Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Drive-by dreams

I've got a confession. I'm obsessed with real estate.

Commercial real estate, specifically.

I've got a habit of driving past buildings and storefronts (repeatedly) and daydreaming about the kind of business I'd start if I owned it. (It drives my husband nuts.)

It's a perfectly harmless little game; I'm happy with my day job and have no intention of leaving it.

But still, I can't stop daydreaming about owning my own business someday and turning a tired, sad little storefront into something truly great. Into something that's all mine.

And as you may have guessed, now that I'm equally obsessed with pie, I daydream about chucking it all to have my own pie shop.

And of course, I found the perfect location:

Can't you just see "The Pie Shark" on the marquee? I can.

This now-defunct Hostess thrift store would make a totally kick-ass pie shop.

It's located just off a busy intersection, has ample, easy in-out parking and could be (with a lot of paint and imagination), cute as a button.

As you can guess, I've spent a lot of time (in my head), remodeling this little chunk of real estate. I even went so far as to find out how much it costs to buy the building outright. (Only $325K!)

Yes sir, it could be great.

Now, now. Before you call the psych ward for a curbside pickup, don't worry -- I'm a realist. I know a home-grown pie shop is not a sustainable business concept.

There's no way I could compete with the Sara Lee empire in my tiny (albeit cute as hell) operation.

But still, a girl can dream, can't she?