Pipe Dream?

[allifantastical]

Hi Guys!

I've been seriously mulling the idea over of starting my own thrift store/consignment shop for awhile now.

I almost have my business management degree so I know about business plans and I feel like I have a good head on my shoulders, but trying to think of everything that goes in to this is stressful.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Here is what I have so far...

I need to get the legalization process down for starting a business in my area.

I know this is going to be a partnership with my friend and I. We need to pick a name.

We need to get our name out there and start with word of mouth in order to build an inventory before we even think about renting out a store. I figure we can set up a donation site and store the items at our houses until it becomes too much and if we are still not ready for a store we can purchase a storage unit until the time is right.

We can go to other thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales to get things to sell at our store, and during the spring/summer we can go to festivals and see if the artists selling jewelry or other items would like to consign their items to us to sell. We will need to work out the pricing.

We will both need to work our full time job until the business is big enough to start full time. Until then, once we start renting a space, we could have it open on the weekends. Hopefully we could extend hours by hiring or by quitting our full time jobs.

This is all I have at the moment. Let me know what you think and of dangers I wasn't thinking of.

I appreciate the comments.

[DarylBennett]

I think it's a great time to do something like this. My girlfriend lives in boston and recently brought her clothes to a consignment shop- they went through her stuff and donated what they didnt want, but then sold the rest (better quality, fashionable, name brands, etc). Apparently they have her stuff registered online, so she makes 40% of what the store makes off of it.

Now, Im not saying to replicate this, just a fun idea.

A friend of mine mentioned something relevant. If you want to sell a product, list the website, and have the "purchase" type of button. That way, the people that want to buy it will press that button in an effort to proceed to checkout. However, rather than actually buying something, you can say "oh, well this isn't available yet, but give me your email and we will keep you up to date as to when the product is available."

Now, when he told me, it's testing out a product to see if people are interested. But this is applicable to you because you can literally make an online presence without selling anything to get a feel if there's a demand. What if certain smaller things, clothes, etc can even be sold online? Bam, add google checkout to your site next to your inventory (ie fancy jeans and cashmere sweaters). sure, you pay them about 3% +$ 0.50, but no inventory related costs. Not saying list everything, but hey, why not?


I think the tricky part is inventory. What do you pay people for their used things? What types of items are worth buying and trying to resell? start with friends and family, maybe collecting things during spring cleanup etc. Heck, even tell those that aren't willing to have a garage sale you are willing to do it for them and will pay when it sells. Dont worry about the business plans and company names. being able to purchase things and sell it for a profit in a short period of time, this is what is important. How to sell things quicker and for more money?

I have some good things going on at my site Pooled Minds. Check it out and maybe throw your suggestion on the watering hole if you want to get some more feedback!

Good luck, and hit me up if you want to work on your ideas more.

Cheers.

Daryl F. Bennett
Pooled Minds