Moving back to back to Colorado (Lakewood, Parker: for sale, real estate, rental)

[deadhatetheliving]

Hi My fiance and I really like the idea of moving to Colorado. I was born there and lived in Parker for the first 6 years of my life before moving to Arizona.
So by the time we decide to move we will be a young married couple (26-27) with no kids....but 5 cats.
She will be a vet tech and me well i really want to own my own movie theatre (nothing Harkins size...they rule my state) maybe one big theatre. So any places that would cater to this...I was thinking College cities....

Well we will both be getting used to more than 1.5 season a year (Hot as hell and Hot).

Some of my family is in the Lakewood and littleton area although nice don't want to be that close to family. That one of the main reasons we want to move to Colorado in the first place. Her whole family is in Arizona along with my parent.



So need a place that I can own a business and she can do her vet tech thing.

[jazzlover]

Sadly, I think independent movie theaters are a dying business everywhere, including Colorado. I know two individuals that own them in my area. They are both severely struggling financially. I suspect one is going to close; the other stays in business because the family has owned it for close to 50 years and paid off the real estate long ago. It isn't from "big-box" theater competition, either, that they struggle--the closest ones are 40 miles away; video rental and movies-on-demand have cut their gross by half or more. I'm a great example--I like movies, but I haven't set foot in a theater for over 3 years now.

As far as vet techs, there are probably jobs out there, though they do not pay well in many places. There actually is a surplus of veterinarians in much of Colorado (CSU turns out a lot of vet grads who want to stay in Colorado), so a vet practice isn't always as lucrative here as it is in other areas. The vet I use--a very good one who has been in business for a long time is a good example. He is not busy--I would guess he could have a third more clients without overworking himself. The clients just aren't there--they are spread among too many vets in the area--and there is a lot of turnover in the younger vets trying to start a practice. As far as the techs, he hires very young, just out of school techs for salaries that you would probably find embarrassing. In them, as well, there is a lot of turnover, as you might expect. A family friend who has been a veterinarian (but not in Colorado) for years told me that there are two ways to be successful in that business--either be a "kitty vet" in an upscale area where there are not vets on every corner (which is what he is), or be a large animal vet in a rural area where there isn't a lot of competition. Because of the surplus of vets in most of Colorado, that really isn't possible, and he chose to open his practice elsewhere partly because of that.

[Mike from back east]

We have one such place in COLO SPGS, Kimball's Twin Peaks, in the old downtown area, and they are doing well.

They faced a need to modernize the other year and struck upon a novel way to do so; actually it was an OLD novel way, they let their customers pay for it. What they did was let movie-goers cough up the $285/per seat cost to install the new style of roomier theater seating with cupholders and rocker backs. Many seats were sold in pairs to couples, who get dibs on those seats when they want to watch a flick. The main room (theater #1) is done and soon they'll do the same in theater room #2. Kimball's raised ~$65k that way, without spending a cent of their own. We've been to both the new and old rooms and the difference is amazing. The guy just opened a new room #3 but haven't been there yet. It's really fun to park in the city garage for $1 (after 2PM), walk across the street to the movies, then afterward just walk over a block to the brew pub at Pikes Peak and Cascade for a meal.

I'd guess that some old farming towns out on the plains could use a small movie house, but not sure. I think the movie industry has changed to the point where they don't want to deal with the small houses anymore; huge corporations today only want to deal with other huge corporations, as dealing with thousands of moms and pops is seen as a huge burden.

[CTC]

Just got back from a pleasant weekend in Estes-there are actually two movies theaters there-including the oldest continually operated theater west of the Mississippi (both were playing first run films)

Just to show that small town independent movie houses still exist in CO-so you might get lucky and find one for sale-