Lakes are famous because they’re supposed to provide an escape from the hubbub of the city. Lakes are meant to provide fun and a calming insight into life. They’re pretty affordable vacation spots and are great for family trips.
That’s why if you live beside a lake, you have an excellent opportunity to start a profitable business. Here are some up-and-coming ideas.
Rentals
Visitors to the lake are unlikely to own all the equipment they’ll need while they’re camping out. It is highly inefficient to buy a complete set of camping, fishing, and sports gear for one week of holiday. Instead, people would rent the things they need for a week from shops or salespeople in the vacation spot.
If you own a boat, yacht, houseboats, kayaks, or any such things, you can easily rent them out for a good amount of money, provided they are in good condition and safe, of course. Even if you don’t own these particular amenities, you can still rent out simpler things like ice skates (for winter lakes), zip lines, jet skis, etc.
Hotels/Bed and breakfasts
Everyone hoping to camp out will need a place to stay, and not everyone wants to live in tents. Cozy hotels and hospitable B&Bs are very coveted spots for vacationers. If you live in a house or own a houseboat, you can easily rent it out.
All you have to do in advance is make sure the rooms are clean and furnished, decorated in the cozy or sophisticated look you’re going for. You also have to ensure meal service, which is quickly done if you can cook or hire someone to cook for a few days.
Souvenir shops
All holiday goers love souvenirs. It’s a lovely feeling to go somewhere and carry a tiny bit of that place’s aesthetic and tradition with you back home. Lakes are miraculous places, rich with plant life, colorful rocks, and history. They are the perfect place to start a souvenir shop. Souvenir shops at holiday spots will always do well.
For your shop, you can collect some of the things around the lake town that are rich with heritage or just tied to the lake in some way: things like antique crafts, knitted commodities, woven rugs, and traditional clothing. Offer a selection of postcards, magazines, and old CDs. Souvenir shops are about celebrating art and things with meaning. So fill your store with things rooted in culture.
Restaurants on barges or decks
This one is a delightful little idea that you can’t go wrong with. A lakeside restaurant on a deck or a cafe on a barge in the water are both charming spots to start a restaurant. People don’t go to eating places just for food; they go for the experience.
Charm and vibe have a lot to do with whether people will like an eatery or not. Decorate the deck or barge with warm lanterns and fairy lights, and set tables and menus. It would help if you had an electric heater as lakes can get quite chilly sometimes. You don’t have to be a good cook yourself to start an eatery. You need to hire a few people who are.