Advice Needed About Owning a Business

So I need you guys' help. My main goal career wise is to own a business of my own. In particular, I want to own a bookstore. This has been a dream for quite some time, and I intend to make it happen sometime in the future. I have done and am still doing a ton of research about owning a bookstore, so I have read a lot of the facts, statistics, and logistics of opening a small business. But what I do not have are first-hand accounts. This is where you guys come in. I need advice from people that have opened a business, know someone that has opened a business, or is just very knowledgeable about the process.

Some of the questions I have are as follows:

• What was your experience opening your own business?
• Would you recommend starting a business?
• Are you familiar with owning a bookstore?
• How did you fund the start-up costs?
• Any advice on handling the legal issues?
• How did you furnish your business?
• How did you go about finding a place to lease?
• What sort of marketing ploys did you use?
• How did you get your inventory?

Also, I need some opinions on one other topic. Considering that the market for bookstores isn't at it's best due to the age of e-books, Amazon, and eBay. I need to ensure that a bookstore I opened appealed enough to the general public that they would want to come buy their books from a local shop versus online. So let's get hypothetical here. Say I was opening a bookstore near you, what kind of store would you want to see? Used vs. new? Would you want to have the option of hanging out and having a cup of coffee while you browse? Basically, what would lure you into a local bookstore to shop instead of shopping online? What would a bookstore need to have to entice you to come through it's doors?

The idea of opening a bookstore has been stewing in my mind for quite some time, but it is still a long way away from happening. I am definitely still in the researching/brainstorming phase of the project. I just really wanted to see what kind of advice you guys would be able to offer. Although this is a big dream of mine, I know it has to be something that is practical. Therefore, if you have advice to offer that could really put things into perspective for me, please share!