<< Thrift Shop Owner "Wanna Be" >>

[Consignment]

Now is actually a great time to start a consignment business, as many are doing. Inventory is free. There are plenty of abandoned stores from businesses that have failed in this economy and landlords are willing to negotiate price and terms to get tennants. The consignment business is up around 50% year over year because people with dead assets are selling them to raise money and people are buying used merchandise to save money.

[mostly c's]

Go to your local animal shelter and Veternarian, they will give the names of supporters and friends in you community, your inventory may be free, you can staff the place with volunteers, and you might find a sympathetic property owner who can write off the cost of your space as a tax deduction.

[Cecilia_Rose]

Just a thought. Can you work with one of the animal welfare places like Cat Rescue etc. Some of them are already tax exempt. If they have space they may be glad to let you use it for a small rental fee. Also you could support each other. Good source for volunteers. People looking for pets could buy and donate. Also being able to use their name will let people know up front where the money is going.

BTDT. I used to have an antique shop and Ive done malls. . With anything like this its the overhead that will kill you. Rent and utilities can eat up a sizeable chunk of your profits.

[LittleDolphin]

Sounds like you've got a good idea. My advice would be to do your 'due diligence' and start getting a business plan (which also includes a marketing plan) down on paper. This will help solidify your idea and bring it to successful reality.

Go to the Chamber of Commerce, see if there's a S.C.O.R.E. service in your town or nearby. (Society of Retired Business Executives). If there is, they'll give you free counseling and advice. You'd also benefit from interviewing other successful thrifts supporting animal shelters--many towns have these--mine does and it is very popular.

Maybe you'd want to volunteer at a local thrift store to experience, first-hand, the in's and out's of operation, stocking, merchandising, sales and customer relations.

Use all this 'due diligence' to develop a plan and strategy to make your store a rousing success.

It's easy to open a retail operation--it's much more difficult to sustain one for the first two years of operation. One sticking point right now might be increased competition for quality used stock for your store. You'll likely find buyers, but what about inventory??

Wishing you every success...

Little Dolphin

[moehonker]

A Thrift shop is an excellent business to start now and by the time this economy turns in say 5-10 years, the business will be established and you will not lose customers as long as you continue to stock what they want. My business partner and I are working on opening one asap. Anyone who has more Thrift shop observation or tips/thoughts +/- will be appreciated... the tips/thoughts in this thread are excellent... TIA!

[Bigg Mann]

Originally Posted by koki

That's right! I would like to start a thrift shop and give part of the proceeds to animal shelters. My town has a couple of shops, but none of them are about the welfare of animals. I see a need, but could use the thoughts and knowlegde of others to help me in this venture. My plan is to gather together enough objects to fill a shop within the next few months and be ready to open by April 09'. HOW do I let people know of my intentions and ask for their donations? What are your thoughts on flyers on windshields? How would you go about this? Thanks for any suggestions you can share with me.

Wife and I are thinking of opening a very small convience (sp) store and to find out if it well work and get people interested we well send out bulk mail questionaires that post office puts ineverybodys mail.

We would list ideas for them to check off and give a coupon for something free if they send it back to us.