They have a sign on their door - went there last night.

$135K, partial owner finance possible. Reportedly a profitable operation in large strip shopping center at 121/Glade Road Bedford/Grapevine/Colleyville area. Older owner / operator couple looking to retire - they own two more on the South side of Fort Worth and want to focus on those.

I have contact name and number if anyone is interested. Brad at WheelchairsForIraqiKids.com

Had a friend that bought one almost killed them, eventually both he and his wife had to work there full time quitting successful jobs with benefits. It is a business that makes good money but you go in at 4am to make the ice cream and it stays open until 10pm. You can only afford teenagers and they tried for 4 years to find or develop someone to be a manager type but they kept getting ripped off. In the end they sold it for a bit less then what they paid for it and went back into the work force. It is of course somewhat seasonal. He did build a a pretty good corporate catering aspect to it but that just took up more time and required more help which left the store with less supervision.

This store is open at 12 noon and closes at 10pm. True, it's a retail job that requires teens or college students be employed. Key to any business is finding good people - this will be no different for whoever might want the opportunity.

Here is an interesting article from the WSJ today about the Franchisees suing marble slab corporate.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577211391192172770.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_smallbusiness

The problem is I if you have one you just bought a tough job. If you have more than maybe it gets to where you can hire a manager and some assistants, but even the current owners are not doing that because it would probably eat up all profits.

I live by that one and don't think it is in an especially great location, it is kind of in the back corner of the shopping center and not well advertised.

Buyer could maybe look at moving it to some of the new shopping centers going in in the future for that area.

not specifically talking about this thread, but ANYTIME you have an owner of multiple franchises and they decide to sell a certain one, DO NOT buy it. They are selling because of a reason.

I've wondered how ice cream places are doing with the recent surge of frozen yogurt stores like Spoons.

Meh, I've always thought Marble Slab felt run-down and dirty compared to Cold Stone. Just my perception, maybe.

So you'll spend 135k to buy a 60hr per week job that will pay you 80k a year?

Pass.

Franchisors have the costs to a science. I know a Subway owner that has 2 stores and he can't stand corporate. He has 2 of the top 5 producing stores in his city and all corporate does is stop by looking for infractions to justify fining him. They don't reward him for running 2 succesful stores for them. He has been working 60+ hours/wk for the past 10 years and has taken a serious toll on his quality of life and put a strain on his marriage. He is fed up with corporate and is looking to sell very soon as he is ready for retirement but feels bad for anyone getting into the Subway biz.

[This message has been edited by roycoy (edited 2/10/2012 10:31p).]

Roycoy,

If your friend is interested in selling, please e-mail me at rafaelgarzaiv at yahoo.com.

This thread is making me hungry.