Thoughts on opening a tv/movie memorabilia museum...

danny_duke01 · Post by **danny_duke01** » Mon Jan 18, 16 6:35 pm

Hi guys,

Just after your thoughts on a business venture i'm thinking of starting. It's something i've always dreamed of doing and now with selling my home and deciding to move to the Suffolk area,i could be in a financial position to do so.
As many of you know,i'm a HUGE tv/film memorabilia collector and have been for many years. My main part of the collection is American action tv shows and movies...
Dukes of Hazzard/The Fall Guy/The A team/Knight Rider/Starsky & Hutch/Street Hawk/Kojak/Chips/Smokey and the Bandit/Cannonball Run/Bullitt & so on...(i think you get the theme

)

Well...i'm thinking of opening some kind of museum to display all my toys,die-casts,model kits,posters etc and thinking of a town like Bury St Edmunds or Cambridge...somewhere where i will get alot of passing trade and a in a tourist location. Sadly at the moment my collection is all stored in crates in my home,my Dads home,loft,shed,garage and anywhere else i store crates!!

This is why i would love to open a museum to display it all in one place and let other people get enjoyment from seeing it. I've done lots of research and there are many toy,train,dolls museums in the UK but these are more vast and don't tend to stick to one theme...

Just wondered what your thoughts were on this idea,would it work,would it appeal to others etc etc??

Thanks

Trigger_Andy · Post by **Trigger_Andy** » Mon Jan 18, 16 6:53 pm

Sounds really fun but to be honest with the Internet having everything you'd even want to see a click away I cant see it doing that well.

I love museums as many here will be surprised about and take my kids when we can but this would not appeal to me nor the kids.

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Mon Jan 18, 16 6:59 pm

Trigger_Andy wrote:Sounds really fun but to be honest with the Internet having everything you'd even want to see a click away I cant see it doing that well.

I love museums as many here will be surprised about and take my kids when we can but this would not appeal to me nor the kids.

take the kids b o lllaxxx the sort of museum you would be looking at i am sure tight rubber mask,s incubus type objects, torture apperatus,,,,,, am i right

Dart Vader · Post by **Dart Vader** » Mon Jan 18, 16 7:18 pm

Hi Danny

I think you're idea is admirable but...

remember that just because we have a passion for these cars, they don't have a very broad appeal to the general public. yes kids might like to have a poke about but how relevant are the dukes etc these days. very few museums take enough of the gate to keep them open. it's not like you have the mona Lisa on display

most museums rely on benefactors, lottery funding and other donations even then, they need charity status to reduce tax burdens and some corporate liabilities.

you then need to weigh up other costs, premises, running costs, staff (if not you) time you can allocate to it etc etc.

location is everything as well, a tourist area might be ok for a capital like London that has a year round visitor base, Bury St Edmunds might be really nice and busy in the summer but what about the other 6 months of the year.

don't want to rain on a parade but if I where you I'd build a nice man cave and admire the collection without the stress of worrying about paying the rent.

anyway, how you gonna attend all our events if your stuck in your museum at the weekend !

I'm in the hospitality industry and see people get into a world of hurt because they have always fancied owning a restaurant. there's a saying in the trade

what does it take to lose a million pounds?

answer.....open a restaurant

so what does it take to lose two million pounds

answer.......keep it open.

just my two penneth. I would visit it if you opened it mind you

can do a you a good deal on tableware for your cafe if you open one !

Trigger_Andy · Post by **Trigger_Andy** » Mon Jan 18, 16 7:19 pm

Maybe.......

Cannonball wrote:
Trigger_Andy wrote:Sounds really fun but to be honest with the Internet having everything you'd even want to see a click away I cant see it doing that well.

I love museums as many here will be surprised about and take my kids when we can but this would not appeal to me nor the kids.
take the kids b o lllaxxx the sort of museum you would be looking at i am sure tight rubber mask,s incubus type objects, torture apperatus,,,,,, am i right

danny_duke01 · Post by **danny_duke01** » Mon Jan 18, 16 7:53 pm

Appreciate your comments guys and that's why i threw the idea out here on the forum...i want to see people views on the idea and what kind of people would be interested etc.

This toy museum is Essex seems to be doing very well,opened since 1991 and had just over 2.5 million visitors at £9.95 per person!!

http://www.stanstedtoymuseum.com/

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Jan 18, 16 9:44 pm

Its always good to have a dream, but Cambridge is phenomenally expensive to live and buy property (property prices went up 20% last year alone); and I have to say that Bury St Edmunds is pretty expensive too. We would like to move there and your money does not go far.

I think what you propose is a very niche area, and I can always remember the memorabilia place that was open in Bury.

It had Lots of football stuff, music, and even the original script from the "Blues Brothers" film signed by ALL the cast.

The shop always had lots of people in it browsing.

That diversity and popularity did not stop it closing down.

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Mon Jan 18, 16 10:47 pm

Chase your dreams mate.
If it fails. At least you failed trying
And if it don't. Happy days.
Only one way to find out !

cadboy · Post by **cadboy** » Tue Jan 19, 16 6:53 am

Everything has risks, but you will only know when you try it.

Sounds good and worth a try.

Good luck.

english68 · Post by **english68** » Tue Jan 19, 16 8:41 am

There are a few examples in the US where collectors have opened up specialist museums successfully. The ones I remember are on a 'trail' or similar, meaning they catch visitors en route to bigger things

(Half-remembering the Star Wars museum that is somehow on the way to Comic-Con? - the owner managed to get George Lucas to admit that there was more stuff in this guys museum than Lucas had in his own collection)

They do have the low cost of property on their side though.

Even though it's niche, multi-show means a broad spread of attractions. That must be good, especially if there is a 'star' attraction as well.

What about a Guest Spot, to keep it changing and have a reason to get coverage/publicity?

(Visiting General Lees, or Yellow Deuces, cast visits, loan items from other collectors or even the studios, etc)

The key to success for others seems to be that the attraction needs to be two businesses - one to bring them in (the collection), the other to relieve them of some cash (cafe/bookshop/bunji-jump(!))

Or be based at another attraction and tap into their crowd (1700 cars on cold New Years day at Brooklands!)

Would the space have a car park? Look how well the Ace Cafe does out of niche gatherings - bring business and keep it the spotlight.

Cambridge is pricey but buzzing all year round with visitors of every kind. Hopefully something to tap into there...

What's happening to the Cars of the Stars museum in the Lake District?

Just my 2p and not properly thought-through but it's worth chasing, surely better to have this kind of treasure on show than stuffed away in corners all over the place?

Good luck with it!

E68

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Tue Jan 19, 16 8:57 am

I think that unless you can start it off using property you already own to keep overheads to a bare minimum, you'd be taking a pretty hefty punt. I get the feeling there just isn't enough interest out there for it to make any money.

latil · Post by **latil** » Tue Jan 19, 16 9:26 am

There will be interest but likely not enough to sustain the venture,could you try approaching other museums to see if your collection could become one of their sections?
We had a superb pedal car museum not far from here,set up by a life long collector and self made millionaire,it lasted 4 years citing family reasons for closure.

Dave81 · Post by **Dave81** » Tue Jan 19, 16 2:29 pm

Agree with the other's. It would also be limited market via repeat visits.
Major motor museums have similar issues and need huge warehouses and stock rotation to try and keep people going back.

I think the percentage of potential failure far outweighs the potential for profit.

In all honesty I think with the great work your doing with the cop car, it would be cheaper in the long run and probably yield as bigger income, for you to buy a GL Charger and then do rentals for proms, weddings and other events.

GL being chased by the cops. Both correct to the original series........=

Worst case you try it for two years, limited market.
You have then had a GL Charger in you life.....tick, it will not lose money so you sell and break even.........no harm no foul!

I'm kinda risk averse, but even my man maths can see the above as win win!

If it works then dependant on income add to the fleet.....maybe a Trans Am and Buford's Police car.......then Starsky Torino followed by Colts GMC Sierra.

Hope you have lots of land.........

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Tue Jan 19, 16 3:33 pm

If you sold your toy collection you could possibly afford to buy the mintest general lee and maybe an original cop car from the series like someone has mentioned do weddings proms etc and frees up all that wasted storage space, i now look on my bit of a car/book collection as ffs there is a hemi mtr sat there rather than this tat collecting dust,,,

yabadaba · Post by **yabadaba** » Tue Jan 19, 16 7:39 pm

Great idea Danny Duke!

There's lots of good Moparts laying around in the UK.
Personally I like looking at Engines, especially HEMI's, 426 392 354 291 on and on and on...
You could fill a whole room with mother Mopar hemi's and Max-wedge motors.
Some could be running examples with outside exhausting.
Then you have the famous movie cars.
A Bullitt Charger, a General Charger, a Fast and Furious Charger, a Crazy Larry Charger, Daisy Duke Roadrunner, Joe Dirt Daytona (which a friend of mine built) etc.etc. etc...
Then a Wingcar Nascar an Altered Wheelbase Landy Dodge, a Lawman Charger, wow the list is endless.

When do we start fella???

Keep the faith Yabs.