H2O

Often I have ideas for businesses that I would like to start and more often than not, they definitely would fail. Here is my latest one:

I want to open up a specialty water emporium that carries various mineral and spring waters throughout the world. It would have a cliche name like H2O or Agua Mineral and would take up about 2,000 square feet in a gentrifying neighborhood. I'm thinking DUMBO.

Much like a wine store, the waters would be placed by country and region. Obviously Italy, France, Portugal and Spain would occupy the most shelf space. Then there would be your German selections (Gerolsteiner - my personal favorite and Apollinaris), Eastern European (Romania is a big producer), Scandinavian, UK varieties and new world types as well.

We would have weekly tastings and suggest water-food pairings and lessons on mineral content and effervescence. This would be your one stop shopping for all your specialty water needs. Here you could find very rare (Tipperary and Cape Grim) and not-so-rare waters (Perrier and San Pellegrino). Each water you purchase would come with a pamphlet to explain its source, balance, minerality (with a list of minerals it contains), pH, food pairings, orientation, proper serving temperature and a bit about its history.

You would be able to purchase by the bottle or by the case. You would not be able to purchase flavored waters at this store. Go to Costco for that. The staff at H2O will be informative, if not a bit snooty.

I would introduce the public to the art of fine water drinking. There are too many wine and beer stores out there to compete with but no water stores that I know of. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad business idea after all. Anyone want to be my business partner? This could be the next big thing and would breed an entire population of water experts and snobs.