Physical Bariatric Store

Good morning all. I was thinking this morning as I watched another VSG video, wouldn't it be nice to have a bariatric store you can physically walk into. They would have prep containers and lunch boxes to food scales and bariatric vitamins to protein drinks and shakes. Just all your essential in one physical store. Plus the store would have a rewards program that caters to weight lose surgery. What are you thoughts on this type of store in your area? I cannot be the only one thinking this. Inquiring minds want to know? LOL

There would have to be enough customers to support it. It might be best to bill it as a weight loss and Bariatric support store instead of just Bariatric?

It would definitely depend on your area and size of your community. Where I live I have a feeling I would be the only one using it. Like Liz mentioned, billed as Nutrition/Weight Loss and Bariatric support might go over well. So far, none of the nutrition/natural food stores in my area have anything related to WLS.

This wouldn't really be my type of store since everyone seems to have such different ideas on how to do things. I'd rather pick and choose my supplies from Amazon and other local places!

Unless you're in a large city like New York, Chicago or LA (I'm in suburban DC) I can't imagine the demand for a store like this. I'm 14+ years post-op DS and would have no need for a store specifically for bariatrics. Vitalady was a great resource for vitamins and other supplements, but I haven't shopped with her for at least 2 years when they started having issues with quality control. I'm now able to get all my vitamins from either local stores (mostly Costco for multi-vitamins and calcium) or Amazon. You can buy a food scale anywhere. I also haven't touched a protein supplement in years either.

I agree in theory it sounds great but I think it would be hard to have enough walk in business to survive. Sadly most business can no longer support the cost of a brick and mortar site.

Honestly, you can get all of that stuff at Target or Wal-Mart now. You don't need bariatric-specific vitamins-- plain old Centrum works just fine-- and they have all of the other stuff too.

Thanks all for your responses. I guess you all are right. As I watch YouTube I just thought it would be a good business adventure. You know, one-stop-shop. I know personally 12 people at my job alone who has had WLS. But like you guys said it depends on area. Thanks again.

This is the heart of entrepreneurship. You see an opportunity or a need. Then you decide if you can provide a way to fill that need. What is the worst that could happen? Can you survive if you put everything you have into it and it goes bust? What is the best that could happen? You could be the next zillionaire. Don't wait for someone else to do it. Do it yourself if you think you can succeed.

For the record, I ran my own business for almost 25 years before deciding to ease into retirement and do something else. It went very well, and while I never got rich, I was much happier than if I had been working for someone else.

Hi LittleBillJr,

Someone else told me the same thing. Cannot hurt to submit a business plan. Thanks for the reply.

Robin