems, Room 2, $4K to $8K, Room 3, $10K to $20K, Room 4, $25K up. Take trades, working capital of $500K, inventory of $400K, furniture and fixtures of $750K. Adversting/Marketing/Sales promotion must be 10% of sales after the first year, $40K the first year. Don't expect to turn a profit until the beginning of the fourth year. Pay sales people on commission only, 25/33% of gross profit, nothing less. Close for at least two weeks of vacation starting after the first year. If you can't accommodate all of the latter conditions, forget about opening a 'shop'.
