When to call it quits?

[jtcarter14]

We bought a video store in May. We have spent a total of 15k on it
between buying it (3k), fixing it up, and paying the bills that
don't get covered by the money the store makes. I think we now
average $700 a month loss.
Is this normal? Is this just what it takes to get a business going?
We really had to start from scratch b/c the store had been closed
for a while before we bought it.
I know no one has a crystal ball, but if you were in this position,
would you just call it quits and try to recoup what you could by
selling things, or would you stick it out and keep losing money in
hopes that one day the profit would come and would be worth it?
Part of the problem is that our heart isn't in it b/c when we got involved, we were only supposed to be investors in the store and the previous owner was going to manage it on his own, but he is out of the picture completely now.
Thanks,
Jessica

[Frankie]

I would say to stick it out, But if your hearts aren't in it, Then i suggest to get out. I opened a few months ago and it was tough after 5 months i finally make my first buck in this busniess. August was real good to me. The first month i covered everything, Without putting my own money in it.

Remember building a busniess just don't happen over night. I have been through rough times but i stuck it out. Good luck to you Jessica.

Frankie

[Hardcopy]

Well for me it has been 1 1/2 years and it still isn't 100%... some months are better than others. Some months we come out ahead and others we lag way behind costs.

Question is why aren't you making enough? Are revenues low or are costs high? One thing we did to help a lot is get rid of excess costs and expand what was working. For instance, we were carrying independents and such and they were just a drain for our size store. We are in a rural area and only have 1 or 2 customers who like that stuff.

$3k for a store is incredibly cheap, how big a store did you get for that? We spent more than that on our back stock alone.

[SeanWas]

If your heart really isn't into it, it will be difficult.

I would start by cutting your costs by at least that $700 that you lost. This usually can be done relatively easy if you take a look at your video buying and streamline it to a basic level of what rents better and what costs cheaper. As HardCopy stated, eliminating independent titles is the best way to cut costs. though you want to get every title, many times these just don't make good financial sense. VHS seams to be the next best way to elimainate high costs. See If you can eliminate some of those high cost VHS. At $40 a pop, you can cut $700 with just 17 fewer copies each month. Then, if you expenses are so low that you are unable to cut $700, then it is probably not enough revenue coming in. If thats the case, combined with your lack of interests, then I would probably get out while you can. I absolutely love running a video store, and that gets you through some tough times.

Sean