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Brainstorming Session - How to capitalize on this new opportunity?

PANAMOOPANAMOO subscriber Posts: 2 Member

Hello All,

My name is Sam and I've been an entrepreneur as long as I could remember. I work my day job but my end goal is to build a business that will help provide for me and my entire family.

I'm having trouble coming up with an idea to capitalize on a new opportunity that has presented itself. As you all know, Michigan has legalized marijuana. In the city I live in, there is an industrial park full of old abandoned warehouses. We have a 20,000 sq ft warehouse in that industrial park currently not being used. The warehouse directly across the street started an indoor grow and a retail storefront. Currently, only medicinal customers are walking through the door. Soon, it will be open to the public.

I predict the foot traffic will dramatically grow and I'm wondering what do you do with a small warehouse/office space that can capture some of that traffic?

Comments

  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin

    Hello, @PANAMOO! Welcome to the community.

    To clarify, you already rent out/own warehouse space there and want to start a supplemental business to take advantage of the foot traffic from the marijuana store, but are unsure what kind of business to start? Or you are planning to rent space there?

    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
  • PANAMOOPANAMOO subscriber Posts: 2 Member
    edited January 2020

    Hi Ryan,

    The warehouse is in our family. It's only being used for storage for the time being.

    This is huge for our community as we desperately need businesses to return to our area. They're also breaking ground right down the road on a new power plant. It's an exciting time and I don't want to sleep on this opportunity.

  • Ryan O'BlenessRyan O'Bleness administrator Posts: 1,137 Site Admin
    edited January 2020

    I think an obvious idea would be food. Restaurants and breweries in unique settings such as old warehouses or even old shipping containers (see Detroit Shipping Co) are becoming increasingly popular.

    Of course, the restaurant industry has small net profit margins on average, because the operation costs are so high, but maybe what you could eventually do is follow the Detroit Shipping Co. idea, build out a space for a food court and let the various restaurants lease your space. That way you're making money for owning the property, but the day-to-day operations of each restaurant chain takes care of itself. This would probably be costly to build out, but this is just and idea to get you going in the right direction.

    Ryan O'Bleness
    Community Manager
    StartupNation, LLC
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