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I agree with Evan 99%. Right now can be a very difficult time to open a retail location. Everyone has the same tone of caution as Evan, which means they are holding their money to see what happens. Luxury items (herps and other hobbies) are taking a beating.
Here's my other 1%. If you have capital behind you right now can be a great time to get started. Because of other businesses falling on hard times there is an abundance of used equipment that can be had for cheap. So instead of financing all new stuff (display counters, warehouse racks, tape machines etc) you can pick them up at 25% the cost and pay for them out right giving you a solid foundation to ride out the economic times. A lot of people are looking for work (or even second jobs) and are more open to alternative work schedules (what is usually a stay at home mom, may be interested in picking up 2 or 3 days per week at a low wage to help make ends meet for example). Advertisers are able to negotiate more aggressive for rates (newspaper, radio and other mediums are dying right now). The reason that these venues are looking for advertisers is that a lot of companies have pulled in their horns and stopped advertising as much. This means that your ads (which cost half the regular amount) are competing against half the number of other advertisers. I know a local company that did this exact same business plan here in the 80's and 90's. He's one of the few construction companies that owns all his big machinery outright. Business slows down... he just parks everything and waits it out. No big lease bills to worry about or other money drains.
Business plan is a must. Doesn't have to be highly structured like one you'd need for a loan, but if you don't know where you want to go how can you get there? I do 12 month plans and review every 3 or 4 months. They don't get followed to the T as you need to react to business as it happens but it points you in the right direction and then the reviews allow you to make sure you're still going in that general direction
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