We run a profitable dive shop in the heart of the main town on our island. We get a lot of foot traffic and our shop has been a mainstay on the island for almost twenty years (we bought it two years ago). We are located next to the main water taxi that transports backpackers from the mainland to the island. Our great location comes with a price...we pay over $2000/month for shop and apartment rental (our apartment is right above the shop). The rent is fairly steep, it is fine during busy season, but often has us struggling to meet the rent during our slower months. We also compete with two other dive shops that are within 300 yards of our shop.
We were recently approached by a resort on a neighboring island about relocating to their resort. It offers everything from hostel accommodations ($13/night) to high end villas that sleep six ($250/night). It also has a large marina, a beautiful beach, nature trails, a zip-line tour company and many other ammenities.
They are willing to build a new shop for us and offer two different types of rent: one is 10% of our gross/mo. (this is somewhat attractive because during slow months our rent will be substantially lower. The main drawback is that we would have to install a cash register and declare all of our sales, meaning an increased sales tax liability), or a fixed rent that would be approximately half of what we currently pay in rent. They want us to evenly split building costs (relatively inexpensive because labor is cheap and they are building like crazy at the resort) and they will rebate our share of the building costs as free rent over the first several months. We would be guarenteed of being the only dive shop at the resort.
My main concern is that while the island is only a $4 water taxi away from our current location, I am certain that we will lose a substantial portion of our foot traffic. I am torn between staying at our current location or moving to the new one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
We were recently approached by a resort on a neighboring island about relocating to their resort. It offers everything from hostel accommodations ($13/night) to high end villas that sleep six ($250/night). It also has a large marina, a beautiful beach, nature trails, a zip-line tour company and many other ammenities.
They are willing to build a new shop for us and offer two different types of rent: one is 10% of our gross/mo. (this is somewhat attractive because during slow months our rent will be substantially lower. The main drawback is that we would have to install a cash register and declare all of our sales, meaning an increased sales tax liability), or a fixed rent that would be approximately half of what we currently pay in rent. They want us to evenly split building costs (relatively inexpensive because labor is cheap and they are building like crazy at the resort) and they will rebate our share of the building costs as free rent over the first several months. We would be guarenteed of being the only dive shop at the resort.
My main concern is that while the island is only a $4 water taxi away from our current location, I am certain that we will lose a substantial portion of our foot traffic. I am torn between staying at our current location or moving to the new one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
