When putting up a business, the climate is one of the most important factors to consider. Obviously, it wouldn’t make much sense to put up a summer supplies store in a place where it’s almost always cold. Inversely, you won’t want to run a hot cocoa business where the weather is scorching all year round.
In both cold and warm climate areas, selecting the right type of business is the key to profitability. For this article, we’ll be focusing on cold climate business ideas that you should consider in 2021:
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Hot beverages
The most obvious and most popular business in cold areas is selling hot beverages, be it coffee, hot cocoa, tea, or all of the above. However, the problem with this business is that everyone else has the same idea. Thus, if you live in an area that is consistently cold throughout the year (except summer), it is likely that you will face a lot of competition.
But if you find a great location (e.g., a high-traffic spot where a lot of tourists pass through), putting up a hot beverage business (a café, a beverage stand, a hole-in-the-wall, etc.) can be a highly profitable endeavor since people are always eager to find relief from the cold.
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Greenhouse
One of the main agricultural problems for cold climate areas is the limitation on crops that grows in the cold. For this reason, a lot of cold states—such as North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—focus on growing crops that thrive well even in cold climates (e.g., beets, radishes, cabbage, etc.). However, this limits access to warm-season crops, which leads to importation.
Fortunately, growing warm-season crops in a cold climate is possible. With a cold-weather greenhouse, you can create an ideal environment where warm-season fruits, vegetables, and herbs can flourish despite the cold weather outside—even in the winter. And because it is often difficult to come across warm-season crops in cold areas, you can easily find a profitable market, especially for customers who prefer organic produce.
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Garage storage
In areas where the climate is consistently cold except for the summer, winter tends to be more merciless. For this reason, people in cold climate areas often limit their movement in the winter for safety reasons, which poses an all-too-common problem: frozen cars.
Freezing weather can cause all sorts of problems for vehicles, such as frozen windshields, dead batteries, corrosion, and so much more. You can provide a solution to this problem by putting up garage storage for people who want to find a safe space to store their secondary vehicles, RVs, boats, and any other vehicle that they won’t be using in the winter. Just like a storage unit business, you can profit from storage fees that can range from weekly to monthly rates and perhaps offer winter maintenance as part of your services.
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Errand service
Many people who live in cold climates don’t like going out more than they have to, especially in the winter. Often, running errands can feel like a challenge with the discomfort the cold weather brings. And for the elderly and people with disabilities, going out in the cold—especially when there is snow and ice on the ground—can be somewhat dangerous.
An errand service provides a good solution for this problem. You can offer services like picking up dry-cleaning, delivering food, transporting packages, shopping for groceries, and other errand-type tasks. If you want to expand your services for the less able-bodied, you can also offer to transport people that use wheelchairs, provide weekly meal services for the elderly, or offer cleaning services for disabled individuals.
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Furnace services
Households in cold climates use their furnaces more than everyone else, and with increased utilization comes increased wear-and-tear. Thus, houses in cold areas require more frequent furnace services to ensure that their unit is functional—lest they end up in the middle of winter with no heating.
Since the furnace is an essential part of a cold climate home, a furnace maintenance business can be a highly profitable endeavor—especially in the winter when homeowners are more likely to experience heating problems.
These are just some of the best business ideas you can consider if you live in a cold climate, but they should be enough to get your creative juices flowing. As long as you choose the right endeavor and consider the climate’s implications, you’ll be able to put up a highly profitable business that people deem essential—even in the winter.