Opening a Storefront

Oh wow! I cant give advice, but I can wish you luck! 😀

I don’t know anything about it, but The Castle [Dave] (of Astral Castle) would probably also be a good person to check with.

Good luck with the venture!

Check with your local college to see if they do a Small Business seminar or know who around there does.

You need to have enough capital (or a second job) to get you through about a year of not making any profit. In other words, don’t spend all your money on furniture, fixtures and stock right up front. Chances are you’ll screw up on what you decided to stock. We started Astral Castle primarily as a book shop selling games as a sideline. Half our money went into books. I still have most of them, 11 years later. We were struggling for years. Actually we still are.

Start with a smattering of a few different lines that you want to carry, and see if you have enough local interest to support that line. If you have the interest, throw money at that line. If you have little or no interest then don’t spend any more money on it. Beware of people coming in telling you that if you stocked “x” they would buy it. If I’d put my money where my customers’ mouths were, I’d have stocked guns, knives, swords, plate armor, chain mail, pool tables, video machines, pinball machines, cheap crappy figurines, Game Boys, DVDs and so on ad nausium; and be a recovering bankrupt to boot.

One can easily become so diverse that no-one, least of all you, has any idea of what you are doing. Find a focus and dig in.

On the other hand, if someone asks about something you don’t have, and you REALLY LIKE what you see, then go ahead and try it. This is what happened with us for Windstone Editions. Someone mentioned the line, Linda looked into it, we liked the quality of the product (argh… sorry… “sculptures”) and the stated goals of the company, so we started carrying the line and it has become integral with who we are.

As for the question of Mall vs regular store, I’m probably not the one to ask. My bones go numb when I think of being in a Mall. A Mall store is incredibly expensive, they usually charge rent plus a cut of the gross take, and they require you to be open whenever the Mall is open (which means you can’t run your store with just a couple of employees). They usually have other rules that add to your cost. On the other hand, I’d expect that a Mall store would be the absolute best place to sell Windstones and other figurines.

One thing to do is a lot of footwork. Go around to various stores all over town and just talk to the owners. If you get a cold shoulder, go next door. Most self-employed people are fascinated by the process of being independent, and will be only too happy to talk your ear off (as I am doing here). Try to pick stores that are not doing exactly what you intend to do, so that they see you as a fellow retailer rather than as a competitor. Don’t be afraid to ask pointed questions like “What’s the rent like around here?” “How does the landlord treat you?”

Also talk to your local Police Officer about any location you are considering. We had our eye on a place once, great low rent, lots of traffic, but our Policeman told me: “Yes, we do a LOT of business in that area. There are three bars within stumbling distance. Trust me, you do NOT want to move Astral Castle there.”

If you have any specific questions, drop me an e-mail. There’s a link in my profile.

Wow. Thanks for asking on here. Reading these posts has been very informative and interesting.

I just found out my favorite collectible store in NJ – Zaslow’s – is going out of business. They lost their lease but I know they have been struggling for the last few years. So they are closing instead of moving. 😥 And all the Noah’s went out of NJ years ago – it seems most of the collectible stores from 5 years ago are gone. Sorry to be a wet noodle.

Coming from the “hard” end of the business world…

My husband and I both own our own small business’s. I’ve done ok for myself over the past three years, but the place that I was renting recently was so dumpy that Windstone refused to sell to us, and we moved out of there pretty quick. When we first moved in, the place was ducky, and life was good. Then, the roof leaked all over product, then the electric went out and never got fixed( a month of “don’t shut the door or you can’t see”). Then the basement flooded, the pipes burst, and the place smelled like sewage. That’s when I had enough, and moved out. Now, we rent a couple small places, enough to keep our current folks happy, but not doing enough business to really consider carrying much new product.

On the other end of the spectrum is my husband, who means well, and is great, but is about as dense…anyway. We haven’t had a paycheck from his business in 5 weeks. His co-partner got their home electric shut down because they don’t have a side business to pay bills when life gets tough.

My tips, from my business(model horses), hubby’s business(computer consultant/International Response for Office Depot), and our previous job where we made the boss $250,000 increase in one year(interestingly, where we met)

1. Don’t hire more employees that you can afford. Chris has a lot of commission guys, who are kind of “free”. If they get paid, it’s because they made you money. He had one SERIOUS drain, who was a salary guy, and because Chris got all attached and liked the guy, they didn’t fire him 5 months sooner, and now, they are in a really bad way. If you can’t afford more than one employee, then plan to be the one employee. til you get off your feet. Chris actually has 6 guys working for him now.

2. Know your product. That might sound simple, but KNOW IT. I know model horses, they are my life(I know, boring life). Chris knows computers. When i worked at his shop, I didn’t know jack about computers, and that looks bad to someone walking in. (gosh, the place is run by a chick who doesn’t know anything besides eBay)

3. If you are a lousy book keeper, hire someone. get a program that does it for you. do whatever. Screwing up your taxes isn’t pretty. part of Chris’s problem also, they owe megga megga bucks for payroll taxes, and didn’t plan properly.

4. write off *everything*. Going to the PO to buy stamps to mail out flyers? mark the miles. It adds up.

5. Get dirty. The place that Chris rents is big, and it was *ugly* when he moved in. But it’s huge. And on main street. With some paint and new remnant carpet, he was able to rent out the one half for almost what he pays in rent, plus his side looks very nice and professional. People like purdy stuff. For my horses, I try to use stuff like gondola’s, and shelf stripes. Makes a nice image, since all the horses are in boxes.

6. Stock up on Ramon Noodle. You may laugh. But, the landlord eats before you do. Fortunate for us, hubby and I are both on diets, so we aren’t eating as much 😆 .

7. don’t forget paypal and eBay fees. They add up.

Owning a business, i think, is really cool. There’s some nice perks. Tax write offs(although that goes both ways), you get to play with new products (but keeping them is a book keeping issue you’ll need to deal with with your accountant), and people ask you lots of questions. There’s some bads. I’ve lost a lot of pre-dealer friends, sometimes folks just expect a deal even though you’re already selling it at 10% above cost because they are your friend. Plus, for some reason, I get a lot of people who call at midnight to ask questions. I’m always up then, but it’s still weird.

I agree with the above stated too, don’t buy a whole bunch of something, feel things out first. I made that mistake, and now have $1000 worth of misc product that I thought was cute, but isn’t flying off the shelves.

Sorry I’m so windy. I agree though, talking about buisness is fun 🙂

I’ll add my 2cents. I owned a buisness for 5 years. I never had a storefront. I was comissioned by a store for almost 5 years then I went and worked for a friend.

Make sure it’s what you want to do. Look around at different spots for your storefront. It’s all about location. You can have the best store in the city. But, if it’s not in the right location it can fail very quickly.

Do ask around malls to find out how the places are managed. Find out what all is included in your rent. Is security included? The nice things about malls, is the security. But, your theft might be higher in a mall. I watched once as a lady left a store (Green Earth) she picked up a lamp and a photo album set before leaving. She got away with it. Downside of a mall, they are very expensive. Your rent will be high. They charge rent by the square foot. (At least where I am) When your rent goes up (they can once your lease runs out.) it can really go up! My friend had a choice she could pay an extra $700 a month for her store or she could leave. She chose to leave.

Take buisness courses. They will help you alot. Commission staff is the best. They have to actually work for pay. It’s the best for you. But, if you have to pay someone salary get someone you can really trust. (I realise this has all been said by others and better so I’ll leave off now.) Be prepared to owe the government alot of money. I used to keep back 20% of my pay to give to the government at tax time. Oh and make sure you know the tax laws. Or better yet have a registered accountant. They will be your best bet.

Good luck! 😀