A plan for our future...Waynesville,OH (Cincinnati, Lebanon: income, organic)

[INstix]

Here's something I'm planning for the future. I'm 40 and a nurse with one year experience. My real love would be to open an herbal and botanical store. We currently live in southeastern IN and I commute to Cincinnati to work at a hospital up there.

My husband and I were discussing possibilities. He suggested that the best place he'd ever seen for such a store as the one I'd like to open was Waynesville, OH. We currently live in the country on five acres and love it. I haven't been to Waynesville, but my husband's inklings on such things tend to be on the money, so I'm sure it's a lovely small town with loads of great shops that would complement the one I'd like to open.

I'd want to keep my job as a nurse part time to help supplement the business income, so I'm thinking maybe we'd move to somewhere in between Waynesville and Cincinnati for an easy drive to either place. We'd want something with about 3-5 acres in the country. We'd raise a lot of the herbs and things that would be sold in the store and used in my products.

Is there anyone who lives in the areas I'm talking about who can offer any advice? Are there still country areas up around there that we could obtain for around 240,000, 300,000 range? We wouldn't be able to even do most of this for another 3-5 years, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of research!


Thanks,
Cara

[RememberMee]

Areas east of Cinci and south of I-71 boasts cheapest land in Ohio, the more to the SE the cheaper. You should not have a problem with money you've got. Hopefully, metro sexual crowd would keep supplement business rolling in Waynesville.

[INstix]

I'm not sure what "metrosexuals" might have to do with an herb and botanical business...you know, with all kinds of things made of herbs, books, supplies, wreaths, soaps, candles, herbal artwork, etc...but maybe I'm just naive in that regard. Is there a large population of people who are metrosexuals up in that area? Whatever kind hearts come in my shop door are welcome, as far as I'm concerned!

We'll have to take a drive and go see the area and think about it.

Cara

[malachai23]

INstix - yes, Waynesville is a lovely yet VERY small town. There is by no means "loads of great shops". And I don't mean there aren't great shops. I just mean there are not loads of shops. There is just a few blocks' worth of a rather sparse "Main Street" and that is about it. I would personally be worried about the lack of foot traffic if I had a business there. For the type of shop you are planning to open, I would be more inclined to look at opening it up maybe in Yellow Springs. You would have an instant client base there for sure... many "kind hearts".

[rrtechno]

This could give you an idea of some of the shops in Waynesville.

Welcome to the Shops of Waynesville, Ohio

[Ohioan58]

I think it's a great idea.

One thing that the "quaintsie" type older towns with shopping districts in SW Ohio share is a propensity to being boring and alike in the shopping options. IE - you go to Yellow Springs (actually more of a fit with an herbal shop) and the vibe of it is that every single store is green, organic, hippie-tie-died. In Waynesville and Lebanon 95% of the shopping is antiques and look alike crafts and everything seems to be geared exclusively to white haired old ladies who rode there on a tour bus.

Waynesville, IIRC, has nothing like this. Therefore I think it's a good idea for that area. It's different. Yellow Springs - there is very likely some competition there already for botanicals.

[OHKID]

Waynesville has been known as the "Antique Capital of the Midwest" for a time, also has been known for a large collection of arts and crafts stores, as well.

It would be a great place to open up a shop