Many factors caused us to expand our bookstore footprint.
As we added additional new books, our business grew proportionately. We thought that additional space would cause additional growth.
Our entrance was somewhat hidden, and although we were open for over three years, many local readers had no idea that we were open for business. Folks didn't like to come at night because the lighting in the back parking lot was poor.
When we bought the building, our mortgage rate was about 10%. As the rates lowered during George Bush's first term, while our payments remained the same, we built a huge equity in the building we owned. We were able to use this equity to refinance and pull the equity as building capital.
We had access to carpenters who would work by the hour, and do the job as I wanted it done to help with the construction.
Because of zoning restrictions, and deed countenances I would need help in establishing the new parking lot. Without the additional parking spaces, the project would not produce the desired results in providing additional traffic through the store. Additionally, the building would require a store-front appearance, not an office building as it had been constructed.
My problem was that the property that I purchased was in an industrial park, and was intended to be used as an office building. A 50 foot set-aside existed in the front of the building, and there were issues regarding the setback of the building fronm the property line because my property was part of a larger parcel
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The above picture shows the building at the start of the conversion project.
Since I already had as much fun dealing with the boys on the industrial park board of directors, I hired a local contractor who had very good political connections to implement the new parking area. In order to have two rows of parking spaces, it was necessary to have the edge of the parking lot 40 feet rather that 50 feet from the road. After much haggling, my contractor received a zoning variance allowing the parking lot. Now listen to this IF WE WERE WILLING TO PLANT SOME TREES AND SHRUBS, AMOUNTING TO $18,000.00.
Our new store front
With the news that we were going to have our new parking lot and store-front, we were off the the building phase. We first determined the general layout of the converted building, then we started ripping out walls, ceilings and rugs. We then started building new walls, fixing the ceiling and installing a new tile floor.
During the first phase of the construction, our activities were not visible from the existing store. We kept a dividing wall in-tact until the very last minute. As we did our demolition, we used the recovered space as a work-shop to build bookcases and other peices required for the store.
As we reached the end of the project, things got very tight because the open spaces was filled with the newly created bookcases. bookcases, etc. I am happy to say that the project was completed on time, and we were able to do all the work (except the parking lot) by ourselves.
As hoped, the new store and store-front has increased our walk in business considerably (about 300%). We now have about 8,000 sq ft. of store space.
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