Encountered with several minutes of unexpected downtime – specifically, a computer that decided to have a bit of a temper tantrum – I decided that the best course of action would be to take a nice, relaxing walk through the city’s downtown. While the city has a fair number of the things you expect from a downtown – food, stores, places to sit and enjoy a lovely day – I wondered what could fit in the empty storefronts.
One idea I had was for a vintage arcade. I don’t know if you would actually make any money on this – given the cost of maintaining old arcade machines and the sheer amount of effort required to keep them running, it feels like an incredibly high-effort way to lose money – but there’s a growing market that would have an interest. “Authentic” old games are increasing in value all the time because people are nostalgic for the toys of their youth. A vintage arcade would be a fun way to get those nostalgic folks from the ‘80s and ‘90s out and playing the games they remember, possibly showing them to their kids and reminiscing. It would be a way for people to see stuff they otherwise wouldn’t, because prices have gotten out of hand.
It would have to be run by a game-obsessed, wealthy individual who is totally fine with throwing money down the drain for the sake of a fun hobby. You wouldn’t make a dime on this and would have to accept this fact. But it would be a fun venture for a very specific kind of dedicated individual. I’d probably combine it with a store that actually has a chance of making a profit.
Another store that would have no chance of making a profit would be a place that sold and developed film. Well, they would have no chance if they just relied on the Yorkton market, which I am pretty sure consists of me. What you would need is a place that brought in a lot of online business in order to serve the niche of weirdos who like playing around with vintage camera equipment. There is no way you would make money on this business, but I would like to either stop shipping film to Toronto or have a helpful person teach me how to process it myself.
Given that I’m not a big enough market to sustain a business, you could make it a more general art supply and studio space, bringing in all the stuff that local artists have to order from elsewhere and hosting classes to help them foster their creativity.
I think the message here is that I am not particularly good at cooking up profitable businesses.
Part of that is to the credit of the businesses in the city’s downtown. Even with a few store closures, there are a lot of businesses offering a varied amount of stuff downtown. You’ve got clothes, sporting goods, cafes, and specialty grocery stores. You can take up sewing, you can buy some antiques, you can plan for an exciting evening with your spouse. Explore the city’s downtown and you’ll find that there is more here than you think and the city doesn’t actually have that many major gaps that need to be filled.
But it does have storefronts that need to be filled. If you want a business that would have an enthusiastic supporter who couldn’t possibly help you make a profit, my ideas would put something in a building for at least a month.
