fwiw, my opinion only and based on having owned several businesses and having had two failed partnerships
1. forget talking to an accountant or a biz analyst, unless they offer a free service and then you get what you pay for.
2. find a real estate atty if you must use professional advise, ask him to coffee and offer to pay him cash, no receipt, just for a few minutes of chat. if you look you will find one that will give you maybe 30 minutes of a C note, and it will be the best money you ever spent. he will tell you how to find out if the place is free and clear of liens or other encumbrances.
3. if it turns out the location is legit, and you can lease it at a price you want to pay, then do that.
4. do not pay the guy for the business customer list, or any list. 99% of his customer base will come into you shop anyway, so why pay 10grand for the possibility of getting the final 1% of his customers... they will eventually come in anyway.
5. i didn't read all the posts here, but my experience tells me "no" small business is worth a nickel, as you are generally buying a job, a poorly paid job at that... unless the owner can provide an set of books that
`a. can stand up to an audit b. show a substantial profit for the business after all is paid, including the wages of the owner. c. tax records for both federal and state, along with sales tax reports
if he can provide these three things, and they clearly show a profit, the taxes have been paid, and support his books, and very importantly the sales tax records support the books, "and" after all that there is a substantial profit, maybe then we have something to consider as the business having a value.
otherwise you are buying what is called "blue sky", and 99% of small businesses "blue sky" value is "0" or worse!
if you are intent on owning your own business of any kind, record store included, be ready to work long hours, for little pay, for quite a long period of time. think of it as a labor of love or an expensive hobby and you will be fine, to do otherwise you will be sorely disappointed much sooner than later.
i think others have mentioned the following but it bares repeating
try to also include products or services others don't offer in the record store business, such as
1. selling turntables, to include used, and new (moderately priced) and even those nasty suitcase jobs, as there is a market for those with the younger folks just getting started. many here will bitch about this last one, but they aren't the ones that will be eating top ramen either.
2. offer reel to reel tapes as you can find them, seems like a lot of folks interested in those as well. if you are handy look around and find a common unit that can be bought cheap and get it to work, resell and repeat. even some of the old consumer grade stuff is pretty reasonable and not that hard to get back to working condition, and in doing so you can provide a low rung on the reel to reel market for those starting out.
3. consider a consignment of used gear, just be sure what your floor space is worth and if something sits around too long it has to go back to its original owner to store away, unless he will lower his price.
4. you might also consider keeping a look out for rare 8 track quad tapes such as the holy grail dsotm (decca) a good example can bring a grand or more. (there are more eyes rolling i am sure, but remember who is eating ramen noodles, and besides if you find a quad dsotm let me know!)
5. you might consider also some import tube amps, some are surprisingly good, and the young guy starting out is a market, and having one to actually hear/see/touch is probably going to sell faster than one on the puter screen on ebay. (again, more eye rolling)
6. lastly, smile even when it hurts, go the extra mile to try to find stuff for your customers, and above all, have fun. getting your head straight with reasonable expectations going in will pay off big time, and "if" your store is a raging success, you can be pleasantly surprised.
good luck!
ps, lest i forget +1 for no partners! it is exceedingly rare that they work out, far more rare than businesses that make it. been my experience a partner brings more work for you to do than he/she saves.
