# Buying a business in Spain



## DEW2015 (Feb 19, 2015)

I am considering buying a business in Spain. As I own a bar in the UK, buying a bar in Spain would seem the obvious choice. My wife may run a gallery and crafts shop alongsde it or in addition to it. The areas I would like to look at for both opportunity and a good place to live appears to be the Javea area. Is the bar business doing OK in Javea, and if so what locations in particular? Or are there up and coming areas that are better suited to this that are also nice to live in? Or perhaps another kind of business is more suited to the area and these times. I would like to hear your comments, in particular from those who have experience in running a business in Javea and other parts of Spain.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

DEW2015 said:


> I am considering buying a business in Spain. As I own a bar in the UK, buying a bar in Spain would seem the obvious choice. My wife may run a gallery and crafts shop alongsde it or in addition to it. The areas I would like to look at for both opportunity and a good place to live appears to be the Javea area. Is the bar business doing OK in Javea, and if so what locations in particular? Or are there up and coming areas that are better suited to this that are also nice to live in? Or perhaps another kind of business is more suited to the area and these times. I would like to hear your comments, in particular from those who have experience in running a business in Javea and other parts of Spain.


I'd be interested to know if the bar business is doing ok anywhere in Spain! Perhaps the Canaries?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

DEW2015 said:


> I am considering buying a business in Spain. As I own a bar in the UK, buying a bar in Spain would seem the obvious choice. My wife may run a gallery and crafts shop alongsde it or in addition to it. The areas I would like to look at for both opportunity and a good place to live appears to be the Javea area. Is the bar business doing OK in Javea, and if so what locations in particular? Or are there up and coming areas that are better suited to this that are also nice to live in? Or perhaps another kind of business is more suited to the area and these times. I would like to hear your comments, in particular from those who have experience in running a business in Javea and other parts of Spain.


Jávea is a great place to live 

and there are plenty of bars for rent or sale here - probably most of them tbh

a lot of them change hands on an annual basis - that should tell you something

friends of mine with lots of bar experience in Spain - in Jávea in fact - sold their small bar to move into bigger premises this time last year.... they spent a fortune doing it up & were cheated by the so-called 'friends' who bought the small bar from them

despite all their loyal customers from their old bar going with them & despite increasing their clientele & being busy in the restaurant at weekends & some evenings & being in a near beachfront position .... they closed the doors in July ... all of 5 months later, cutting their losses before it broke them completely

there's a bar near me which has had 3 owners in as many years - it has a basement which was an art gallery until the end of last summer - the current owner is selling coffee at 1€ - he can't last long, because the busiest I've ever seen it was with 6 people in there drinking coffee - & it's a big unit

some of course are doing well - they are the ones which have been established for many years - the new ones come & go with frightening regularity


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

Hi,

I don't have experience of running a business in Spain but I have a lot of experience of bars 

I speak as a potential customer.

I can't work Javea out. Not far away in Moraira there is a good choice of Brit-style pubs. Really nice looking places in good positions serving good food. There aren't any in Javea. 

Why, I do not know.

I'm not suggesting that it's fertile ground, just pondering the mystery.


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## DEW2015 (Feb 19, 2015)

*Buying a Business in Spain*

Thanks for your replies so far and please keep them coming. I have had conflicting information, which I suppose is only natural, but I do wish to obtain a more accurate picture. I was told the Almeira area on the coast is upcoming and a good place to relocate to in terms of business, but in terms of living, the Javea area looks more appealing to us. Are the Javea-area bars on the seafront doing particularly better than those that are second-line or further inland? Are the bars that are doing well, at least on the surface, owned/managed by Spanish, Brits, others? I note that the gallery-bar idea didn't work in Javea. Have bars and other businesses really dropped off in Spain since the recession and not recovered. Anyway, I shall wait to hear more comments.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Horlics said:


> Hi,
> 
> I don't have experience of running a business in Spain but I have a lot of experience of bars
> 
> ...


there are a few - Javea Park way

I've seen some open up in the port & the Arenal but they never seem to last 

most of the the long lasting successful bars I know are Spanish run

I think the problem with a lot of the Brit-run bars is that the owners very often speak little or no Spanish, or any other language, so the Spanish & other nationalities just don't use them - so they are often limited to just the Brit population - thus cutting out about 75% of their potential clientele


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

You must have missed this bit Xchica... "Really nice looking places" 

I don't know of a single one that I would put into that category. If you do, please let me know what they're called so I can take a look.

As for the language issue, you're spot on. I have been in one bar and had to translate for them, and my Spanish is not at a level where I can be relied upon to get things right!

To the Op, a bit of advice. If you open in Javea or a place like it, make sure there is always at least one person there who can speak Spanish. 



xabiachica said:


> there are a few - Javea Park way
> 
> I've seen some open up in the port & the Arenal but they never seem to last
> 
> ...


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

There seems to be less churn of the front line than those just away from it. At Arenal, there are many popular bars that have been there for several years. It seems to me that the Spanish people are doing a better job of making a go of things than the Brits. In particular there are a couple of Spaniards who own more than one bar and who do very well indeed.

There are some Brit owned bars just back from the front that seem to me to be doing very well. They are unashamedly British, an example being that menus are in only the one language. That said, I have heard them speak Spanish when they occasionally get Spanish customers.

The port area is different. There are only a couple of Brit owned bars that I know of and both are pretty dreadful. One gets an "interesting" crowd, all sorts of different people, both English and Spanish. The other is dire. It's basic and scruffy and is like being caught on the set of Eastenders; lots of shouty voices in London/Essex accents, but different in that it's all post-watershed vocabulary, and that's just the women.




DEW2015 said:


> Thanks for your replies so far and please keep them coming. I have had conflicting information, which I suppose is only natural, but I do wish to obtain a more accurate picture. I was told the Almeira area on the coast is upcoming and a good place to relocate to in terms of business, but in terms of living, the Javea area looks more appealing to us. Are the Javea-area bars on the seafront doing particularly better than those that are second-line or further inland? Are the bars that are doing well, at least on the surface, owned/managed by Spanish, Brits, others? I note that the gallery-bar idea didn't work in Javea. Have bars and other businesses really dropped off in Spain since the recession and not recovered. Anyway, I shall wait to hear more comments.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Horlics said:


> There seems to be less churn of the front line than those just away from it. At Arenal, there are many popular bars that have been there for several years. It seems to me that the Spanish people are doing a better job of making a go of things than the Brits. In particular there are a couple of Spaniards who own more than one bar and who do very well indeed.
> 
> There are some Brit owned bars just back from the front that seem to me to be doing very well. They are unashamedly British, an example being that menus are in only the one language. That said, I have heard them speak Spanish when they occasionally get Spanish customers.
> 
> The port area is different. There are only a couple of Brit owned bars that I know of and both are pretty dreadful. One gets an "interesting" crowd, all sorts of different people, both English and Spanish. The other is dire. It's basic and scruffy and is like being caught on the set of Eastenders; lots of shouty voices in London/Essex accents, but different in that it's all post-watershed vocabulary, and that's just the women.


I have to admit I don't ever use the 'Brit' bars - though I'm told that one does pretty good food 

there's one in the port where my daughter goes to play pool with her friends - it's the only place in the port with a pool table

it IS dire - & they wouldn't go in there otherwise - & none of the staff nor most of the rest of the customers speak Spanish - & my daughter pretends she can't speak English......


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

And the thing is, the one your daughter plays pool in, that's the nicer of the two I was speaking about. There must be three.



xabiachica said:


> I have to admit I don't ever use the 'Brit' bars - though I'm told that one does pretty good food
> 
> there's one in the port where my daughter goes to play pool with her friends - it's the only place in the port with a pool table
> 
> it IS dire - & they wouldn't go in there otherwise - & none of the staff nor most of the rest of the customers speak Spanish - & my daughter pretends she can't speak English......


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Horlics said:


> And the thing is, the one your daughter plays pool in, that's the nicer of the two!


I think it's the only 'Brit' bar in the port now. I can't think of another one


Edit. Just remembered another two. Don't go to them either. One has been there ages, the other I think opened about this time last year


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