Opening a darkroom shop - any advice welcomed :)

[orlovphoto]

Hi there,

So in the next week I believe I am going to sign the papers which will make me the proud owner of a fairly decent space with 6 enlarger stations and all the proper trimmings. I am going to have in them an 8x10 Durst beauty (special pricing for the use of that one) 2 Omega 2D and 2-3 Sauders LPL enlargers (one might end up being a 23C), There is a HUGE sink running the span of the entire opposing wall in the room too so each enlarger has enough space opposite it in the sink to have 3 11x14 trays. There is a loading room of course and another big finishing and film processing room with two sinks (that room could be bigger, but what the heck...)

I plan to do 4 things there:

1) Rent the spaces for a half-day or full day use (I was thinking 40ish for half day or $65 for full or you can get a monthly membership for $150 and then pay only $5 flat per visit - how does that sound?)
2) Offer classes in film photography (with possible 'general' photo classes here and there too)
3) Do custom printing for artists and portrait photographers who still appreciate hand crafted fiber based prints
4) Use that as a base to advertise my own portraiture services

The good thing is that at the moment there seems to be no competition at all for this in this city other than a few community colleges and that's a totally different thing.
Any thoughts?

 

[RockstarPhotography]

i guess the biggest question you have to ask yourself is "Is there a need for this in this area?" You have to look at it from a business standpoint and put your own feelings aside. Will this make you money? Will this make you money 5-10 years down the road? If this is more of a hobby you don't plan to make anything off of them by all means go for it. I just don't see the film photography industry as one that is going to produce much anymore. And its going to get worse, not better.

 

[orlovphoto]

I think the biggest question to ask yourself is why do you live on this planet and what gives you that morning rush of good energy after waking up - is it the prospect of making a buck, the hope to get laid after a binge party or is it something different? For the artists silver will always be the essence of photography and you know what they said through the ages - build it and they will come.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

It sounds like, from your second post, you already have your answers. :er:

As far as pricing, how can anybody help you with that, without knowing your full overhead costs, and the minimum usage to just break even? You say there's no competition for it? Hmmmmm...

 

[FoggyLens]

You know when I started and was looking for a place to print my portraits for clients. You where what I was looking for.. I didn't want to send my photos off to someplace via the net and have a computer print them and mail them to me. I want a for real print shop. A person developing my portraits.. I did find this after a long search and I think the quality is much better all around.. In deed if you build it they will come..

 

[RockstarPhotography]

I guess what i'm trying to get at is why limit yourself to just darkroom? I worked at a truck accessory store for about 5 years. We only sold aftermarket truck accessories. I asked the owner one time why we don't sell car accessories and he said because he liked trucks. I told him I think we are missing out on a large part of the market by limiting ourselves to just trucks, after all, we already had all the vendors. I convinced him to start selling auto accessories in our store (there were 7 different stores). Sales went through the roof.

I don't understand why you would want to limit yourself to one small part of a large market. If you could do digital printing, for example, that would bring in other customers. You could offer a coupon for first time users to get some free darkroom lessons. You may just get somebody hooked on it and have another customer. We all want to do what our passion is, but that always doesn't pay the bills. Sometimes you have to branch out a little.