Has anyone heard of this?


Hi guys, I tried to post this over the weekend, but I don't think I was clear. I am doing a marketing project and had to come up with a small buisness idea. I need to get feedback from people outside the college community so I thought this would be a good place to start.

My idea was a home theater store where you can rent out a home theater room or 2 channel listening room by the hour to watch movies. This would be different from a demo room at a retail store, because there would be no sales pressure involved. Let's say there could be a room with a modest home theater setup, a mid-level setup, and an all-out-assault setup. Also there might be a couple 2-channel setups for music. You could come in and relax and listen to CD's or music on your computer, get coffee, etc.
Now, the more I put into this project, the more questions I have to answer from my professor, so, as of right now, lets say people can bring in their own source material to listen to, maybe there could be some available, but then I would have to address copyright stuff. Also, there could be an advertising aspect as well. To cut down on cost, I could have some of the systems on loan, or at drastically discounted prices if I advertise the store that provided them to me, at least in the begining. So, all that out of the way, my question to you guys is:

1) Has anyone ever heard of a setup like this before
2) Does this seem like something that would be profitable
3) How much would you pay for something like this (per hour, lets say for now)

Also, there could be some big events, Super Bowl, March Madness, World Series, etc.
This could be aimed at people like me, with no money to invest in this hoby, yet love it, or people shopping around that want the experience first, buisness outings, and students & buisness study rooms/private working space.

So lets say 5 to 6 rooms, one may be a 2-channel system with Paradigm signature S2s, maybe a 2-channel setup with B&W 700 series, a home theater with Klipsch reference, a home theater/surround sound audio with Paradigm Studio seris, maybe the Klipsch THX Ultra 2 system in one room, and then the big dog with B&W 802's or Martin Logan or something.

Let me know what you guys think. I'll be heading to the mall to interview people in the next couple of weeks with these same questions to see what the general public response would be. Thanks for your time
turk944
Depending on what you're ultimately going to do, you may have some legal hurdles too with copyrights, etc. Think of the disclaimer read at the beginning of football games ("this copyrighted telecast is presented for the non-commercial use of our audience"). You'd better check with a lawyer about that aspect as well.
Yes, there were definitely other ideas in the cards to make it profitable (renting new releases, selling food/drinks, etc). The only problem is, the more I add into the idea, the more "issues" I have to address. Renting out for parties and such was part of the idea too. I just have to make sure this project doesn't get too large to cover all the bases by the end of the semester (there are other classes too :) )

Again, thanks for everyone's input, I could add some of the ideas in as "future directions." Anyway, thanks again
I think it's a pretty creative concept. I do agree that it might be tough to make a living at it.
Try to think of other ways to make money - Rent movies, sell food and drinks, birthday parties, bachelor parties, office, all of the above, etc. What's the angle? If it's just a place to watch movies, then it's tough. But if it's a place to rent and watch recent releases (maybe not the latest movies...) with just your "peeps", and there was some sort of a twist, you may be on to something. By twist I mean something that I couldn't get from mine or a friend's home theatre.
To answer your questions:
1) Has anyone ever heard of a setup like this before? No.
2) Does this seem like something that would be profitable? You tell me after you do your homework.
3) How much would you pay for something like this (per hour, lets say for now)? For a big movie room that could hold 10 people comfortably, maybe $25 - $35/hr., for 3 hrs or so. That's assuming I had a reason to go.
Where I used to rent LDs the owner had a back room,if you will. He would rent it out as you describe. He had a Barco 2 subs and such. Most of the equipment was already his.
Now this was 15 years ago---back then most people were watching 27 inchers in their home. FF-to today; most that are into HT have much better eqip.--Oh,yes;damage to the furniture;he didn't get large enough deposits---much cleanup---You may have better odds in Vegas,trying to make a profit.---
"Has anyone heard of this?" No, because I'm afraid that couldn't be expected to work, on many levels. I'd go back to the drawing board and start over again with a clean slate -- this time on the assumption that your professor wants you to come up with an idea to actually make money, not simply spend it on stuff you like. Hint: browsing Audiogon while you think probably won't help! ;^)
That was kid of what I was worried about, but the project was to come up with a novel idea, and this seemed feasible. I'll have to do the math to see how far out this project seems.
Thanks for all your input
Kinda remind me of another great idea that never really worked: make you own pizza restaurant. Back to your idea: I think that Mcfarland is right, the cost divided by expected number of sessions would be prohibitive, especially with hi-end stuff.
I wouldn't go for your idea myself but what I do frequent is acoustically well designed places to listen to live music with high end pro audio equipment. They are a real pleasure and the artists seem to appreciate these venues also. Ya try to break even on the tickets and make your money on the booze. Your trying to make a niche from movie buffs and/or audio buffs who will pay a premium to hang out at your business. Can't see it but maybe I'm missing something.
Thanks guys, there's definitely more work I need to put into this, but I appreciate the feedback
My 2 cents . . .

This is conceptually not far from the Sports Bar business model, or maybe the Dinner Theater, except the latter two have much lower cost structure for facilities, and probably higher business volume potential.

I frankly think it would be near impossible to turn a profit the way you have described the business (ie primarily from Rents), simply because of the math equation layed out by McFarland.

If you were to stick with the sports bar model and maximize revenue from service of food/beverage, maybe there's a chance. The only part I can't get my mind around is whether there's enough people like us who would want to go there and spend time and money. I personally may patronize such a business, but my wife would say, hell no, let's go to the dinner theater, and my kids would say hell no, let's go to the sports bar.
Aside from the business points that Mcfarland gives, let's look at this simply from an idea stand point.

You rent these rooms, what about the people that bring their own inappropriate material into the space. Are you going to control that? What happens when people damage the space?

If you are going to provide these rooms, B&W and Klipsh are not good enough. You'll need top of the line. Think at the level of krell monoblock and Wilson audio. If you are going to rent a room with high end, it needs to be high end. That's the point of renting and not owning.

That's the first issue. The second issue is simply this. There are not enough people interested in ultra high end to make this work. Look at the number of people in the high end audio salons on a weekend. (or should I say lack there of)

So, my answer is that, no, it is not profitable. Nor would it probably spark any interest. I'll bet most people wouldn't understand the point.
besides all the previous things to know, how about "people with no money" renting your "all out assualt" room, how long before speakers get damaged or any other equipment by people who dont appreciate the price and fragile nature of speaker drivers. I can admire a creative thinker but you need to put this to bed and come up with a better way to channel your creative business thoughts.
And in a way there already exists a way poor folks can get some...and I stress some of the great video , but not so much the audio end of entertainment...........it is called "Rent A Center"
OK. I'll try to answer as best I can. First, add up the cost of the equipment, furniture, and decorations. Include the cost of treats to sell (storage, refridgeration, warming trays, etc. Then figure out how many square feet you are going to need. Then try to figure the cost to build the rooms (typically 50-100 dollars/sq ft., depending on trim level. You will need at least 2 wheelchair accessable bathrooms. Now, once you figured that cost, figure out what the rental of the space will be. Amortize all those expenses over the next five to 8 years by dividing the expense / number of months. Don't forget, phone, utility bills, garbage removal, snow removal, and maintainance/cleanup expenses. Each time you rent a room for a movie/party, you will tie up that room for a minimum of 3 hours. Then figure how many times per month you will need to rent rooms just to break even. You will probably need to sell equipment and use the rooms for demonstration which will mean that certain rooms will not be rentable at all times. Rotsa Ruck! You'll need it.