Question for studio owners

[Hwa Rang Warrior]

For those of you who are studio owners, how did you go about looking for a location for your school. Did you look in the paper for available properties, drive around your desired location looking for for rent signs? I'm not exactly sure how to start this process.

[ninjanurse]

I actually started by approaching the community center in town and worked out a deal with them to use their facility. I then expanded to another town by contacting the dance studio there and working out a similar deal. One day the parent of one of my students called me about a storefront that had gone up for rent that day (she saw them hanging the sign as she drove by) and we moved in there a few weeks later. I am presently looking to find a bigger place and my parents and students are once again on the lookout! In the meantime I check the papers everyday and keep saving $ to finance the move when it happens.

[JohnASE]

It depends on what kind of location you're looking for.

A lot of people do what ninjanurse did and start with community centers or dance studios. Community centers might include Park & Rec centers or churches. Sharing with dance studios or other martial arts schools is pretty common. Some hold classes at gyms, either independently or as employees. Many teach after-school programs, especially at private schools, and some teach at colleges. For these kind of locations, you'd probably have to ask around.

As far as renting your own space goes, some prefer storefront locations, while others are happy in warehouse spaces. Obviously, the tradeoff is visibility vs lower rent. Again like ninjanurse, a lot of people hear about these spaces from someone they know or classified ads, but you can always use a commercial real estate agent.

[DWx]

I'm not a student owner but... we generally use a leisure centre, community centre and one of the high schools. A while back we were looking at a permenant location but the council were reluctant to agree to anything because they want to encourage more commercial enterprises in town. Our biggest problem is getting somewhere that's big enough but not too big and has decent facilities (or if we choose to buy, opportunity to build facilities into it). Something you may want to check into is planning restrictions but that's only here in the UK, don't know if its the same in the US.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

I actually started by approaching the community center in town and worked out a deal with them to use their facility. I then expanded to another town by contacting the dance studio there and working out a similar deal. One day the parent of one of my students called me about a storefront that had gone up for rent that day (she saw them hanging the sign as she drove by) and we moved in there a few weeks later. I am presently looking to find a bigger place and my parents and students are once again on the lookout! In the meantime I check the papers everyday and keep saving $ to finance the move when it happens.

iam not a studio owner yet, but i know and are currently helping a potential one right now...and he is doing is exactly what ninjanurse said. he talked to the community centers and is starting there, which in return will help him with the money he needs to open one up and pay for rent, but if you are purely looking for a place of your own, i'd search the general area for something that would work.

[ironsifu]

hi

i do adult classes, so my students come from all over. i choose my place becase it is in a low rent area. i drove around to find where the rent is cheap but i am in a high traffic area. i think if you get your reputation is a good school, your location can be anywhere. for a school, if you have a low rent, you dont have to "monkey" as a teacher. i know lots of teachers who want only traditional pure, arts, but they end up with birthday party and clowning around with 4 years old kids, just to pay the bills.

i will put some pictures of my place if i can figure it out, and you can see how basic my school is, but it sends a message to new students, what kinds of school we are.

[Budderfly]

We're currently looking for a new location ourselves. Find a commercial realtor and let them know what you are looking for in size, preferred location and budget. They'll do a lot of the leg work and they usually have advance notice of what's going to be avialable to the market. This is especially good for our area because commercial real estate is hard to find with all the new developments going on.

Small warehouse rentals can turn into good martial art schools and the rates are usually cheaper and there is no "commen-area" fees. When looking for a new place check on those too. Commen-area fees are sort of like strata or landscaping fees if you're in a shopping mall type-location (or something with a public parking lot). It can be pricey sometimes depending on the location.

[Tiger1962]

I would just keep driving around in my spare time in the neighborhood of where I'd want my school to be. Take down the phone numbers of any vacant spots for rent and call. It's a lot of car / foot work but if you are determined to do this, I think this is the quickest way - also checking your town's newspaper.