Can you start a bookshop and cafe business with no money?

[Lessthandreamy]

Is it possible to ever start a business with no money?

Im poor, no debt as such but I work part time and I have two kids and a mortgage - but my absolute dream is to open a bookshop with a small cafe, I want to be open at unconventional times (4pm - 11pm) to give people who work normal 9-5’s a chance to do something after a day of work.. I’d like to open it as an independent bookshop that sells good condition second hand books to keep the costs low for everyone, perhaps even as an independent library. I’d love a small cafe there and occasionally invite pop up shops ect, have its own book club and events.

will this ever be doable? It doesn’t feel like something I’m ever going to accomplish.. but then I see people says you don’t need money to start a business.. how?!

I’ve always had dreams of doing similar but it’s a lottery win dream realistically. There’s not much money to be made in cafes or bookshops unfortunately and when the likes of Amazon can undercut even huge chains like Waterstone’s to the extent of charging less than 40% of what they do it’s an absolute non starter.

I am aware of a business that started off with a very similar vision. It's been going about 12 years, and they quite quickly separated the second hand book shop and the café into totally separate premises, I assume because people were sitting for ages with one cup of tea reading books and not buying. They have stayed true to the secondhand book goal, but have added lots of expensive related giftware (eg jigsaw, notebooks) to the shop, which I think is where they make the money.

Rents for retail spaces are crippling, you definitely need money to start up unless you just happen to already own a handy building in a great location.

My favourite place 🥰
Good example though! I’ll go in with my dog and sit for a couple of hours of peace. I buy a couple of coffees, but that’s not going to keep a business running if a lot of people do that.

That doesn’t really sound like a sustainable business proposition to me op sorry.

This is my dream too!

You could start by writing a business plan, say for your first five years. It would cover what costs you would incur, and what revenue you hope to generate. How you will bring people in. What will make them come to you rather than anywhere else. Crucially how you will fund the costs and how long for, how soon you expect to start turning a profit.

If you do not have any funds, then you are looking for a job running someone else’s bookshop / cafe. Are there any community enterprises in your area who might have a role for you ?

Nice dream but I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly.

There is a local bookshop and cafe that I love and frequent three or four times a week. It provides a space upstairs for people who want to bring their laptops and a £10 fee is charged but that includes coffees. However, there are still cfs who sit at tables nursing an empty cup even when it starts getting busy with the lunch or tea time customers and the staff are too gentle and kind to ask them to move or point out the signs which state their policy for this. The coffee is always quality and their menu for various kinds is extensive. They also serve home made cakes, soups and toasties. They run a book club, crafting circle, board games nights. It’s very popular but it is in a very popular spot in a thriving town and has no competition.

Are you sure there isn’t something already like this in your area? Eg, my local library has a café.

Owning a bookshop/cafe is my "if I win euro millions" plan

Just to get started you would need to fit out a shop, buy stock, do marketing

Then you have running costs - rent, rates, employees, insurance, utilities, property maintenance, ongoing marketing, buying more stock,...

And with books you are now competing with audiobooks, ebooks, secondnand, and Amazon ...

How would you plan to get a premises or stock with no money to start you up?
Everyone sees a book shop or a cafe as easy work for a middle aged woman to pass the time and earn money. There’s far much more to it than people expect

I run a coffee & bakery trailer and I say absolutely go for it but think outside the box for ways you can start small and within your means. If all goes well you can scale up to opening a full time bookstore cafe. For example, perhaps you could start it as a pop-up? Get a small secondhand commercial coffee machine, set it up on a moveable trolley, collect some secondhand books and lightweight shelves plus an inflatable sofa or two and you can set up virtually anywhere. This keeps your overheads low and is achievable with only a small amount of savings behind you. If it works and you find there's demand, then you can look at going all in with outside investment.

My dad's opened several shops, one he got a hran from the prince's trust and another he just started volunteering there and waited for the manager who was useless to run it into the ground and then offered to take it over, and got a cheaper rent from the landlord.

They could approach landlords with empty shops, they often rent them out for free for the first 6 months, some councils have lists of empty premises and can pass contact details on.

And then how do they furnish it and get equipment and stock?

Usually only a rent free period as part of a long term fixed lease. So you’re committed to paying rent for a few years after your rent free period. Very few landlords would give six months free rental with the option of the tenant walking away never having paid a bean in rent.

I mean this gently but if you were serious about this, you’d be fully researching all funding options and creating a business plan, not asking mumsnet, which makes me think maybe this is a nice little day dream?

I think the types of businesses you can start with no, (or minimal) funds are as pp says where youre providing a service rather than selling a product (accounting, gardening, cleaning, PT, virtual assistant, dog walking, babysitting MN favourite ironing, etc)
If you needed a premises that will be a big expense (rent, rates, utilities, insurance, alarm system) before you even think about selling any products. Even with a mobile premises you might need a licence or permit to trade in certain areas.
I am a partner in a small business, we rent a tiny - non high street - unit (and are fortunate that includes utilities) and need to clear £50/day for rent before we even start thinking about paying ourselves or making a profit...which is quite doable, but may not be if we were just starting out

The secondhand book business is dying. Over the last ten years it has become increasingly hard to get in good condition stock pre-1970's which is where the books start to become more valuable. Anything post-1970's goes for so little money (with a few exceptions) you have to sell an awful lot (warehouse type quantities) to make money. Once you take away your overheads of rent etc you willl have little or no profit. Plus if you offer coffee and cake apart from potentially damaging your stock people will read in shop and not buy. Sorry to dampen your dreams.

Is this your sole source of income?

Why not start a book club in an existing cafe? No cost you for that.

The book club that I run we also have a book swap, which would fulfil your want for people to have access to cheap books.

You could then start to build a community of local book lovers for no cost and around an hour of your time a month. Which would be a much stronger place to start to consider the kind of business you want or could be enough to fulfill you as is.

There’s a similar thing near us but it’s a community initiative and not for profit which is good as it would never make a profit. Secondhand books aren’t a viable thing to sell in a physical shop any more beyond Hay on Wye or hobbyists who don’t need to sell much. The chances of you having the books people want to buy in stock are tiny and charity shops are full of secondhand books no one wants. Online at least a specific book has some chance of finding the person who really wants it but it’s still pennies plus postage unless very rare and huge warehouses are needed for the long tail of that stock. Books are often given away in train station shelves for sharing books that have been read and are no longer wanted.

I get the romance of it, but not as a business. Volunteer in a community cafe or charity shop instead and work for the man for your wage. I don’t think business is your thing unfortunately.

A low risk way to try something is to run an event as a pop up, perhaps if you can negotiate an arrangement with a cafe that’s closed in the evenings to use their space, or rent a church hall…

Alternatively start a cake shed, as someone else suggested, and maybe include an honestly bookshelf.

My understanding is that the whole sector is struggling with people having less money for treats and increasing cost of overheads.