What Businesses are needed on the Big Island (Hilo, Waimea: low income, apartment)

[hjmontijo]

Aloha everyone! Thank you for stopping to read my post. My fiance and I are wanting to move to the Big Island of Hawaii. Mainly because it is the cheaper of the islands, plus, we have friends who live on the Big Island on the Kona side. We are open to living on either side of the island. We would love the opportunity to open up a small business.
The main question that we have is what type of small businesses are needed on the Big Island. What do the locals NEED?

A little about us. I am 32 and I am currently a Practice Manager for a veterinary hospital. I've been in the veterinary field off an on for over 10 years. Before this last position, I was in property management for over 2 years an an assistant community director (Assistant Manager). I've also had a few years of Retail Management, 4 years as an exterminator and the rest of my experience is in administrative work. However, I love working with my hands and have always been a fast learner.

My fiance is 28 and is currently in property management as an assistant community director (Assistant Manager) where he has been for almost 4 years. He also has experience in the veterinary field. We actually own a pet sitting business that we don't get a chance to operate often with full time jobs. He also loves photography.

We have about $30,000 that we have saved that we are willing to put into a business. We just want to make the right choice. We want to bring something that is needed and profitable. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

I also wanted to add that we will be coming back to the big island this April for the 3rd time, so any advice on places to check out or see, let me know.

Thank You!!!

[smarino]

That's actually a very small amount of money to start a business in a place that you really don't have any knowledge of, and you're not even sure at this point what sort of business you want to start. That money could be gone before you know it.

Don't do it at this point in time. Moving to Hawaii is very expensive, doing business is expensive due to the high cost of leasing a store, and you need more money than that, realistically, just for a back up plan. Pet sitting, killing bugs, and photography are not gonna do it. I wouldn't worry about what people need. People need the same things all over the planet. The concern should be how long can I survive until I establish a foothold in the business community, which means money for the long haul, not short haul. Any business anywhere needs to have sufficient operating capital to get through the first couple of years of putting it together, and the business owners need to have funds to live on in those years.

On the other hand, I've always thought that a good business could come from leasing a building, living above it, and having a thrift store below. After a while the product basically comes to you in donations, and all you need is a truck to go pick up the large stuff. But it would also be a lot of work, require long hours, and you need good people skills. Despite the jury rigged employment figures, many people don't have much extra money in Hawaii due to the high cost of food, electricity and housing. Employers like to hire people for less than the hours that the state would require them to furnish health care, so many people have multiple 19 hour a week jobs and still have to buy their own health insurance out of pocket. My thinking is to never invest money in an enterprise that you can't afford to lose. The failure rate for small business start ups is high. So if that $30,000 is money you're OK with losing in a gamble, that's a different story.

[Buckeye77]

Mobile pet grooming.

[Jane M]

I agree with Smarino on the money part. It cost abut $10,000 to move here and all I brought was my dog. I sold everything. If I had not, it would have cost me another $10,000 to transport my stuff and I didn't really HAVE anything!! I lived in a 900 sq. ft space and didn't plan on taking any furniture at all and 10,000$ was the moving co. estimate. So, we did things on the real cheap and it was still costly.

mobile pet grooming or pet sitting service would be good. And not a kennel type service, but an "at home" type sitting service. Seems like both would have minimal set up cost.

[hotzcatz]

Well, if you can keep your living and business expenses low enough, then maybe you'd be able to make enough at the business to support it.

Honokaa could use a veterinary/ pet shop/ pet grooming/ feed store and the rents aren't too bad so maybe you could afford it. With a multiple approach type business, maybe there'd be enough customers to support it. Although there's three veterinary offices in Waimea so maybe that niche is full. But I know of two veterinaries who live in the area here and wouldn't mind working closer to home should someone have an office for them to work at.

Since you don't have a lot of money to toss at it, sculpting your business around your living arrangements might be best. If you're on a larger ag land parcel, then perhaps something like pet boarding & grooming. If you're in a small apartment somewhere, then a small shop somewhere. Or as Hoot N Annie said, something mobile and no shop overhead although that has it's own issues with fuel expenses.

Check different shop rental prices and then see what area you're in when you find an affordable one. I know of a shopkeeper in Waimea who moved her shop to a really nice high traffic area, but she says all she's doing it paying the higher rent and she's still bringing home the same amount as before. She would like to move to Honokaa for the lower store rents but she's locked into a year long lease at this point. She's a niche retailer and because of the higher rent she has had to raise her prices so even though she's in a higher traffic area, folks are buying less at her store.

Ya know, there's not a general purpose clothing store around here. Basic shorts, blue jeans, socks, underwear, flannel shirts, tee shirts, etc. Not exactly the full on expensive "utility" type such as Carhart or whatever the high end utility stuff might be, but just basic general clothing. We have shops with stylish stuff, but most folks run around in non-stylish clothing. Shorts, tee shirts, flip flops, etc. A lot of that comes from surf shops since there's no where else for shorts, really. But, a basic general store type offering of everyday clothing and household supplies. Things like potato peelers, ginger graters, cookware, kitchen hand towels, etc. Folks have the choice of Long's Drugs and the grocery stores for most of that stuff. We used to have a lot of mom-n-pop community type general stores around and then they pretty much died off when the big shopping malls opened. In the right place, one should thrive. Find enough population base to support it outside of a thirty to forty mile radius to a mall and you'll get enough folks going there to pick up stuff they need but don't want to drive to the mall for. Honokaa and HOVE come to mind as an area that might be suitable.

Folks were going to a small vitamin shop in town to buy Telic flip flops since they are good flip flops (expensive, but good) and now that shop is closing since their main line was vitamins and essential oils which isn't enough to keep a small shop afloat. So, no more good slippers available in town. But that would be the sort of thing to sell.

But, can you rent and stock a retail shop like that with $30K?

[hjmontijo]

Hello again. Thank you all for the awesome feedback. It's greatly appreciated. Believe me, I know that $30k is not a lot of money. I guess another thing that I should have mentioned is that I would be considering a business loan or something along those lines should I need the extra cash.

Although I have dreamed of opening up my own Veterinary Hospital, I wouldn't have the money for something like that. As a practice manager, I know the thousands of dollars the equipment and drugs alone cost. A boarding facility would be more feasible, but still expensive.

I honestly like the idea of a small general store. I have a lot of experience in retail management and I believe I could so well with something like that. Being that I love working with my hands, all I would need would be a hammer, nails and wood and I'd love to build my own shelving and what not. (I studied interior and architectural design for a couple of years in college, and I used to help my contractor uncle on some of his remodeling jobs). I could defiantly stock the store with the basics that are needed. With my great people skills, I'd go out and about and ask the locals what they'd like to see in the store. This is something That I have considered, I would just need to look more into the details.

Hawaii has been a dream of our for years now. We are both smart and fast learners and we are defiantly not afraid of hard work. We will do what it takes to make it work. We just want some advice, a help to guide our way.

Thank you again. I look forward to reading more responses.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I hope you mean "definitely" and not "defiantly", LOL. We don't need any more defiant people here.

You should also check out the County requirements for small businesses. There may be licenses that you need to obtain. Also, check with the Building Department about doing your own work on a commercial building. I know you can't do your own plumbing and electrical, but it would be safe to find out these things in advance.

We've seen a lot of small businesses come and go in our rural area. Was it the lack of customers or did the owners just get tired of all the hard work? Also don't forget that you will have very high costs to ship the goods here. You really would need something that could compete with Costco and WalMart.

In addition to mobile pet grooming, maybe you could do pet training? That's definitely something that we lack down here in the South Point area. Although that may be cost prohibitive with the high cost of fuel here.

[hjmontijo]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

I hope you mean "definitely" and not "defiantly", LOL. We don't need any more defiant people here.

LOL...... Opppps. See what happens when you don't pay attention to the spell corrections. Sorry about that. Yes, I did mean to type "Definitely".

[KaraBenNemsi]

The existing businesses nearly all lack customers. Once they close, another mainlander comes along thinking there would be a need and opens it again. Till their credit line or savings run out.

In the meantime we islanders get everything from toilet paper to tools cheaper from AMAZON.

[Harpaint]

People in Hilo shop online or at Walmart, just like everybody on the mainland. It is also a very low income level population where people lead quite simple lives in very small living quarters. Young people leave in droves because there are no jobs. The University students spend very little time in town. Kona obviously thrives on tourism which means low paying jobs and transient young people from the mainland.