Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Still think you would do better in Taos, Santa Fe, or Durango, though. Sedona and Prescott, AZ also seem fitting. None of these places are cheap, unfortunately.
When I think of cheap and artsy and new agey and small... I think of Bisbee, AZ. And now that I've been thinking about it awhile, I don't know of another town anywhere that fits all four of those criteria nearly as well. Just about every place that is "successfully" artsy and new agey ends up growing and getting expensive. I really like that town... great climate, too.
But... it doesn't need to be a new agey place. Any decent town with a good tourist flow would be viable. If you do it well and have a good atmosphere it will work. People like to try different things, and if it is a good experience, they'll come back. And cheapness isn't all good either, since wealthier people are the ones with money to spend. The extra inflow could easily make up for the higher outflow.
I don't see any tea houses listed for Hood River Oregon or Laramie Wyoming. Those places are close to the upper end of your town size preference. Both young, fairly arty. Spearfish South Dakota (near the SD / WY border) is little known but interesting small town with a modest sized college and near the Black Hills and a ski area. An English style teahouse 50 miles away is the only teahouse in the state.
None listed for Boone NC either (with NC being a state you mentioned you might be willing to consider in another thread). The university is over 15,000 students (but it is still modest sized town) and arts & crafts are pretty big there. Radford VA is similar to Boone in being a small SE town that has a big college student population (school has a good reputation) and is near the mountains. I don't see any listings for a tea house there or in nearby bigger and more expensive Blacksburg (which might be a source of additional customers as the towns are only about 15 miles apart).
All these towns have young people looking to hang out and maybe not as many good or unique options for it.
No, Rruff, it had good business, but there were some other issues that caused the owner to leave the area. It was a great place, and the plays and other shows they put on there were fantastic. They had a nice stage and ever event we went to there was well attended.
I miss the place-it was really a badly need touch of class amongst us. Andromeda, we would really love to see you look at our area, if you're thinking to have that type of venue.
I remember Atticus in Ruidoso. I absolutely loved the place! It was just awesome. Everytime we would go down to Ruidoso, I'd head to the place. The last time we went there .... alas ... a closed sign.
Why not a tea house in the East Mountain area of Cedar Crest or Tijeras. I am positive the population would support it well! This area would also get the ski crowd coming from Sandia Park and in addition those people in transit from Madrid and Santa Fe on Hwy 14 ("Turquoise Trail"). There are affordable properties to be had in the East Mountains (depends upon wants and needs).
Last edited by Northanna_2001; 08-30-2011 at 12:31 AM..
Thank you everyone for the encouragement and suggestions. I now have so many places to check out that I'm almost overwhelmed! Prescott is on our list, as is Bisbee though we haven't actually been there yet. Sedona is too expensive, not to rent the building for the teahouse, but to rent an apartment I'm afraid. It was actually our first choice but ended up not working out. Other than that, a few towns in Washington and a couple places in Colorado, as well as some of the towns people have suggested in NM. I think Taos sounds amazing, and may be within our price range. I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously, but we're looking to rent the building for the tea house for somewhere between $800-$1200 a month and an apartment for $650/mo or less, if we got lucky and found a building that had retail on the bottom and an apartment upstairs, we could pay close to $2,000 a month. Sorry if I'm repeating myself, I couldn't remember whether I already said it or not!
Hi, we're a mid-twenties couple looking to start a small business (a teahouse) in a small town (we're thinking anywhere between 1,000-10,000 people.)
We are interested in towns that are affordable and have somewhat of a younger population... not trying to insult retirement communities, but we'd like some people in the 20s-40s age group to socialize with. We're not looking for "Mayberry," just a town that we can make a home for ourselves and our business. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Given the international student population at New Mexico Tech in Socorro there might be a demand for an Tea & Coffee shop that was alcohol free. I sugggest checking Google and Yellow pages for existing places followed by a visit.
Given the international student population at New Mexico Tech in Socorro there might be a demand for an Tea & Coffee shop that was alcohol free. I sugggest checking Google and Yellow pages for existing places followed by a visit.
Socorro has a trendy coffee shop. Also has the El Camino. There's also coffee options on campus. I don't think Socorro needs another tea/coffee shop.
Besides, techies, more so than other colleges, tend to be:
a) dirt poor
b) too engaged with their studies to frequent coffee shops all that much
Both of these are anaethema to the market segment sought by the original poster.
Maybe Ruidoso will work if an otherwise successful coffeeshop is now suddenly out of the market. As a percentage, I think there are more people from El Paso in Ruidoso than people from El Paso in El Paso. So there's your well-to-do and smallish town. Just not quite as young as it sounded like you wanted.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. I am positive the population would support it well! This area would also get the ski crowd coming from Sandia Park and in addition those people in transit from Madrid and Santa Fe on Hwy 14 ("Turquoise Trail"). There are affordable properties to be had in the East Mountains (depends upon wants and needs).
Thanks!
