Starting up a shop from scratch

FWIW, round here the only independent shops that seem to be flourishing are the slightly quirky/off-beat gift & decor shops. A lot of what they sell is fairly pricey, but it's the kind of stuff you want to pick up and look at before you buy it - some also sell recon 2nd-hand furniture (yes, shabby chic :roll: ) - in fact a small one which opened up about 7 years ago has recently moved into a big double-fronted store on a main street, so they can't be suffering too much.

Edit: also, I think people will more likely buy gifts from that kind of shop than online, simply because it feels (and appears) that they've put more thought and effort into it. Until Amazon start doing patina'd ladies' bike frames, anyway...

02gf74":2irtsi94 said:

... all I am saying is sit down and do the sums and be realistic. If it were that easy, then there would not be a shop for you to rent and Julian Greaves would still be trading there.

Nevetheless, it is still better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all (unless of course the cost of trying was losing your home!!).

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It's got to be worth a gamble. A smallish market-stall sized affair isn't going to give the same scope for displaying and storing stock as an actual shop and the latter ought to give customers a better picture of what you're able to offer them (as well as doing it in a more eye-catching way with the extra space available) - hope you manage to make a good go of it, keep us posted as to progress!

Koupe might have a point, too - independent local stores seem to be faring better than big to medium sized chains in this neck of the woods at present. Going down the eclectic/quirky route could well pay dividends.

David

P.S. I momentarily mis-read "the footfall isn't bad" as "the football isn't bad", even though the Posh are having an even worse time of it than Wolves at present....

i;ve done it before with a silent (!) partner and that business was still going last time i looked, although it was in the same building of another business .......but i started that one from scratch too although that time it was for another person.......what you selling ?

On a purely personal level I can't stand tat and think there are too many 'gift' shops around. I've bought hundreds of gifts in my life and don't remember ever buying from one of them. But then I'm not your customer...

On a business level I help small businesses make more money. The way the high street is now you have to absolutely know your market and target it accordingly. Location is important but I have no local knowledge so can't help there.

One tip would be NOT to buy cheap flyers. The last way a gift shop wants to be represented is as cheap and nasty. Set aside a budget for marketing and take professional advice. So many new businesses consider marketing as a cost they can avoid, and ultimately they pay the price. Have plenty of cash stashed for unexpected costs.

In your position I'd probably spend the money on a better website and market that instead. If people buy designer clothes and shoes online (and they do) they'll buy gifts. Touching products is largely a thing of the past.

MikeD":car2329l said:

You miss my point. What does the failure of a chain of health food shops have to do with the chances of success of an independent gift shop? I'd never heard of JG until this thread, but apparently they sold mostly fruit and nuts, which seems like what people go to supermarkets for.

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You also miss mine :xmas-cool: , the fact that there is a shop up for rent shows that it is not so easy at the present time to set up shop otherwise there would be a long queue.... and I'll bet JG had considerably more capital ......

in the town I live in there is one shop that seems to attract the ye olde gifty type shops, like the one you describe, none of them have lasted more than 3 months - interpret that as you want.

anyway, let's agree to disagree.

I can imagine LGF in his element...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i4rgxOi73c

02gf74":2udb0xj5 said:

You also miss mine :xmas-cool: , the fact that there is a shop up for rent shows that it is not so easy at the present time to set up shop otherwise there would be a long queue.... and I'll bet JG had considerably more capital ......

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Fair enough. Always seems to be that recessions are good times to start businesses, because everything's cheaper

You need a spare £20k to start a shop.

These knobs who say they started a multi million dollar empire with fifty squid in their back pocket are liars.

Anyhow, the high street is doomed.

Go net.

02gf74":1q5dt823 said:

You also miss mine :xmas-cool: , the fact that there is a shop up for rent shows that it is not so easy at the present time to set up shop otherwise there would be a long queue.... and I'll bet JG had considerably more capital ......

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They also played a poor second fiddle to Holland & Barrett, which is what I suspect did for the chain as a whole.

IIRC they may have been owned by the same firm as Whittard of Chelsea, with Graves being sacrificed in troubled times to keep the main tea & coffee business running. Don't take that as definite though.

David

I was never quite sure what Julian Graves actually was. They did big packets of nuts and sweeties but also sort of did healthy stuff.
Never very interesting places to visit, and poorly designed/fitted out.
The ones I knew of were all in extra prime locations though.
FWIW, in my local High Street, gifty type places, and there are three, all seem to be thriving.