How much space to lease?

[DAPER DAWG]

How much space do most people lease when first starting out alone in grooming? Do most retail places charge per square foot? What do most pay for monthly rent? Just trying to get an average number in my head although it varies across the US.

[K-9 Designs]

I lease 1914 sq ft and that's too much for a one person show, but plenty of room to grow. I pay $8.50 per sq ft and have no cam charges this also includes the water. So my monthly rent is $1355.75, not bad in my area!

[baddog]

I lease 1914 sq ft and that's too much for a one person show, but plenty of room to grow. I pay $8.50 per sq ft and have no cam charges this also includes the water. So my monthly rent is $1355.75, not bad in my area!

Wow I paY 27./sq ft plus $3. per for cams, Tell me where you are!!!!! The worst thing you can do is rent too small of a place and sign too short of a lease. You'll need 800 sq ft minimum. Don't bother with retail other than small items, who wants to stay open in the hopes of selling a leash or a bag of food. You time will be better spent elsewhere.

[mustluvdogs1]

Gracy Rose

I am worried about you. Don't you nhave notice to move? You have employees too don't you? Is there any chance you could convert a room in your home or gargage and weork from there? At least until you find another shop. I know you have Mobile too.What are you doing aboutr this problem?Could you be mobile for all the clients...no, too much for one person huh? Oh my, my heart goes out to you. You are in my Ps. I thought about you when i was driving down the street in my van. We carte about yoiu here, you know....

[amysue2638]

I have 900 s.f. and I could easily have 2 additional groomers working in the shop. It's the smallest space I could find in the area I wanted. I think you're going to find rents varying greatly across the country. I pay 23.50/s.f. per year all inclusive, which is almost 1,700/ month. A little higher than I wanted to pay, but I loved the location and the space only needed about $1500 in build-out costs so it was worth it to me.

[DAPER DAWG]

K-9 Design please help the retail space lingo challenged. As I am just starting to look at spaces I am not aware of how the language in the retail ads work.

When you say $8.50 per square foot is it that amount times the square footage per year and what are cam charges?

Sorry for the ignorance.

I know it varies around the country but wanted to see what mistakes others made getting too little or too much space.

[DAPER DAWG]

Wow I paY 27./sq ft plus $3. per for cams, Tell me where you are!!!!! The worst thing you can do is rent too small of a place and sign too short of a lease. You'll need 800 sq ft minimum. Don't bother with retail other than small items, who wants to stay open in the hopes of selling a leash or a bag of food. You time will be better spent elsewhere.

I am in Connecticut - I don't plan on doing much retail. The few places I have been have not had much luck in that area. I as thinking of maybe offering day care/playtime for small dogs at first so I didn't have to pay the extra$$$$ for space outside for large dogs. Although I really wanted to start in a space that allowed for both I'll have to wait and see if I can find the right space for the right price.

That is the reason I posted the question I didn't want to lease too little of a space or go overboard and figured some on here have had that experience.

[DAPER DAWG]

[QUOTE=mustluvdogs1;26545]I am worried about you. Don't you nhave notice to move? You have employees too don't you? Is there any chance you could convert a room in your home or gargage and weork from there? At least until you find another shop. I know you have Mobile too.What are you doing aboutr this problem?Could you be mobile for all the clients...no, too much for one person huh? Oh my, my heart goes out to you. You are in my Ps. I thought about you when i was driving down the street in my van. We carte about yoiu here, you know....[/QUOT


Sorry this isn't Gracy Rose- It's Lori from CT I am just starting to look for places to open my own business.

It's so sweet that your thinking of Gracy Rose though.

[mskittylitter]

I have 1400 sq ft and pay .96c sq ft PLUS the deadly CAM charges of .59c sq ft so my rent is $2100. I am next door to a Vet who originally was in my space, he needed more room so he moved next door and took 3 units. He has been there 20 years. I didn't change the layout at all just took out a few counters and treatment sinks that where in the way. I basically have 3 rooms plus a lobby, a 3 run kennel area with tub and laundry area. A huge middle area with another tub and a sink. I have every area used, I don't know how I would go any smaller. I have myself and 1-2 bathers and we do about 12-22 dogs/cats per day. I like the fact that everyone checks in in the morning and gets finished and goes out about 1-2pm and then we are DONE. We seem to move things around alot as it gets busier and we need more space. I am installing another tub as well and adding another person for spring/summer.
My other salon is 800 sq ft and its .77csq ft and the CAMS on this place are like 10 bucks a month.....LOVE IT and its is self serve and full serve. We are getting ready to add 2 more tubs and another water heater to this one. Its been open 10 months. I'm glad we had room to expand or I don't know what we would do!!
Look for the biggest place for the buck, you'll be sorry when you run out of room and you do not want to move again! Make sure someone reads the lease that knows what they are doing so you don't have any surprises.
Good luck!!

[K-9 Designs]

I am in Tulsa, Oklahoma located in south part of town. Most spaces go from $10.00 to $23.00(new construction) sq ft plus cam ( common area maintanence) charges (like trash, parking lot, lawn care, etc..). I had a horrible time finding a landlord that would allow a pet business. The shopping center is "l_l" shaped and has some office spaces and I was told most office spaces don't have cam charges, so they don't have them for the whole center. My space isn't the ideal space in the center, but it's great location for my part of town.

[K-9 Designs]

To figure out the monthly rent you take the square footage times the amount per sq ft (plus any cam charges), then divide by 12( for 12 months) and thats your monthly rent. Remember, the amount per sq ft is almost always negotiable. I found a commercial real estate agent to help me find my space and it didn't cost me anything, because the potential landlord pays for it.

[baddog]

I am in Connecticut - I don't plan on doing much retail. The few places I have been have not had much luck in that area. I as thinking of maybe offering day care/playtime for small dogs at first so I didn't have to pay the extra$$$$ for space outside for large dogs. Although I really wanted to start in a space that allowed for both I'll have to wait and see if I can find the right space for the right price.

That is the reason I posted the question I didn't want to lease too little of a space or go overboard and figured some on here have had that experience.

Be careful of the zoning in Ct, make sure the space is approved for "wet use", I lived on LI for years and it is tricky back east with the zoning laws, what part of Ct are you in??

[DAPER DAWG]

K-9 Design what do you mean when you say the real estate agent helped you find a space and the potential landlord payed for it? Did you find an empty lot of land that hadn't been built on yet?

[k2p1e]

I am in Nb, Canada. 500 feet from the US/Canada border (very busy street), only about 30,000 in the county (30mins away). the town has a pop. of 5000. I have only 350sq (yes it is small), and I pay $400 a month. No CAM.

[azoci]

retail lingo...

Daper Dawg, most busness spaces are rented/leased by the square foot. thus $00 by the square foot...then CAM charges are for common areas up-keep, like if you are in a strip mall. It can be very hard if you are not fully aware of how space is cost evaluated.

Here in my area, my old shop was 1200 sq feet, I paid $15 a foot, and $300 for cam ...my rent and cam were $2100, before any other bill is paid, that's just to open the door...so what does that compute to in dogs?

If your average price for a dog is $35, you will need to do 60 dogs just to pay the rent! That's nothing yet for insurance, and believe me...you will have to have insurance if you rent a space...figure at least $1000 a year, may be high, may be low, mine was $1200 a year and I even had "coffee pot" clause (like if the coffee maker got left on and cause a fire.... that's about 3 dogs a month @ $35...just some thoughts.