Starting an all ages night club in an area with virtually no competition

[BuildingCastles]

Hi, everyone. I read around on the forum some before posting here, but I think I have a bit of a unique situation and thought I would post to get some quick feed back.

Basically, I'm an unknown musician outside of a small town in Alaska. My goal is to set up an all ages venue/night club for bands and DJ's. Since I have very little start up money, I'm thinking of finding a space to rent out on the weekends to get things started. I know that any place I get a business loan from wants to be assured that there is a high chance of success, so if I can prove my business skills and the demand for this service, they should feel more confident about investment, right? (Alaska is actually doing a lot better economically than other states, so loans aren't as much as a problem as far as I know.)

A little background on my area: There are approximately 2500+ junior high to high school age youth within a radius of 50 miles (4 towns) with the majority of them close to an area I would rent out. That distance doesn't mean much in Alaska; we're used to traveling around for things. There is NO underage night club in the area - just a few coffee shops with Alaskan hippies that play acoustic sets (no offense to hippies). This is NOT what the youth want. They want rock, rap, and dance. The bowling alley shut down; the roller rink shut down (these places used to be PACKED with teens); there is nothing for the youth here or for people in their 20's who just don't want to be around smoke and alcohol.


Basically, the demand is high and the competition is practically non-existent (movie theaters are about the only other place they would spend time/money). I also think that if I get a band together, I'll be able to take more adult customers from the bars around here, seeing as how there is no decent rock band (I do rocktronica/rap/dance) in the area. We would only play my venue, and if they wanted to see us, they would have to come to my place.

Just really quick before this gets too long - I was thinking I could also bring someone in during the week to teach hip hop lessons; I could also set up a side room for gamers. Hell, I could buy a bunch of mats and set things up for self defense classes and undercut the competition with the best prices, seeing as how my main revenue would be from the weekend events. This would help bring in some revenue during the week.

I'm not looking for any detailed advice right now; I can probably find the basics by looking around this site more, but I'm just wondering what the veterans think of my situation overall.

Thank you for your time.

Orion

[edd91]

Perhaps it might be different in a small town, but it sounds like another case of a bar with an identity crisis, pick a market and stick with it, dont be a music venue/bar/kiddies fun land with a ball pit/child minding/roller rink all in one, it will cause problems. Consider these points:

1) Adults like interacting with adults, especially at music gigs, because kids don't know how to take care of themselves at rock/rap type gigs;
2) The cops will hate you, you will need to have VERY strong protocols to prevent secondary supply of alcohol to minors;
3) If you wanna teach shit, buy a community hall.

Pick an identity and stick with it, think about how people will refer to your bar in a conversation like this:
Bob: Hey Jim lets go to BuildingCastle's tonight
Jim: Where?
Bob: You know, the rock place/sports bar/dance club/martial arts centre/childcare facility...

[BuildingCastles]

I have no idea where you got the idea that I would be turning the placing into some kind of a Chucky Cheese or a roller rink, nor do I know why people would not go to a night club because it also has self defense classes during the week. If you're going to reply, please at least read my post slow enough to know what I'm doing.

[edd91]

I read your post, you clearly haven't objectively read mine, but fine, go open your everything bar.

[kmhunt]

Buildingcastles, it sounds as though you have some nice ideas but I wonder how they come together as a whole. There was alot of ambiguity in your first post and I can see where Edd91 came to the conclusions he did, because you were all over the place. That said I would like to know why you say there is a 'high demand' for your services(what research backs this?) and specifically what services are you trying to offer?

Specifically do you have any other examples of clubs in Alaska that people travel similar distances for or other forms of entertainment that they travel for? Have you run any surveys? Have you looked at customer spending profiles or demographics for your micropolitan/metropolitan? What specific demographic are you looking to get(Edd91 was correct in that certain demos conflict in the same settings)? Who are your primary competitors? Secondary/tertiary? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are there any Substitute goods/services in your micropolitan/metropolitan? Why would your demographic choose you over competition?

Another point that comes to mind is that you said your financial situation isn't in the best shape(I know how that goes-believe me.). If you started this venture would you have enough CASH to pay your bills for atleast 6 months if you made ZERO dollars in return? You need working capital for any business. Lack of working capital has been a major reason that I have seen first hand contribute to failure hundreds of times-It's not build it and they will come anymore. Generally 3 months on up to a year is normal.

Hopefully that will be enough to get you started and give a more clear picture of your vision, and I'll answer anything that I can and maybe it will help.