www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Ok, not saying I'm going to do this anytime soon, but I have always thought that a brilliant business idea for San Jose, CR would be to set up a gourmet coffee shop very similar to Starbucks right there in the glutch. If you have been to CR enough you know that San Jose lacks a very high end stylish coffee chain. Sure they have places to buy coffee, in fact you can buy coffee almost anywhere there, but like Starbucks I would'nt be selling coffee. Instead I would be selling the experience of going to a Tuscany cafe with all the style and ambiance of a Starbucks. Internet access, jazz/ new age music, newspapers and magazines. What do you guys think?

Ticos probably wouldn't care about it but you're obviously targeting gringos anyway, question is would they care either...or have time?
Personally the Starbucks in my area give me the creeps, coffee's good but always a bunch of weirdos and fags hanging out in there.

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

If you can setup near HDR, then you can sell Vitamin V or C "pick me ups" along with your joe...

Seriously, a gringo starting a business in Costa Rica, unless you have previous experience doing business in CR, is certain to fail. I won't even get into all the reasons, but let's just say, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

I end up at the DR for my cappuccino or latte. I think you would have to have similar attractions to get a large gringo following.

No kidding aside, I agree, the gulch is lacking a good high end coffee shop.

The Dunn Inn, the SL, and the Amistad do not have an espresso machine.

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Play Safe

As a business plan, it's very incomplete. A real business plan has estimated costs and estimated revenues. I'm not saying it couldn't work, but remember the famous words of somebody or other:
HOPE IS NOT A PLAN

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"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

There's 1000 places to get a cheap cup o cafe in the gulch. HDR is also my favorite place because it's the cheapest thing on the menu, the bartenders are hot and rest of the scenery ain't bad either.

Maybe it would work in Escazu but they already have Bagelmans.

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

the key is large napkins, bitching rest rooms and, oh, bring 2 million so you can leave with 1



(calling dibs on the empty cardboard boxes!)

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Umbrellas........that's the hot item this time of year!

Berk....

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FRUITCAKE... and you thought it was something you eat! Not on CRT!

so hot that when the first drop of rain hits the pavement 6 zillion umbrella vendors hit the streets of San Jose.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Dave,

What's the next step, open in Colombia? No investor here, but love the get back there spirit. Maybe a coffe cart outside the arrivals for gringas may yield a break even situation. But, then you have to talk to them and they like cold leche. Tried, sorry, failed operation.

Dean

How are you BTW?

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my first wingman sent me this, how true

" most of the girls down here, lie as a self defense mechanism and to not have to face the truth, thinking most men couldn't accept them knowing the whole truth. Simpler, they may just want men to think they are as perfect as they want to appear to them, trying to hide what they consider to be the ugly truth about themselves. And I may be reading more into it than is there, but I do believe they consider the basis of the lies to be justified."

Yep, I was walking in downtown Wednesday, it started to pour and everybody and their mothers and daughters were selling umbrellas for 2,000 colones.

".....How do you become a millionaire in Costa Rica?....bring two million."

There is a coffee shop near the Del Rey. Directions: Leave the Del Rey, walking on the sidewalk toward the Morazon. Cross the street and turn left at the first intersection/light, (at the BCR Bank & Papi's aka Dos Gringo's). The coffee shop is the 2nd or 3rd business on the right.

If this coffee shop is still there, then its been there for 3 years. You can check it out and see how it is doing or compares to your idea.

Caution: Most of the stories I've heard about people doing business in Costa Rica are bad.

Don't buy or invest in Costa Rica until you have lived here for 3 years.

If you can't make money in your home country, you probably cant make money in Costa Rica. If you can make money in your home country you can easily loose it in Costa Rica.


PS: Don't buy or invest in Costa Rica .

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.

Someone recently told me that Cafe Britt was opening up a number of small coffee oriented shops. I have not seen one yet.


BKTUNA/Boyd
I am never going home

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BKTUNA/Boyd
I am never going home

IMHO - the gulch is not a good place for a gourmet coffee shop. People there seem to be interested in one of three things - whores, booze and gambling. You should try any one of the large malls around the city... although there would be competition. Or, there are lots of modern plazas in the suburbs. Competition there too. One just opened in Escazu - gourmet coffee shop with a book shop and music store. Nice looking place to chill, drink coffee and read.

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http://TipsCostaRica.com for pratical advice on living in Costa Rica.
In order to write about life, first you must live it! - E. Hemingway.