I'd highly reccomend taking an entrepreneurship class at a local college. This will inform you of all the risks and things you may not know about starting a business. Business law is extremely complicated, and if you don't educate yourself even a little bit, you're setting yourself up for failure.
Many people have already stated the overhead costs of running an arcade, however, here are some other costs besides rent and salaries you may not have thought of.
Insurance: You will need a good insurance agent that can provide you with coverage for a multitude of things that can go wrong at your arcade. If someone injures themselves on a DDR machine, or drumsticks from Drummania fly out of someone's hands and hit another patron in the eye, or any number of injuries from that can happen, you can, and will, be sued. Unless you want to lose everything you worked for right away, you will need a comprehensive insurance plan to cover any lawsuits.
In addition, you will need insurance to cover damage that comes to your games. Fire, Theft, and Vandalism can and do happen. If someone breaks your new IIDX monitor, when a fight breaks out, you'll need insurance to cover it unless you want to spend a lot of money on a new one.
You will also probably want insurance against acts of nature. This deals with location but tornado, flood, etc. can ruin your business.
You may not think that you need these things, but if you don't want your bank to repossess your car/home/other collateral at the first instance of bad luck, you will.
You will need to hire an accountant. Tax law changes every year. You want someone who's job it is to know these changes inside and out, you won't be able to do it personally with the worries of running an arcade. It doesn't need to be someone that comes in to work every day for you, but it is expensive to pay them just a few times a year. A good accountant can also save you a lot of money in the long run.
You will need to hire a lawyer. I do not know the laws of your particular state, but it is almost always best to incorporate your business, as opposed to forming a sole proprietorship. It's more expensive, requires a lawyer, but the advantages are very good for anyone seriously considering any kind of business venture (again, your state may differ). You will also need the lawyer for dealing with lawsuits and insurance comapnies for the numerous problems mentioned above.
To enter any business venture without considering all of these costs, in addition to overhead, is foolish. Others have stated that you will need $100k to start this -- consider that a minimum.
Like I stated at the begining of this post, a class at a community college will greatly help you expand your knowledge of the risks and costs in such a venture.
Besides that, no one likes playing old bemani. When I travel to Toronto a few times a year, I always laugh at the Pop'n 6 machine at one of the arcades. Even on freeplay night, it's never touched.
I know you're saving money now, but if you really want this dream to happen, I'd suggest going to university, getting a good job that pays good money, and with that income behind you, open up the arcade as a side project. You will need to hire more employees to run it, but you can still decide what games get added, you won't depend on it for your main income so having a revenue stream in the red won't be as detrimental to your well being. |