Best area for art and knifeshop? (Colorado Springs, Woodland Park: real estate, lease, co-ops)

[ga2015]

I am a knifemaker and my wife is artist, and jewlery designer we live in Georgia,, we hope to relocate to Colorado Springs, we would like to get a place in the road where we can live and work, same set up we have here, but have no idea what area would be good for us, need an area with good traffic for our bussines perhaps tourist traffic as well as area residents,it work better if it is outside of city limits, hopefully in a safe area.

anybody out there have any suggestions we would love to hear them.

Thanks!

[rumline]

Unfortunately I have no input with regards to your question, but I'd love to see your work. Do you have examples online?

[Arrby]

If you are restricting yourself to the Colorado Springs area, the obvious answer is Manitou Springs or downtown Old Colorado Springs. The high traffic season may be shorter than you are used to - pretty much Memorial Day to Labor day, although it seems to stretch on farther into September every year. Another possibility is Woodland Park, or anywhere along US 24 up the pass, but you will have to study the traffic mix up that way as a lot of it is commuter.

Many other areas come to mind in Colorado if you do not have to be in the Springs.

[ga2015]

thank you rumline , I would like to show you my work but I am not sure if it would be consider advertising, I am new to this
website perhaps you can e mail me.
lonewolfandsons@windstream.net
thank you

thank you arrby for the information,I will tell you a little bit about my location here we are in a road that has local traffic as well as tourist traffic, is a two lane road, we have a building that houses our shop as well as our house.
need a location similar , we had good luck I have been in business for 25 years, but always wanted to move west, not 100% sure Colorado Springs is the perfect place but seems like a good compromise
from other areas in Colorado.
Considering the weather and real estate prices.

[TCHP]

Outside the city limits would be good, since I assume you have some pretty high heat generating equipment and ventilation machines along a fair amount of hammering and rendering. This also exempts you from some of the inane city codes Colorado Springs levels at manufacturing types of businesses, which you would fall under. Problem with that is there is no where outside the immediate city limits of Colorado Springs or Manitou where you can do that and easily capture local traffic and tourist traffic. The main areas where you could have a gallery or retail type store are not going to look favorably at manufacturing, nor have the ability to provide living quarters along with fabrication, studio, and retail space.

There may be many more places in the mountains that could be a better match, but the price point of entry goes up significantly. On top of that, year round local traffic in a mountain town of 5000 is nothing compared to the traffic potential you find in the major 100k+ population centers along the front range of the mountains.

Have you done research on the competition you may face here? There are already a dozen different knife makers in Colorado and we have artists by the thousands. Colorado Springs also lacks any very distinct art districts that may be accomodating to start ups. Population density in the west is a much different animal than what most people are used to east of the Mississippi and there are rarely small towns just outside most major populations centers where you capture a lot of casual traffic. If you already have an established client list that you serve and you want to expand it, you might make it work in a smaller town. Otherwise, you will be working with the ebb and flow of tourist seasons.

[ga2015]

Tchp
Thank you for the information, I guess we will have to consider what you said, I am glad to have your advice, we will keep looking.

[Arrby]

Originally Posted by Arrby

the obvious answer is Manitou Springs or downtown Old Colorado Springs.

I'm going to have to provide my own correction here - I meant downtown Old Colorado City. Colorado Springs downtown has its attractions to be sure, but it is not a high traffic tourist destination.

[beezle1]

I think it will be difficult to find a place where you can live, have a shop onsite and still be within a tourist area here. As others have said, Manitou or Old Colorado City is probably your best bet in the Colorado Springs area.

How about somewhere like Madrid in New Mexico?

[YoYoSpin]

Like others have already said...finding retail space with good tourist traffic, where you can also do light manufacturing in the Colorado Springs area, will be difficult.

A lot of artisans have a shop in their homes that they work out of, or lease mini-warehouse space, that is quite abundant here...and then wholesale or consign their work to shops/retailers in the main tourist areas like Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City. That's really the best model to follow.

Shop owners are always looking for quality, reliable artists to consign with. Depending on the shop's reputation and success, consignment fees will normally run between 25% and 40% of your retail price. There are also a few artists co-ops in the area that will sometimes take in new members.

One of the best known and successful shops is in Manitou Springs...The Common Wheel Artists Co-op: COMMONWHEEL. They are mainly potters, but also have members who make jewelry, wall-art, woodturnings, paper-art and other things.

Another place to look into is the Manitou Springs Business of Arts Center: BAC maker/members. Not a high tourist traffic area, but a well established membership oriented art retailer.