Couch Potato Works Overtime

The Couch Potato
Owner: Heather Johnson
Address: 120A N. 13th St., Rogers 72756
Phone/Fax: 986-0085
Hours: 6-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, and 1-6 p.m. Sunday

Startup date: April 3

Heather Johnson has wanted her own business since she was 10 years old. She started selling candy at school, but the principal made her stop. She tried a pet shop, but didn’t like the mess. She dabbled in used books, but didn’t see enough profit. Then when she was in college, the Pokémon craze started up. She borrowed $1,500 from her father to buy Pokémon cards for resale, took the money and put a lot of cards on layaway at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sold them for $2 to $3, but online they were selling for $5 to $6. She’d sell some and get more out of layaway and then sell those. In the end, Johnson said she supported herself for several months and still had $500 left over.

“I have great secretarial and computer skills, but had never been in retail,” Johnson said.

She gained some experience at a similar store before opening The Couch Potato in Rogers in April. The store buys, sells and trades video games, DVDs, VHS movies and CDs, with a specialty in anime, or Japanese animation.

Johnson opens the store on weekends only. She still works full-time in the trust department of a local bank.

“If it will pay for itself, I will leave my full-time job to work there full-time,” Johnson said.

Johnson leases about 600 SF for The Couch Potato. She invested about $6,000, mostly on the store’s stock, to open the business. She’s hoping that within the next year The Couch Potato will be able to meet its monthly expenses.