Jeff, I would strongly recommend that you join the PCS. At least 50% of the membership are storefront owners. There is a wealth of information available there. FWIW.
Al At 02:35 PM 10/9/2002, you wrote: >I've been approached by a local private golf/country club to consider >stocking and managing their proshop. They recently lost their club pro >who also "owned" the proshop and driving range. So, when he left, all >their stock, inventory, and even range balls left with him. They are >thinking of making some major course renovations and personnel structuring >changes so they may delay hiring a pro for 2 years while this all takes >place. In the mean time, they'd at least like to keep their proshop >adequately stocked as a convienience to members. Right now their proshop >is stark naked. > >I'm pretty well known in town (at least as far as I know :-) as a >clubbuilder, fitter, and compentent club repairman so their board of >trustees have approached me about the idea of keeping things going for them. > >Most and probably all of the accounting and personnel details would be >handled by their club who is looking to take back much of the >proshop/range business anyway. To this point, I've been basically a hyper >hobbyist that gets quite a bit of word of mouth business through friends >and acquaintances. I go through the basic channels for components and >supplies so I have absolutely no connections in retail. My biggest >questions involve how to get retail accounts to stock the shop. For about >the last 10 years, this proshop has been owned by the pro and all the >account are in his name so I assume we'd be starting from scratch in >establishing accounts with each company. We'd at least be needing to get >balls, gloves, bags and basic supplies. Then ideally would like to >continue to offer some OEM lines. Previously, the proshop was stocked >with most of the bigger names including Titlist, Callaway, Nike, Cobra, >Taylor Made, Mizzuno and maybe a few others I'm forgetting. I know tha! > t some of these companies require huge initial buy in to get involved > and offer their lines and I doubt that is in the cards right now for > myself of the club. The trustees are also interested in having my usual > array of custom built clubs available as there are a lot of members who > already play "my" clubs. I also figured I'd contact KZG about an account. > >Basically, other than offering clubfitting, clubfitting, and club repair >services, and buying stuff retail and offering it in the shop at basically >no markup simply as a convenience, I don't have a clue to where to start >with this. > >If anyone has the time and patience to offer ideas, I'd greatly appreciate >it. This idea is only being explored right now by both myself and the >club's board of trustees but it has peaked my interest. At the least it >may be a way for me to find out if the golf business is something I'd like >to be involved with on more than a hobbyist level with very little or no >financial risk to me. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. > >If it seems more appropriate to reply offline to this topic, my email >address is: > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Thanks, >Jeff
