apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

wine bar? that should save money on liquor permits

Holy crap, can I be you when I grow up? How awesome is this? You could, since you have no exhaust, and assuming you're zoned for business, open a macrobiotic raw foods and coffee bar. Fruity, I know, but good stuff and no ventilation needed : ) Piles of board games, books, and a couple used Chesterfield sofas and craigslist coffee-tables... I would never leave.

If you're looking to make money off the business, it's probably not a good idea to decide the type of business by what you've got in the basement. Look at your location, look at local businesses, foot traffic, parking, etc. Those should be your drivers.

Wine bar!

speakeasy...on the DL. food: antipasto. salad. charcuterie plates and cheese plates. wine!!!!! and fancy, old school cocktails. then let me know when it's open, so that i may visit your fair city and your awesome establishment.

What are you zoned for? You might be able to set up a sort of craft studio, where people could come in to take classes and work on projects. Maybe more like a cooperative. Anything with food or drink sets you up for liabilities and insurance headaches.

Depending on your location and size of the space you can convert it to a smallish coworking space. Basically, you rent out desks so that people (regulars) can come and work instead of going to a coffee shop (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking and http://www.workalicious.org/coworking .) Probably not a very large startup cost (desks, network/internet facilities, initial marketing) and once you get it going it practically runs itself.

I really like the idea of a craft space that you can rent out to budding artists. A coffee and book lounge would be the route I would go, but I do love the art idea. I got to say that I am FILLED with envy at this space. How lucky did you get!?!

Hmmm...I feel like it'd be fun as a sort of vintage curiosities shop...but I do like the co-working idea as well...

Think hard before doing any kind of bar, as you will live over it, but if you can place your sleeping windows away from noise then you could do a winebar. Check out bourgeouis pig nyc. Their menu is wine, chocolate, cheese, espresso and its killer. they do awesome fondue also. If your going to manage it as a business it should be something you love and enjoy, in addition to everything greenish said above...what a fun dilemma!

cafe, just sandwiches and pasta, and salad. wine, and beer is a must. delivery is a must. then you get some serious theme nights.. like in brooklyn at this bar they have the adult spelling bee night. it is absolutely hilarious.

Unfinished project swap - rent space (no hydroponics allowed), tools, and electricity to those who need DIY projects but have no room.

A paint box would be so cool, but would require extra ventilation.

Greenish is completely right. It's fun to fantasize, but you really do ned to consider the local market and what sort of unmet demand there might be for certain products or services.

Once you figure that out, let us know and then we will get cranking on some good ideas!

*need, not ned! :)

While it's clearly perfect for a bar of some sort, serving alcohol alone is probably out of the question. The City of Chicago, and out bunk-ass mayor haven't been granting liquor licenses for years unless you serve food. Which gets expensive quick.

Maybe a dairy?

A coffee bar that's decked out like a regular bar, also serving wines and Liqueurs.

I like the idea of a coffee shop - cheap and you would have no need for a liquor license.

Cool cheap furniture could be found at thrift stores and the more mismatched the better as long as it's in good condition.

How much space does the actual bar take up?

Depending upon the layout, what about an art gallery or black box theater?

You need passion for a business venture, not just a great space.

Are you looking for a money-making business? Or just a sideline?

Used bookstores are notoriously bad money makers -- most are either labors of love or very labor-intensive work that is only profitable by selling books over the internet. You have to pay for all the inventory (unlike stores for new books, which can return unsold books to the publishers), and prices are low, unless you're dealing with collectibles.

Since the space is so charming, you could probably have a combination bookstore/cafe/gallery and maybe host special events in the evening. That way you'd have several different sources of revenue. But I agree with paintitbright -- you have to have a passion for the business. If you don't, maybe you could rent out the space to someone who does.

Best of luck.

Possibly you have endless cash so I am not going go into the reasons that asking what business you should start based on a picture of a cool old basement its not the right approach.

I do wish you good luck, at least it looks like a fun project.

Candy shop!!

I'm assuming you want to rent out the space and not open a business yourselves?

If that's the case, I think it's really up to the tenants to decide what they want to/ can make work in the space. You could advertise it as is, with your stipulations that the old features should be preserved and see what people are willing to try.

Just please don't let it be a Starbuck's...

If you want to launch into right away a coworking space would perhaps be easiest way to generate cash flow as you work on the rest of what you said was a large house. But starting a business and dealing with your new home is a LOT to take on at once. Unless you're independently wealthy and don't need a day job, I'd tackle any renovations with the house itself first for the first year then the business. And as others said, check what the neighborhood needs and can support and base your decisions on that.

Yoga studio would make you some sweet money. You'd have to remove the bar but you could sell it to someone so it had a good home. The reason I like yoga studio is it seems there'd be low operating costs for a high return , its quiet, short hours, and you don't have to deal with food vendors, book stock, or food prep, just instructors , minimal supportstaff, getting clients, and a washer drier for towels. Plus if you wanted to be charitable you could do free or sliding scale classes. Plus you'd have free yoga in your house. Mmmmm.

You don't start a business because you have the space, you start a business because you have a passion to do so. It takes way more than 40 hours a week to successfully run a new company, and you'd better do what you love!

You need to do tons of research. What are YOU interested in doing? What is your location zoned for? What skills do you have? Or lack and need to hire someone for? What will your neighbors pay to do/buy/use? What are the costs for starting up, including insurance? Security? Health inspections???

If you want to rent the space out, I'd get local real estate agents who are specialists in commercial real estate to come over and give you advice, and maybe list the rental for you. They would have some idea of what renters are looking for and what the space is suitable for.

Good luck.

Oh - I feel like I'm looking back at myself three years ago with the opportunity to yell "Don't Do It!!!"

Three years ago when we were shopping for our first home we somehow wound up looking at this mixed-use building in a transitional neighborhood with a pizza-shop like space on the ground floor and an apartment upstairs. On a whim we thought - let's do it and open a coffee shop/vegetarian cafe!

The renovations alone took up the majority of our business loan - and now we've been open for two years and are only beginning to break even on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong. We love it, the neighborhood loves it, we have a solid group of regular customers and are always seeing new people walk through the door - we've been very lucky as a new business (especially in this economy), but when I look back I realize that we didn't fully understand what we getting into. It's been a rough rough two years since we opened (not the mention the year of preparation).

We've had to scrape by on very little money (and our situation is pretty unique - we inherited a lot of the equipment needed to run the cafe, I was able to keep my full time job so that we could have an income when the cafe wasn't bringing anything in, our business loan was small and the payments are manageable, and the business doesn't pay rent since we pay the mortgage out of our personal expenses). It's been a bare bones three years in terms of any discretionary spending and free time (and the cafe is only open 60 hours a week! - I can't imagine longer hours).

On the other hand - if we were making enough to live on through the cafe, we'd be living our dream life - so we may stick it out another couple years and see how it goes. So, if it's something you really really want - go for it. I just wish I'd known how hard it was going to be when we started out.

Used bookstore/cafe! You can have baked goods and whatnot delivered by an outside company, if you don't want to do that yourself. Comfy old chairs and flea market tables n' lamps, super cozy! Host events on the weekends, ie. readings, DIY craft nights, karaoke nights, spelling bees (fun!) cheesy trivia nights. I'm envious, good luck with whatever you go with!

Cupcake bakeries seem to be all the rage in Boston right now, and would look pretty great on that bar. Alternately, a bookstore with great local beers on tap has always been an idea I've loved.

Without knowing more about your life and your finances, it's impossible to offer any intelligent advice (especially as this is an interior design blog, which is an odd place to apply for small business suggestions in the first place).

If you have a considerable independent income and are opening a business just for a lark, then a small art gallery might be an interesting idea, especially if you act merely as a venue rented out to exhibitors, rather than as the curator of a collection. The cherrywood bar could be maintained for the serving of cheese and wine at openings, and the only other work you'd need to do is to paint the walls white and install some gallery-quality adjustable lighting. It also has the advantage of being stylish and upmarket, free from weird smells and food waste, and not noisy.

If you actually need to make some money on this place, hire a small business consultant who can advise you on the insanely complicated issues involved in selecting a business. You need a hard head, not the advice of people like us.

"You don't start a business because you have the space, you start a business because you have a passion to do so."

Exactly.

If you really want to make money, simply rent the space to someone else and let them lose their shirt...

Hmmm -
How about putting in a tavern again?