New Jersey Business Startup Guides

Open a Business in Ridgewood, New Jersey

Need help starting a business in Ridgewood, New Jersey? We've got the information you need to open a business in Ridgewood.

Are You Sure You Want to Do This?

Running your own business is difficult, much more arduous than working as an employee. Are you positive you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:

  • Talk to other entrepreneurs in Ridgewood. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
  • We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
  • Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.

Ridgewood, New Jersey Demographic Information

Ridgewood has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Ridgewood demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Ridgewood.

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
3502
5-9 Employees
1080
10-19 Employees
588
20-49 Employees
354
50-99 Employees
66
100-249 Employees
48
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
6
All Ridgewood Businesses
5644

As a new Ridgewood entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Ridgewood for each business category. By looking at this chart, you can get a general sense for how much competition there is in the business niche that you are pursuing.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Ambulance Services
1
Appliance Repair and Maintenance
1
Architectural Services
6
Automobile Driving Schools
1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
2
Baked Goods Stores
1
Barber Shops
3
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
2
Book Publishers
1
Building Inspection Services
1
Business Associations
1
Business to Business Electronic Markets
1
Cafeterias
1
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services
1
Child and Youth Services
1
Child Day Care Services
11
Children's and Infants' Clothing Stores
4
Civic and Social Organizations
3
Clothing Accessories Stores
2
Collection Agencies
2
Commercial Photography
1
Community Food Services
1
Computer Systems Design Services
10
Consumer Lending
1
Convention and Trade Show Organizers
1
Custom Computer Programming Services
9
Dental Laboratories
2
Diet and Weight Reducing Centers
1
Direct Title Insurance Carriers
1
Document Preparation Services
2
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
1
Educational Support Services
2
Electric Power Distribution
1
Electrical Contractors
3
Electronic Shopping
1
Emergency and Other Relief Services
1
Employment Placement Agencies
2
Engineering Services
5
Exam Preparation and Tutoring
3
Family Clothing Stores
1
Fine Arts Schools
4
Finish Carpentry Contractors
2
Floor Covering Stores
4
Florists
4
Food Service Contractors
3
Footwear and Leather Goods Repair
1
Formal Wear and Costume Rental
1
Freight Transportation Arrangement
2
Full-Service Restaurants
33
Furniture Stores
4
General Automotive Repair
3
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
General Warehousing and Storage
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
5
Grantmaking Foundations
1
Heating Oil Dealers
1
Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores
1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
1
Home Health Care Services
4
Homes for the Elderly
1
Household Appliance Stores
1
Industrial Building Construction
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
14
Interior Design Services
3
Internet Service Providers
2
Investment Advice
5
Janitorial Services
6
Jewelry Stores
10
Landscaping Services
7
Limited-Service Restaurants
15
Locksmiths
1
Luggage and Leather Goods Stores
1
Mail-Order Houses
1
Marketing Consulting Services
7
Masonry Contractors
1
Meat Markets
3
Miscellaneous Intermediation
2
Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers
1
Motion Picture and Video Production
2
Motor Vehicle Towing
2
Nail Salons
4
New Car Dealers
4
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
3
Office Administrative Services
3
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
14
Offices of Chiropractors
9
Offices of Dentists
35
Offices of Lawyers
42
Offices of Optometrists
1
Offices of Podiatrists
4
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
3
Optical Goods Stores
3
Paint and Wallpaper Stores
2
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
2
Parking Lots and Garages
1
Passenger Car Leasing
1
Periodical Publishers
1
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
5
Photography Studios, Portrait
1
Political Organizations
1
Portfolio Management
7
Primary Battery Manufacturing
1
Public Relations Agencies
3
Quick Printing
2
Real Estate Credit
3
Real Estate Investment Trusts
1
Record Production
1
Residential Property Managers
3
Residential Remodelers
14
Roofing Contractors
1
Savings Institutions
6
Securities Brokerage
7
Shoe Stores
3
Siding Contractors
1
Sign Manufacturing
1
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
11
Sporting Goods Stores
2
Sports and Recreation Instruction
1
Tax Preparation Services
1
Taxi Service
2
Telemarketing Bureaus
1
Temporary Help Services
1
Tire and Tube Merchant Wholesalers
1
Tobacco Stores
1
Tour Operators
1
Travel Agencies
4
Used Merchandise Stores
1
Veterinary Services
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
2
Voluntary Health Organizations
1
Window Treatment Stores
2
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1
Women's Clothing Stores
9

Have You Considered Franchising?

As you drive around Ridgewood, you'll see that franchises make up a large percentage of local businesses. But is franchising the right option for you?

We advise the entrepreneurs we work with to consider franchising as an option. To help you learn more about franchising, we've gathered a ton of articles on franchising, including Detecting Franchising Scams. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.

To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.

Representative franchise opportunities include American Leak Detection and Protocol Personal Products Convenience Centers. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Vending Franchises and Real Estate Franchises.

Note on Ridgewood Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Ridgewood.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Raising money to fund your new Ridgewood business is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.

For Ridgewood entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, browse our List of New Jersey Angel Investors and our List of New Jersey Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Company

To rise above the crowd in Ridgewood and accelerate your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your doing well.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Avoiding Bad Product Launches is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Selling Tips

Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Ridgewood business, you need to focus on sales.

Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.

Writing Great Proposals is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.

Next Steps

As an entrepreneur in Ridgewood, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Ridgewood and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Ridgewood, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Ridgewood, New Jersey

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Ridgewood.

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