Writing · September 28, 2026

Why we back places people go

Retail has been shrinking for years, but not evenly. People are pulling back on buying things and spending more on doing things: game nights, a good coffee shop with a table to sit at, somewhere to take the kids on a Saturday.

Online shopping can't replace any of that. The value is being in the room with other people.

That makes experiential businesses interesting, and also risky. They cost more to build than a plain shop, they depend on the operator, and a slow first year can sink them. So we look for three things:

• An operator who has run this kind of business before.
• A location with a long lease or owned real estate underneath it.
• Numbers that still work if the first year goes badly.

We'll write more about each of these as we go.