u/Background_Thing_719

Background: Where I live, there is a massive expansion of additional housing that was just approved. There is an established high school, 3 middle schools and multiple elementary schools. For the housing expansion, they just finished another high school. There are 2 dedicated skate shops in the greater metro area, that have been open for over 10 years (I say 'dedicated' because I am not including Tilly's or Mainland). One shop is in the Downtown area (not the most accessible for the suburbs) and the other is in the suburbs (roughly 5 miles from where the city is expanding) and more accessible. That second shop I would say is the major player in town, but still just a small independent shop. As the city grows, they have just opened a shopping plaza and there are retail spaces available. This area gets a lot after school foot traffic and will be a major shopping hub for the housing growth, and I anticipate as they expand the housing market, the amount of shoppers in that new shopping plaza will continue to grow. It is already in a more convenient area for the new houses that are already built and the amount of traffic through there gets more and more daily.

My question: If you had the means, would you open a shop? My wife and I have good careers, and my career is something that I could still do, while opening a shop. I have started a business plan, reached out to vendors, started to explore minimal additional financing options, but I am still very much in the 'is this possible' phase of planning. So if at this second half of our lives, if you had the means, would you open a shop?

EDIT: Everyone comments has been super open and honest and I appreciate everyone's take on this topic. Greatly appreciated glad to be a part of the r/OldSkaters community!