First, I just have to give a shoutout to our amazing realtor, Anabel Bentley! She's been such a blessing already as she works so hard and is so supportive with our crazy dream. This week we looked at 3 building options and toured some properties within those. Take a look at this week's video:

Our Dream vs our BIG Dream

We challenged ourselves to open a coffee shop in 365 days but the big dream was always to open a WHOLE shopping center. Or a mini shopping center to be more specific. It would be similar to the Silos at Magnolia Farms where there would be 7 buildings surrounding a large grass area. The main building would be our coffee shop and the other 6 buildings would be Christian-owned businesses such as a kids boutique, library, a bakery and more.

We know this is a crazy dream and unless we raise $2M we'll have to put it on hold and start with something smaller like a lease.

Speaking of, here are the options for the three properties.

Option 1) Buying Land

We would LOVE to build our own coffee shop in our own style so looking at land was my first choice if possible. This is where I got the idea to think bigger because if I get 2 acres or more then I can expand to our full shopping center in the future. 

Pros:

• Allows us to expand our dream
• We can control the look of the coffee shop

Cons:

• It's SUPER expensive
• We'd have to figure out zoning laws for mixed use type of property 

Option 2) Buying Land with an old House on it

This was not a bad idea and could totally work if we find the right property. The challenging thing is whatever structure is on the property it needs to work for us OR we'd have to spend a lot of money to demo it and start over. 

Pros:

• Usually easier to find mixed use properties
• Can help us get started faster if there's a good building on it

Cons:

• Can have a lot of issues with the old structures
• Could be costly to remove old structures and start over

Option 3) Leasing a Space

This is probably the most realistic option for us and not a bad place to start. We can even look at some local churches to lease straight from them which would also open up the chance to grow our community. 

Pros:

• Cheapest option and let's us learn without losing as much money
• Most realistic entry point into the business

Cons:

• Can't control the design style of the building (and I REALLY want to control that)
• Lease can go up at any point and we're not investing long term in a space of our own

Conclusion

Overall it's been a very educational week and we're going to keep our minds open to whichever direction this goes but the most likely one will be starting with a lease. If by God's grace we raise a lot of funds then we'd LOVE to buy a piece of property and build from scratch. 

Please keep us in your prayers on this journey, we really want God to be glorified through everything we do.