If thrown the idea around from time to time but am really looking at opening a franchise in the upcoming year or so. Ive thought of opening a GNC or something but worked at one and see that its very hard to make money unless you sell mostly 3rd party stuff also with the internet its hard to be competitive on prices. Any info would be appreciated, is it hard to suceed in that type of business, cost, etc..
thanks
tony
Don't bother, most of them fail within 6 months time at huge losses. The problem comes from gyms having smoothie centers as well as the sale of smoothie machines in retail stores.
There's one right now that opened here in Sylva. There's usually only one car out there and its the owner. It will be out of business in a few months
The best thing to open right now would be a nutritional store however don't buy a GNC franchise or anything like that. A good buddy of mine back in Greenville, SC owns a company called Performance Fuel
http://www.performancefuel.com/ . He simply carpeted the place, put up some steel wire shelves and loaded it up with products. Then he set up a counter with a cash register and a smoothie machine. Then he put in 2 tanning booths on top of that
Not only does he carry just as much stuff as a GNC but because he's not under any license, he can also carry Beverly Nutrition as well. Most of the product line is gotten through Europa Sports so he's getting some great deals.
Total cost for everything starting up was problably between $10,000-$20,000 by my estimate because the shelves were the type you would see in the back of restaurants and he got some great deals on the equipment as it was used!!! He then put in a leather couch and a 42 inch flat screen TV with a PS2 on the side with the leftover cash.......
He's problably added more since then b
Here's some pictures of the store.