Digital Nomad Or Brick-And-Mortar: Businesses For Sale In Costa Rica

Interested in a blank canvas commercial space for co-working or pop-up shop rentals? How about a small complex of four apartments that could make a boutique AirBNB? A breakfast café or comfort food casual eatery? These are just some of the businesses that came across my radar recently, getting my imagination spinning on brick-and-mortar business ideas in Costa Rica.

Even though we’re not looking to add to our current portfolio of three vacation properties in the Tamarindo/ Langosta area, I regularly check the real estate listings (it’s nice to know what’s going on). And even though we’re planning on the digital nomad track for our next career stage (given the skill set we have developed to combine work and travel), it’s been on my mind that an in-person, hyper-local business might be a very welcome counterpoint to our increasingly online lives.

I’m not personally or professionally connected to any of these businesses, so I just have details from the listings. Which business would you buy?

Commercial space for co-working, pop-up sales or a gallery

https://www.remax-oceansurf-cr.com/property/commercial-investment-opportunity-plaza-tamarindo-19

At $94,000, you get just under 400 square feet, which isn’t much, but it’s a well-trafficked location, in a commercial center with lots of other businesses. You also have two levels and enough walls to have a nice gallery.

The entire space could be a gallery, but I was thinking open workspace, co-working below and meeting space above. Or divide the lower space among local artisans and independent sellers, and keep the top space as a pop-up rental for rotating businesses.

Apartment complex for a boutique AirBNB

https://tradewindpropertiescr.com/listings/cabinas-azul/

We’ve passed this complex of four bright-blue, 1-bed apartments when we walk to/from the beach and our condo complex, so it’s a great location. You could live in one unit and rent the others. You could rent these long-term, for vacation, or combine the two approaches and make your income is less volatile.

If co-working/ co-living takes off, this might be an interesting play for groups of entrepreneurs who want to hole up and focus on business 24/7 (like Y Combinator comes to Melrose Place).

At $418,000, you’re paying over $100,000 for each unit, and they are only 1-bedrooms. However, you control the whole complex, so you’re not paying HOA fees per unit.

Turnkey restaurant for 70 patrons

http://www.bluewaterpropertiesofcostarica.com/property/breakfast-grinds/

Breakfast Grinds is a place we featured on our list of favorite restaurants in Tamrando! It is on the other side of Tamarindo from our condo complex, so we discovered it when we were walking back and forth on the beach and got hungry on the opposite side to our condo😊

The business was established in 2005 so it has a track record. It was recently renovated as of 2017 and has a full staff, presumably who would stay on for the new owner. I hope someone buys it, so it stays open for our next trip in just a few weeks and trips to come.

In addition to Breakfast Grinds, my International Living newsletter included a feature on Surf Shack, a comfort food place also on our list of favorite restaurants in Tamrando, and the piece mentioned Surf Shack was for sale.

I couldn’t find a listing on it, so perhaps it’s a private sale or already under contract. But as I was looking for the listing, I came across this website, which listed 27 businesses for sale in Tamarindo:

https://www.businessesforsale.com/search/businesses-for-sale-in-tamarindo

Clearly, there is no shortage of business opportunities and ideas in even a laid-back beach town like Tamarindo!

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I’m still excited about our next stage as digital nomads, but if we end up settling down in Costa Rica for longer stints, a brick-and-mortar business may be stage 3!