Opening arcade business (Calling all business specialists and helpers)

[TurtleGamer]

Hello all,

First of all here is a little about me, and then we have my idea...

I moved from England to Portugal, in the UK I'm used to a lot of arcades and fun entertainment centers like bowling alleys and stuff, but when I moved to Portugal that was like unheard of. It's been now like 11 years I think I've lived here, and only places I've seen arcades are like tourist areas and yet You're lucky if you find them.

For the past 3 years since I Finished all my schooling my dad has been asking if I have any business ideas...at first I wanted to do a restaurant but in the small town I live it (Considered a city: Vila Nova De Santo Andre, Setubal, Portugal, for those curious)restaurants are everywhere, along with coffee shops, a rare thing is entertainment areas, we have a few bars but they only have snooker and after a while not only does it get expensive it gets boring. Coffee shops are everywhere too but expensive from a simple coca-cola being 1.20€ to a tiny coffee being 1€, a new shopping market opened and it has one of the cheapest little coffee shops in it a coke is only 0.60€ beating every other coffee shop out of the price range, YET it's not that pact, (Probably because it's located inside a shopping market). ANYWAY things like bowling, and arcades are things only found in the blinking capital of the country which is a 1h30min drive. So again, here is my plan:

There is this old quite big building, really unfinished only has a couple floors and a roof but it's big and in a really good kinda isolated open area, near a few residential and also near like some weird university that was built. it's kinda in the middle of an open field, and with that came the idea of nice room for parking and nice outdoor area, in this small town we also have A LOT of skaters, young and old, so I could probably add in a nice skate park (I'd ask a couple skaters to even design it for me so it's how they want it) but that would obviously add into insurance cost, but I don't think it'll be too bad would it?

Next would be the building itself, I obviously want an arcade, fun games like shooters and basketball hoop games along with fighters and some classic pac-man and ofcourse racers, prices would change between 1€-0.50€. You'd pay 1€ for games with long play time like racers, basketball and other games where the game playtime is long, and then games where there is a possibility of you having short play time, like Pac-man and the shooters, you'd pay only 0.50€ (Also good because shooters are what some people prefer) I'd have 1 security guard to keep things under control, and 1 standby guy to fix any mechanical or electrical problems with the machines. I think that would be enough for the staff. Would the arcade need it's own bathroom?

After that, I'd need something to attract people, something where people like parents could hang around while their kids had fun, so ofcourse a coffee shop with nice affordable prices, these however would have to be determined after spoken to suppliers to get a decent affordable price but also have some profit. So yeah, a coffee shop, nice prices, TV's with music/sports and free wifi (EVERYONE LOVES FREE WIFI), because with free wifi after a time people would want to drink and maybe eat while doing whatever. Staff for the coffee shop would be around 4-6 people, have it organized and flowing cuz a lot of coffee shops here are so unorganized your left waiting forever to get a simple drink. The staff would obviously have to been young and cute, don't wanna sound like a dick but let's be honest, that's what attracts people.
So, now we have outside skate park, indoor coffee shop and arcade, but yet I'm not bringing in as much as a could, sure arcades are fun but senior teens don't want to be in a arcade full of kids, so what about a small maybe 5-7 lane bowling alley?

The bowling alley: It would probably have to be even numbers so groups of people could fight off each other I guess, It'll have to have its own small bathroom (You don't want people to go off to the bathroom and have everyone wait on them to return[Something that happened to me once]) so yeah bowling alley, have like 2-3 people working at the little shoe thingy and also to keep things running incase balls got stuck or anything. Also add in like a soda machine, but a tad bit more expensive, a only a little bit that way if you didn't get a bit thirsty while playing you could get a quick coke or whatever you prefer.

So ok, now we have, outdoor skate park, indoor Arcade with a coffee shop and also a nice bowling alley. It does get hot here, and I mean really hot, the only 2 swimming pools are from neighboring towns, and mainly very clothing strict and indoor. There is an outdoor pool here but it's small and only at a coffee shop/bar, so, maybe add in a pool? But that would have to be a future project.

So far...that's all I've got thought up...any more ideas, feedback all is welcome, looking for honest answers. Obviously I need business help and A LOT of financial opinions...because along with all of this, we have to add in the pricing of insurance, the electrical work and the finishing of the building, along with landscaping and everything else....interior design, etc etc...
I am aware of the whole "Arcades are dead" thing but I'm pretty sure that's because they are JUST ARCADES and don't have anything else to do.

[David Hunter]

Sounds like you want to build a whole amuzement park! haha

Not sure how to go about it, but just be sure there's a market for it! Maybe start small.... with the arcade and see how it goes. Then add in the skate park and go on from there.

Then, once you add in the pool be sure you have lots of insurance! Heck, even with the skate park you'll want lots of insurance. Who knows who'll be ready to sue you after the first incident.

Oh, and regards to bathrooms... yes! Put in a bathroom.

[mentrabi]

Agree with the above post, start with one of the projects and build up into the others. Even before you start the first one, do some local market research and find out if it's worthwhile. Good luck, and let us know how it goes

[LogansWalk]

I agree with David, I'd start with just the arcade and build from there. People are getting into 80s stuff again and arcades were really big in the late 70s-80s - hell, I would spend several hours every Saturday playing video games for years during the early 80s. I know that in speaking with people recently I've heard many times recently that people miss the old game rooms so if you were to open and advertise such a place, it would do pretty well, I imagine and from there you could start building on your idea.

[bonddm]

I like the idea. Perhaps if you worked with the local parks and recreation program you could pitch out those ideas and set up a contract. I'm not sure how the UK works but outdoor and indoor recreation is much needed as a place to get away from the stressful events of everyday life. I always liked the idea of letting the government handle liabilities and legal matters while the investors reap the benefits.