I agree with what Treen has said - you really do need to have a strong team in place.

Whilst it would be easier with a partner, I would have thought it would have needed to be someone from the outset rather than someone coming in after you'd had a shop for a couple of years as it's very hard to change and to accept differences in opinion.

I could not begin to imagine running two shops as well as having a family with young children and I truly believe it would affect your family life in a big way.

Two shops, twice as many problems and you can't be in two places at once.

It is definitely doable, but hard work and it depends on the type of person you are and your circumstances. From what I've picked up, you seem the type of person who wants to get involved and know about everything and I personally don't think that is possible when you have more than one shop.

If I was you and if your current shop is making a decent profit I wouldn't do anything to rock the boat. Taking on a second shop in a another area will more than likely mean it has to be run differently as every location is completely different so what works for you now may not work somewhere else and you will have to spend a great deal of time and effort there at the outset to get things moving.

What would be interesting to know is what your reasons are for wanting a second shop to see where you're coming from....