Honestly , if you need to be asking the sort of questions, tells me you have little or no business experience. My advice is dont even consider it. You will not survive as there is big learning experience and you have to see what sells well and what does not, where is a good place to set your business and where is not. You are not from that place and so there is so much for you to learn. Dont go there and start a business unless you know full well what your doing.
Colin
I agree.
To rissadum:
I had an aunt who haphazzardly opened a mini mart, but it closed after 6 months. We told her not to go through with it. There were a lot of expenses that she didn't factor in when she started.
First of all, you cannot put a number as to the amount of capital you need.
When you set up a business, the most important step is to first have a plan, an overall picture. You said you're planning to open a grocery. What type of grocery? High end products such as imported goods or regular everyday necessities? Where do you plant to source your supplies? How much would the supplier charge? Is it by consignment? What are the terms of payment?
On the store location, you need to set up near one that would match the type of customers you want to attract. Look at your competition. Find your niche.
You'd need furniture, shelves, decor, counters, showcases, etc. and hire a carpenter / contractor. These cost money.
How much would electricity cost? Sure, suppliers of beverages and ice creams will let you borrow their refrigerators and freezers for free. But you can only place that particular supplier's brand of products. It might be that you will carry only one brand / brand family due to high electric costs. Too many fridges will jack up your utility costs. Or you can carry several brands but you'd have to buy your own refrigerator or freezer.
Other things: will you need some sort of security surveillance, i.e. cctv, security guard, etc. You would need invoices, business registrations both from the city and the BIR. If you're going to hire employees, you'd need to give them SSS, PagIbig, Philhealth benefits. If you don't know how to do bookkeeping, you'll need one who can. You'll also need an accountant who can sign your tax reports. Would you accept credit cards? Are you planning to use a product scanner, where you'd need someone to code items, or are you going to do it manually?
There are just so many things you'd need to get started. I haven't even scratched the surface as to what other things you will encounter when you set up a business.
I run a business. (It's not a grocery though.) I didn't need that much money to start. From my experience:
Capital: Not a problem. Started small. Slowly added more to capital as profits came in.
Location: Somewhat hard. You need to look around and bargain with landlord.
Finding Customers: Depends on your product and positioning. I have a lot of competition. I try to catch and keep more customers by offering better service and products.
Paperwork: Hard. Gives me a headache all the time. All this reporting. Agggh.
Employee Management: I don't even want to talk about it.