Opening a retail store...need advice

[manning]

Let's say I don't open the store. How do I get people to my home to buy. Someone local found me on Ebay and stopped over to look at my stuff. I would love this to happen frequently.

I want to deal with real people also not just Ebay.

Many towns will allow at home businesses only if it doesn't generate a lot of outside traffic. Coming and going of cars could be a problem. If you had a business where you go and meet the client would be more to the town's liking.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

Just a comment on selling out of your home--make sure you check your neighborhood rules and town codes. In many places you are not allowed to operate a business that generates "traffic" out of your home. That would make your residence a commercial area that can be illegal.

Also I think homeowners insurance will restrict the type of business you can have / do out of your own home before you have to have a different type of policy or riders. May not be worth the additional expense for a couple of sales.

Also, not to mention the security of have strange people coming to your home. That would deter me from wanting to do it.

 

[chell]

Does your area have any stores that have booths or stalls you could set your items up for sale in? That sounds like a great way for you to get established and get your name out there. It would solve the issue of leasing a building and from keeping people from coming to your home for now. We have a few of those types of businesses in my area. Some of the stalls sell crafts, purses, clothing, candles, etc. They sell all different types of things. Each item has a tag on it with the number from the booth/stall and the cashier will make a note of the purchases when the customer checks out so each "owner" gets full credit. I don't know how much the owners pay to do this but I'm certain it isn't much. That way customers get familiar with your items and it doesn't cost you a lot of money.

The only other idea I have is for something like CheapCycle, which is a sub group of FreeCycle. We have people selling things on our CheapCycle groups all the time that are not used items. We have people advertising their businesses there as well. That may be a great way to spread the word for free.

Good luck no matter what. Take the advice given here and make sure all of your ducks are in a row! These guys and gals know what they are talking about and don't want to see you getting in over your head.

 

[2cats1kid]

How about going into daycare/mums and toddlers etc. type groups and seeing if they will let you set a stall up?

Once you have some contacts maybe you could do a sort of party plan evening - a mum invites friends with children round and you show your clothes there, so they have a social and you collect orders (like a sort of Pampered Chef thing, only for clothes). I remember my sister used to host parties for a company that made kids clothes years ago but I haven't seen any around for ages.

 

[BelleWDW]

Does your area have any stores that have booths or stalls you could set your items up for sale in? That sounds like a great way for you to get established and get your name out there. It would solve the issue of leasing a building and from keeping people from coming to your home for now. We have a few of those types of businesses in my area. :

We have several of those here too-with handmade items and kids clothes. i'd look into that also

 

[summerrluvv]

You could join a meetup.com group for parents and then have bi-monthly meetups to "shop" at your in home boutique. I'm a member of a meetup group with about 130 moms and I know this is something that many of us would be interested in attending. An incentive could be a raffle or discount, etc. The store idea just doesn't sound that great in an iffy economy. Good luck!!

 

[JR6ooo4]

I think you stated that the landlord was not involved..

But it is common to have an exclusivity clause in a lease when it is single location like a mall.

Mikeeee

 

[bumbershoot]

Former owner of a failed business here! It was a chiropractic office, but it's still a sole proprietor business that closed in 5 years of opening...


Do you have AT LEAST 2 full years of absolute complete operating expenses AND salary for yourself? In cash, saved up, NOT a loan.

If no, don't open a store.


In my (former) profession, there were often non-compete clauses for newbies if they started off in someone else's office. So that's not unheard of in business. BUT. It would have been in writing, in a signed contract. Otherwise it's non-enforceable.

But. If she's going to go around snarking about you and telling nasty things about you and causing a stink, it's not going to be worth it to you...


Definitely check your town's laws on home offices. If you can open up for business, try to make a second entrance to your home, and have your stuff in that area. Don't give people full access. Many chiros like to have things out of their homes, but they find themselves hiding upstairs, b/c people have no boundaries. People will ring the doorbell at midnight b/c they fell down stairs...do you want people ringing your doorbell at 10pm because their little Suzie has a wedding to be in tomorrow morning and they forgot to get whatever it is you sell that would be good for that? No? Get a separate entrance. This will cost money, and will require permits...


My good friend went in, with a really good business plan, with husbands who worked and brought home all needed bacon, etc etc, in a fancy dress seamstress store...they made wedding gowns made to order, they did embroidery, they altered things, they were GREAT. They too failed after 5 years b/c of various reasons. (it's hard to go in with 3 people on something...) They had the money, the backing, the financial sense, the goodwill in their town...but still...most small businesses will close inside of 5 years. And it SUCKS.


Going into something like this where you already have, as someone called her, a bully...it's not going to go over well. Even if you toe the line, at some point she's likely going to think you're being sneaky in some way. It doesn't sound like the best way to start.


I'm so sorry I sound so negative. Sigh. I jsut want you to be prepared...not prepared to close, but to know that it could very well happen to you, and so you are totally prepared to open those doors and not make a CENT for 2 years...sometimes it can take a LONG time to start getting customers...

YOu're lucky b/c you have the ebay thing going...but if no one walked in those doors, could it sustain your place? Right now, outside my condo doors, there's 2 years worth of construction happening...to "beautify" it. We're not even halfway through, and the streets have been open the whole time to some extent. Already 3 businesses, long time businesses, have failed. Not enough traffic. This wasn't something htey wanted...business owners didn't get a vote in this...but it's happened to them.

So be prepared.

And even though I live in the downtown of my city, and even though I just talked about businesses failing, I'd go for the downtown (if financially prepared with saved up money NOT a loan) store and create a niche...

 

[golfgal]

Just a comment on selling out of your home--make sure you check your neighborhood rules and town codes. In many places you are not allowed to operate a business that generates "traffic" out of your home. That would make your residence a commercial area that can be illegal.

Good point. There are many towns that don't allow this or have restrictions on operating a home business. I know in our old town you had to file with the city council, have a hearing, all the neighbors were notified about the potential new business and the hearing. If anyone objected you couldn't have your home business.

Also I think homeowners insurance will restrict the type of business you can have / do out of your own home before you have to have a different type of policy or riders. May not be worth the additional expense for a couple of sales.

Also, not to mention the security of have strange people coming to your home. That would deter me from wanting to do it.

You should already have a rider on your homeowner's policy to cover your business. If you have a loss your business inventory and equipment has very limited coverage. I also agree that inviting strangers into your home isn't a good idea.

Yes, a lot of businesses fail but plenty of them make it as well. The biggest issue I see is that it sounds like there are already several stores similar to what you will sell. Is your area large enough to handle another one. A lot of people see a successful store and think that they are doing well so can I but in reality the market won't support 2 of the same stores and they both end up going out of business. Also, know your community. If people don't buy high end clothing, don't see it (for example). We used to live in a smaller town and people would keep opening up these high end clothing stores because the town was fairly wealthy/higher incomes. These people failed to look around and notice that while people were pretty well off, they wore jeans and sweatshirts most of the time, not $300 sweaters.

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

I own a retail store. There is so much I want to say, but I have to go open the store.

First and foremost - the woman who already has the children's store - many manufacturers will only sell to one retailer in an area. I will never sell a company's line of goods in my store unless I have the exclusive for at least my zip code, and on some items, for zip codes in surrounding towns as well.

I am in a downtown area and we are all really good to each other and try really hard not to step on each other's toes. People come and walk around and the last thing we need, as retailers, is to have all these potential customers seeing the same thing over and over from store to store.

That being said - the baby clothes thing was bizarre. There are more than one children's store in our area - but they have different "themes" and different lines. I think she was out of line telling the salon owner not to carry baby clothes, unless she was selling the same line or designer knock-offs.

Anyway - the pp who said you need at least two years in cash is absolutely dead on. If your monthly expenses are $2500 with salary, rent, utilities, expenses, etc., then you better have at your disposal $60,000 in cash - and do NOT borrow on your home to get it, not in this economy.

You absolutely need to write a formal and honest business plan. So many people come to our beautiful downtown area with stars in their eyes, and blow it in two years. I'm finding your questions to be so simplistic, it makes me nervous, because I don't think you have any clue what the whole picture includes.

That said, I can't believe rent in a mall anywhere is only $1,000. A kiosk in our mall goes for $6,000 a month. Yikes!

I have to run - I'll write more later.