39 Great Business Bargains

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Here's a sampling of some of the best deals on office amusements:

• Foosball Table Striker foosball table
  $499, shipping included, at justfoosballtables.com  
    
• Air Hockey Carrom Premium Hydralumina With Scoring, six-foot model
  $540, shipping included, at christophersgames.com
    
• Ping-Pong Table Prince Competitor table tennis table
  $359, shipping included, at dickssportinggoods.com
  
• Pool Table Charleston eight-foot table
  $1,787, crating and air freight included, at pooltables-direct.com
    
• Pinball/Arcade Simpsons game
  $4,800, with shipping, christophersgames.com
  1979 Space Invaders cocktail table arcade game
  $700 (plus $350 shipping), recently listed on eBay    

Turn Your Office Into an Art Gallery

Why buy pricey art for your office walls when you can rent? A number of major art museums have rental programs--and many will even help you choose the best pieces for your space. The Artists Gallery at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art charges about $350 to rent a $5,000 painting for three months; a $1,000 painting rents for $170. Like most museum rental programs, SFMOMA's program focuses on local talent and has thousands of work in all media; photography tends to be the least expensive option. Other museums with rental programs include Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin. Local galleries may also rent to businesses.   

The Office of Your Dreams

Right now, the cheapest downtown Class A rents in major markets can be found in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Seattle--places where $20 per square foot can land you palatial digs that would cost three times as much in New York City. Wherever you live, make sure you keep up with local business news. When companies close, downsize, or move out of town, they're often left with time on their existing leases. "Subleasing is where a smaller business can really pick up a bargain," says Andrew Abramson, a senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis in Washington, D.C. Abramson points out that in addition to lower rent, expensive improvements that were made by the previous tenant--such as phone systems and furniture--are often thrown into the deal as an incentive. Meantime, if you forgo a view and instead take lower-floor or obstructed-view space, you can save anywhere from 10 to 30 percent on rent. (Go to grubb-ellis.com/research to check pricing in markets throughout North America.)

Location, Location, Location

How much do real estate prices fluctuate nationwide? To find out, we searched for Class A office space in three major markets--Denver, Atlanta, and San Francisco. In each city, we found a plush office of about 6,000 square feet (enough for about 20 people) in a fancy, downtown building with all the amenities-health club, concierge services, covered parking, etc. The annual lease rates, of course, were all over the map.

• San Francisco $37 per square foot
• Denver $25 per square foot
• Atlanta $29 per square foot

The Wall Street Journal

A staple of office waiting rooms everywhere, the Journal does not offer corporate discounts for bulk orders to new subscribers. Check for special offers on the comparison-shopping sites as well as newspaper specialists subscription-offers.com and discountednewspapers.com. And check the paper's website, too. At the time of writing, an offer for new subscribers made dealing directly with the publisher the cheapest option out there by far (56 weeks for $99); only one third-party distributor was able to beat the regular yearly subscription price of $215. (Note: This special offer was available online only; operators at the Journal's 800 number did not mention or even acknowledge this option.)

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Adam Bluestein

A former editor at Real Simple, Adam Bluestein writes frequently about innovation and new technology. He lives with his wife and two children in Burlington, Vermont.

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