Have your say!
I invite you to “comment” to this post if there are ideas and concerns you wish to share with your consignment, resale, and thrift peers. I do hope, as well, that you’ll answer the concerns of others here. You can even choose to reply to a specific comment (old or new) if you want to add your viewpoint.
See? Auntie Kate clicked “reply” to answer Tissa (so did Rene), and tpresson “replied” to Rene. (Click the graphic to enlarge)
Our industry is all about helping others…
as we would wish to be helped. The latest comments are at the end of the list, and you can “reply” directly to ANY comments, new or older by clicking the “reply” word directly above the poster’s gravatar/image.
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Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Kate I need your advice on two things. I have lot’s of women’s suits and I have yet to sell any of them. In your opinion do these sell at certain times of the year or should I take them off the floor? I have an idea to put them in the back room and if someone asks for them, I’ll let them go back there and look. I could really use the space for something that will really sell.
Also, I am debating on adding a dressing room. I have one now that is about 7×6 and it was put in when the shop was a scrub store. I am wanting to take it down and put up a half round shower curtain with curtains and make two rooms. Any ideas?
Thanks
Hi Sweet, I’m gonna let others answer you about suits… since here in FL we NEVER see any except St Johns on elderly ladies who lunch. (I do think, however, that if they’re not selling on the sales floor, why would you clutter up your back room with them? Have you HAD anyone ask?)
Re dressing rooms: if you need 2, go for it! Depending on the configuration of the current room, why not simply divide it in half with a pretty screen? That might give more privacy from the selling floor than a curtain. You could even play it up with a feather boa draped on the screen like a Wild West bordello as seen by Hollywood 😉
Thanks for the responses on my post!
To Kime-
For men’s items I would focus on nice watches and accessories. If you do suits perhaps have a tailor that you recommend. Perhaps a “work” section with steel toed boots (a high price item for many men), carharts, etc.
A “young mens” section with designer jeans, jackets, shirts, etc. would be great.
Just a few suggestions. I do think your hours would work. I also have a very full time job, but managed to open with a few other re-sale type stores where we co-op time and can pull advertising funds.
Best of luck!
My fiance and I have started the leg work to open a “men’s consignment” shop. We have found a location to lease for 6 months, came up with a name, filed with the state to collect sales tax. We haven’t officially collected any items for consignment. I am an accountant by trade so I feel comfortable keeping the books. We have discussed being open wed,thrs,fri,sat & sun. My fiance wants to have his mother work in the shop during the week and us work on the weekends. I’m concerned that it’s unrealistic to think we can run a business while both working full-time. His work also involves being out of town during the work week. I can check on the store nightly but wouldn’t be much help determining what items to accept on consignment since it would be men’s items. Neither of us foresee the consignment shop generating enough income for him to run the shop full-time, just something to suppliment our income. Looking for input.
I just opened a small resale/consignment boutique that is in the back of a very established gift shop. My problem is letting people know I’m here. Anyone have suggestions for inexpensive, yet effective, marketing ideas? I’m doing our towns “shops night” this week and a “grand opening” next week, but the money I’ve put into racks, lease, inventory, etc. has been fairly substantial and I’d love to make the store at least self-sustaining soon (I realize a profit may not come until spring).
Thanks everyone!
Congratulations on the opening of your shop!
Social media is free- use it! Facebook, twitter, craigslist! Kate has lots of great articles on using them to your advantages. Will your local newspaper do an article on your shop? Will your chamber of commerce do a ribbon cutting and put it in the paper? Also, beware of the vultures who will be calling you to advertise- yellow pages, local magnets and maps, etc. Just say no! 🙂 Good luck!
Have you had any problems with consignors not being able to find their items?
I donate everything at the end of the season because it’s just me and I don’t have the time or the patience to pull the stuff. I did some pulling for summer and when they came to pick it up they asked if I could just donate it! So that’s why I donate. I have a few that still want their stuff and I’ll do it for them because they were my first consignors. I have very little storage so I just choose to donate.
You cannot afford staff time to do that pulling. At the Clothes Circuit, in Dallas, we offer our consignors the opportunity to go out to the floor and find their pieces within a specific time frame. After that, we variously donate the least likely to sell or store the unsold for re-introduction later in the season. Given that we will pay them for items whenever they sell on our premises, we have few people roaming around looking for this and that.
One of the confounding rationalizations I have heard over and over again has been that they are looking for items to give to their sister. Yeah, right…after a slew of shoppers have been given the chance to buy these pieces and passed on them. Sibling rivalry, don’t you think. Are they hoping Sis will show up for Christmas in one of these?
I desparately need help in the area of returning unsold items to the consignors. We are childrens and get stuff by the buckets. So when it comes time to pull and return unsolds, it literally takes one full time employee to handle it for days and days. What am i doing wrong? How do you guys handle such high volume end of season returns?
My consignors have the option to come in and pick up their things the week of expiration, otherwise it gets donated. We only pul donations by month, not by consignor. And the consignor has to pull their own items, we print a detailed list of what items they have available. Hope that helps:)
I am opening a shop with just ladies apparel. Can someone give me an idea of how many clothing racks (mix of round and long racks) I can comfortably put in 1000 sq ft of just selling space? Just need a ball park figure.
Thanks!
I’m envious of the extra 200 sq ft. you have! I have a little over 800 and I have long homemade racks ( pvc pipe and shelf brackets) on the walls for pants and shirts. And on top of these I have a two by 4 piece of wood stained a bright green. On the floor I have one long h rack and two 4 arm racks and one sick 3 arm rack. I have a spare h rack if I need it but I haven’t put it out yet. I am thinking of getting the round racks because they might hold more than the long arm ones. I could put more in here but most of my customers like it because it is not so full and packed on the racks that you can’t see anything. This is the way I do it but everyone is different.
Hi Sweey Repeats,
Thanks for the response. Well I am budgeting for 1200sqft and using 1000 for selling space. We will see what I find when I start looking at open spots in the spring. My area in this bad economy seems to be rebounding in retail if you look at the number of retail spots now filling up after having been vacant for 2 years.
Bridgette, that would depend on the configuration of the space, and since you don’t have a location in mind yet, I gather you really want to know how much merchandise would fit in the shop so you can do a business plan/ cash flow projections?
In that case, here’s how I would approach it. Draw out a couple of 1000-sq foot plans on graph paper, and cut out some “racks” (rounders, wall-mounts, free-standing). Arrange them on your floor plan, leaving room for entry, sales/intake counter(s), doors to bathroom, dressing rooms.
Five running feet of rod will hold 50-100 garments with standard swivel-neck plastic hangers, less if you go for the current fad of heavy wood hangers.
That’ll get you some numbers. Remember, allow for aisles and accessory areas!
More on store layouts in Chapter 6 of the Manual.
Does anyone know a good place to get quality tights for girls?
I carry BabyLegs which do pretty well in my store. I have tried their tights and they didn’t move at all, lots of comments oh how cute they were but yet no one really bought any, we even tried displacing them in sets with outfits.
The only conclusion we could come with was the price was too high for what people wanted to pay for tights.
All of my resale tights seem to sell pretty well but of course I don’t have the variety in size. So I was I hoping I could find something a little less expensive but still offer a good product.
Try Agoo Leg Huggers…I love them and was considering selling in my shop but I am a maternity shop with a few baby shower gift items.I think the retail $ is 9.99. less expensive 🙂
LOL nevermind I think the $$ is the same.
Jumping in with word from someone who split off consigning and processing to it’s own space 15 years ago. Nifty to be able to concentrate, research prices on the interne and run our ticket printers without distracting our shoppers. But, an unintended consequence is a distance between the two staffs.
There is a sense of one group being the “experts” and the sales staff not being heard with revisionist thinking on pricing. No perfect arrangements.
hi kim! i would be more then happy to help you! send me an email at sales@secondglanceresale.com and ill get back to you asap!
as for kate, she is scared at the thought of visiting me in the snow! lol 🙂
Hi Kate!
Quick question! We currently process everything at our front counter. It has always worked, creates excitement, and helps with staffing. At what point do you think a store is too busy, too nonstop for this? Do you think I should move the processing to the backroom? Side note: On top of regular consignors we are processing about 25 pallets of store closeout merchandise a week, all at our front counter!
Hi sgrgirl, I truly wouldn’t know… since I processed everything, as well, at the sales counter for 20 years, with an average of 5 incoming consignments every hour, no number limitations. As you can imagine, with a new batch every 12 minutes or so, it was a busy spot… not counting, of course, all the purchases which were processed in the same space!
That said, my counter was large… a triangular space about 8-10 feet on 2 sides… large enough to hold 3 computer terminals, one on a rolling cart that we manipulated up and down 10-12 feet of “intake” rack (part of which was also used to collect shoppers’ selections before they were ready to try on/ buy.)
Moving processing to the back room 1- Cuts down on sales floor staff to the detriment of customer service and security; 2- Cuts down on excitement (some might call it commotion 😉 ); 3- Makes the consigning half of the business less obvious to shoppers/ browsers. This last point some may see as a bonus but I have always believed that our 1000 new consignors every year was a direct result of the visibility of the process. Those who saw how well we treated and paid our consignors were inspired to consign and to spread the word.
And THAT said, I have often envied those shops whose location provided a separate entrance/ receiving area through a back or side “consigning department.” Seems so elegant and so smooth.
And pallets? We always processed huge shipments off-hours. After all, a thousand pair of shoes required a lot of “lay these out and tag ’em” room and mess… and some of these purchases were destined straight for the dumpster and were nothing we wanted our shoppers to see.
Long answer to a quick question 😉
Thanks Kate! I am sooo torn! My counter is big, but not that big. My intakes are almost at the numbers you mentioned! The pallets are pretty clean, and come every Thursday! People know this and line up to shop (bother…lol) us! But yes you are right its a lot of “laying” out and “piles and bins” and it is hard to sell jewelry and just give good customer service when you are dealing with it all! Doing it after hours won’t work, because of delivery holding issues, staffing (we would need not only the processing girls, but also guys to unload). My thought was to use a 8x8ish part of my backroom (well its my whole back room) to set up better counters, another computer, etc. Could I just do large loads back there? Maybe keep regular consignments at the front counter? Would that be confusing? Maybe I should start a bring Kate to Second Glance fund! You would LOVE MICHIGAN in the winter! lol
Tell me more about these pallets, are these items you’re purchasing wholesale? Or are these left over items that didn’t sell at chain stores?
Thanks, Kim
PS. I live in Virginia now but I grew up in Michigan..it is one of the most beautiful winter wonderlands.
Sure, a down-&-dirty work area for heavy loads/pallets, out of sight of your browsers and buyers, is a good idea. Just don’t get tempted to “hide” back there!
And Michigan in winter? Been there, done that, don’t need to do it again! Thanks anyway. Now, Sarasota in winter…another thing altogether. Maybe we should have a meeting HERE!
You can program your register to do credits, I just don’t do it. I have it written on my sales invoice and I don’t give anyone the difference, I just put it in my account register under their name. You have to do what is best for you and you can program your register to do most of what you need. I only use mine to make change.
My shop has been open 2 days I am confused about how to handle store credits for my consignors I am using a basic casio cash register and am not sure how to run store credits. I have to ring up their items they are purchasing then what I have no key for store credit I have the paperwork for it but what if the credit is more than the purchase do I then give them cash for the difference?
I don’t use my register for store credits. I just use the paperwork. and mark it on my excel sheet and also in the consignor a/r book. If they have an overage, I just log it in my book for them to use next time. It is just easier way for me to do it this way. You can program the register to take credits, layaway payments, whatever. I only use my register for making change since I do everything else manually. Do what is ever easiest for you and the least amount of work. Also, if I am paying someone cash, I use the payout key on the register and then also write it on my sales receipt book.
So your saying the register should not be involved just maybe write a hand sales receipt for what they are purchasing….o.k that makes sense I kept trying to figure out how to make my register balance for this proceduce Thank you sweet repeats that helps.
I, too, use a basic cash register and a spreadsheet. If a consignor is using credit to purchase something, I enter the amount as if its cash. Example: Jane Doe has $20 credit and is purchasing $6.33. I ring in the $20 credit as if it is cash and my register will tell me she has $13.67 change. I can then give that to her as her change if she’s cashing out, or I can note it on my payout ledger as the amount she has left on her account. Plus then she knows how much she has left at the time of her purchase. And I don’t balance my register so that part doesn’t matter for me. But you could ring the $20 under credit or something to keep track for balancing your register. As your business picks up you aren’t going to want to screw around with hand-written receipts.
I worked in HR for a couple yrs and I absolutely LoATh paperwork 😦 I assigned a negative dept to my register and use that to ring up trade and it acts like a credit on the reg. It shows as a seperate dept on my reports so I can give to accountant as tax exempt sales since I don’t charge tax on any trades. I also do not track credit, it has to be used same day. This works for me because I am a maternity store and dont want credit sitting forever and customers give birth and then want cash later…. Or god forbid something tragic to happen during a pregnancy and then they have to come in and explain 😦 it saves a lot of headache on both sides and I have tons of trades!!!!! Plus they love to come and trade maternity stuff for nursing stuff once baby comes 🙂
Since we didn’t take checks we used the check button as a payment by store credit and kept the balance on paper in a binder. They could always split the credit and cash if they wished but that is a different consideration.
One thing we didn’t do was allow them to cash out their credit at a later date for cash. We have now changed that. Mostly it was a system limitation but since I really believe in making the system as simple as possible for the customer we’ve changed.
We pay 75% of the credit amount in cash.
I notice so many of the participants on this forum are new to the industry.
As a veteran,.Clothes Circuit opened in Dallas in 1983, I would offer the suggestion that one of my best business practices has been to pay my employees well.
For having done so, the average tenure of my 21 person staff is 9 years.
The two managers have been with the store for 14 and 23 years.
The profit sharing has not been as generous since 2008 as our sales leveled off, but I have taken less profit in order to keep their pay mostly level.
Components of their compensation beyond bonuses are ….a benefits equivalent for full time to help them pay for health insurance, annual longevity pay of $100 per year, birthday gift certificates.
Now, I wasn’t able to do all this right off, but feel certain the choice to function this way has brought me prosperity and freedom now to be away from the store with the knowledge that an experienced staff is managing in my absence.
I’m just curious how you all have dealt with these situations. 1. I get the perfectly normal shoppers, polite and kind. Then I get these people who will complain because an Abercrombie and Finch hoodie is $11 and they don’t understand why it isn’t $3 like the Faded Glory. How do you handle that and explain the difference politely? 2. How to you handle and address the yard salers? I’m one, but I know better than to try and dicker on price in an actual store. For instance, I had this coat come in. It retails for $89.99. I put $13.50 on because it does have a few stains on the arms, but I figure with winter coming someone will pay $13.50 for it with the imperfections. The woman gets mad at me because I won’t come down to $8. I know that if I start bargaining with people in this town that I will rarely be able to sell anything for the price I put on it. I have done a liberal mark-down policy instead and have DAILY markdowns. The first two hours of my day are spent discounting stuff. So far, I’ve opted for silence is the best policy on both situations, but is there a better way to handle this?
I don’t haggle, ever. I have a sign posted that my prices are firm. I rarely get people that complain about prices, but when I do, I tell them that I have to be fair to myself and to my consignors. I also tell them that the original price was so and so. I also don’t mark down until the end of a season, but if something is sitting here for very long, I’ll periodically mark it down. It has worked for me so far. Words getting around that I am picky about what I take and that I have very nice stuff. Stick with your policies and don’t budge. I have had one really bad consignor that called my friend that was helping out a b****h, I was kind to her and wrote her a check for stuff sold and I won’t let her consign with me again. I have a “top ten” consignor and buyer list and I will do something special for these ladies because they are constant customers and have helped build my business. Don’t let them intimidate you, it’s your business and if they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else.
I would definitely ( and have definitely) explained to them the difference in brands/ prices simply that one is more expensive nee and that it is a huge STEAL!!! When it’s a buyer I always touch on the point that I don’t negotiate prices to keep things fair between all customers and we price fairly so that sellers get more of a return on the items that they buy. Usually when you show genuine concern to help your customers then they understand and will be glad to sell their items to you as well 🙂
Thanks Sweets and Honeyb! I tried explaining the difference in prices of brands and got mixed results. I will keep doing it though. I’m not down about my store, just the opposite I’m doing better than I expected at this point. At the same time it is just plain annoying when in the morning one lady says to my face that my prices are too high and in the afternoon three tell me I’m fair. I’m fairly sure my prices are fair…it’s just some people want stuff for absolutely nothing. I agree with you Sweets, those particular people don’t have to shop at my store and hate to be this way, but they are welcome to shop elsewhere.
Has anyone started using square codes or developed an app for their store? If so how are you using these forms of media for communicating information to consignors/shoppers?
I have a qr code and am looking into an app 🙂
we just closed on our building, registered our name with the Indiana Secretary of State, we are painting, knocking out walls and trying to pick a paint color for the outside. We are starting to take appt for getting items. Can anybody help me with a guide on how much to pay for things and charge for things? surely there’s a chart out there like something Platos closet uses!!
I dunno. Are you in Podunk and open alternate Thursdays from 10 to 11, never advertise, and located in a dank, dark, smelly and dirty place…. or are you on Rodeo Drive, established 20 years ago, offer free mocha lattes and can boast of celebrity shoppers?
That’s just a silly example illustrating a crucial business point: What something’s “worth” in Place A has zilch to do with what it’s “worth” in Place B.
Read up in the manual, and I’d also suggest one of our best-selling Products for the Professional Resaler, The Money-Wise Guide to Accepting & Pricing. Are you planning on buying outright? Don’t do it without The BIG Book of Buying Outright.
Also, there’s a lot of free articles on our site, and here on the blog, endless conversations about pricing.
Congrats on your beginning… and don’t miss the TGtbT.com advice on colors!
Kate is absolutely right on the pricing. It is still trial and error with me even after six months. I live in a town of 30,000 plus and my bread and butter, so to speak, is Talbot’s, Coldwater Creek, Banana Republic, etc. These are snatched up before I can get them on the floor. I can get a little more for my clothes because I am very picky on what I take. I also know what I can get for a certain item and brand. So far no one has balked at the prices, but I do all the pricing and I do not haggle on the prices. There’s always going to be someone that doesn’t like the prices, but they can go to the Goodwill and Salvation army. I have good, quality women’s clothing but as Kate said, I can’t sell a Chanel purse or a pair of St. John pants because some people just don’t know what these brands are and I can’t price them high enough to move them and to make it worthwhile for me or the consignor. I also have weeded out Walmart clothing and Kmart clothing. It’s just not that profitable for me. I offer great customer service and all my clothing is on one kind of hanger and is steamed and sprayed before it hits the racks. You will learn as you go along. Good luck and I hope you do well.
Plato’s pricing chart is probably one of the great advantages you get from buying into a franchise.
It is the most challenging things. Remember there will always be people that think your prices are too high and sellers that think you don’t pay enough.
The most helpful thing I learned on the tgtbt board was to not do a percentage. My staff still struggles to explain this unfortunately but people get it. It will save you a lot of trouble and disgruntled customers who think they didn’t get their “fair share” on an item.
I finally worked out a pricing list this year with some standards (we are kids) and there are lots of very similar or the same items that need to be consistent. It is separated into there brand tiers and three size groups and lists the general items. I’ve been trying to do it for maternity but it is so much harder to classify women’s clothes into groups I’m finding.
Wow! Wendy… sounds great can you possibly email a copy of your kids list? mysistersclosetllc@aol.com
We are thinking of opening up a children’s consignment shop (clothing and toys, and possibly maternity clothing) in our basement? We want to do it in our basement to keep costs to a minimum. We would open during my days off…about 3 days a week, and if we did well we would open more often. We are about 2 miles out of town. Is is wise to be doing this in our basement?
Thank-you for your feed back,
Julia
I am going to chime in here. I have been open 6 months now and it hasn’t been easy. I have plenty of consignors just not as many customers. I tell myself every day that it will get better. I have got nothing but good comments on my store and the merchandise I have. This gives me encouragement and hope. I have thought long and hard and if business doesn’t get any better by the end of the year, I am going to have to call it quits. I can’t put this much effort into something that will ultimately cost me more going out than coming in. I am hoping the holiday season will be good for business and this will also give me a good indicator of the future.
I also am having trouble with the owner of a consignment store down the road. She has been in my store taking pictures and hanging her pants the way I hang mine. I painted my door yellow so it would be seen from the road, she paints hers pink.
Sorry to be such a fuddy duddy, but this is not going as I’d hoped. My husband is a big help and encouragement to me and keeps telling me to hang in there.
Hi Martha,
Don’t worrk you’re normal. I cried the same blues when we first started too and here I am 1 1/2 year later and I can see an increase in business at a steady rate every month. Compared to last year we are doing better. Am I rich or even making a big income NO. But it will come if the rate of increased shoppers keeps coming in at this pace; we’ll be turing a profit soon. According to the SBA and our accountant we are right on track with amount of business in this short time. Just to let you know my husband works in the store full time and I work at a law firm full time so we can pay our household bills. I know one day I will be full time in the store and we’ll be making enough money to pay all of our bills and then some. It takes 3 – 5 years for a small business to make a good profit. Also about 6 months after we opened another business opened right directlyacross the street from us and they are an antique store renting booth space. They also did a section of consignment (furniture and home goods we carry both those and clothing) and was offering thier consignors 70% commission. I wrote to Kate and she told me to just calm down they can’t stay in business at 70% commission; so just focus on your store and forget them. Well here we are a year later and they are laying off employees thier consignors are in our store saying they haven’t gotten paid, and our business is steadily increasing little by little every month. Be paitient work your butt of for the first 3 – 5 years and the rewards will come.
Hi Kim,
This is most encouraging to here. Can you tell me the size of your shop?
Hi Bridgette,
We started with about 1200 sq ft of women’s & men’s clothing, home goods and furniture. So many consignors came in that within that first month we grew and painted and decorated another 500 sq ft and then a few months later we painted and decorated the upstairs. We never thought we would need the back area and upstairs as selling floor but the consignors just kept coming. When we were in business only 9 months we rented the space next door as there was already a large garage type door that connected the two spaces, and doubled our rent. That allowed us to enlargen all the departments and added kids clothing. I thought my husband was nuts becuase we were only breaking even but we did it none-the-less. In total we now have 6,000 sq. ft. God has been good to us as we have been able to make all of our bills every month without a loan, my husband now gets a small pay however I don’t get paid yet. We have gone from one part-time employee to four full time employees, we need more but that’s our budget right now. The shoppers….well they are trickling in but I know they will keep growing, cuz the word of mouth is getting around and we advertise regularly. It just takes time. I’m working maybe 75 hours a week and my husband is putting in about 60. We wouldn’t trade it for anything because we know our hard work today is paving our future.
Oh Kim! This was so, so encouraging. My husband made me sit down to draft up a business plan. I thought it was not really that important, however it has been very eye opening. I am struggling to make the numbers work even with my NARTS information and what I am getting from Kate’s fabulous site. I have ordered a lot of material but what is missing is to really know what I can anticipate in sales for my region. I live in a mudsized urban environment in NC with just a few consignment stores (2 massive thrift like goodwill and the salvation army). I am looking to start by focusing on women and maternity right now. However I have no idea of what the sales volume will look like to even do my predictions. The building rents in my area where there is high traffic near other retail cost like $18-20/sq ft Which is a large percentage of my budget outside of staff salaries. You would think with the low occupancy rate in some retail centers they would lower the cost….that has not been the case.
So I am struggling with just what would be a typical sales volume in a start up. I know there factor is dependent on many things, but a point of reference would be helpful. If I can not make my numbers work to get to at least break even within 8 months, my husband will probably nix the idea (this makes me very sad). I too will have to maintain a job while trying to run the shop with his help. My next question to you is what region of the country are you located? If you can share General sales volume ( I can send you my email address since I am sure you would be comfortable sharing here). I just need a decent idea, to see if there is a possible chance of break even (with the suggested marketing ideas from NARTS and TGTBT) before years end. I am cautious about risk….but calculated risk, i can manage. I just need some numbers that make sense.
It is hard to figure out numbers and definitely different depending on your shop. I’d suggest starting with what you need to make. Then breaking that down into average sale, # of buyers, % of shoppers and sellers who become buyers. I found it really helpful to do it that way and then focus on how to get there.
What I failed at was figuring a good COGS number based on my sales dollars. They of course are intimately tied so don’t forget to adjust that with your sales forecasts. The other thing is to keep in mind how your staffing costs might increase with increased sales.
One thing I would not focus on is the behavior of the other shopkeeper except to wonder how well she is doing based on her behavior.
Hi Martha, You’re not being a fuddy duddy, you’re just facing some obstacles. You don’t mention if you want some ideas of ways to build your business, so I won’t go into detail, but a few thoughts that might help you (and others!):
* You don’t mention what advertising and marketing you are doing. Perhaps that’s worth some attention. For example, you haven’t linked your web site to your name on your post, nor developed a business gravatar to use (forgive me if you did this on purpose to maintain anonymity.)
* You seem to be, from your remarks, basically covering expenses within your first 6 months. That, believe it or not, is more than most small businesses do.
* Forbid anyone taking photos in your shop without your express permission, This is basic business etiquette. And otherwise, ignore the shop down the road… except for being sure that it is easier and more pleasant to patronize your business than hers.
* DO NOT count on the holiday season for great sales. Traditionally, your shoppers will be at the malls, not in your shop. Unless, of course, you put into place some of the ideas in the 22 pages of Holidays in Resale.
Hope some of this is food for thought, and we’ll be eager to hear what you’ve decided to tackle!
Hey Kate, I have advertised, advertised and advertised more but I have found my best adverts is word of mouth and the best advertisement is the mannequin that I stand outside my store with a new outfit on about every other day. Except when the wind blows, she tends to fall over and loose her arms. I can put a bright, eye catching outfit on her and it will be stripped off of her and sold the same day. Yay! Also, I have come up with an idea for Thanksgiving and Christmas, an ugly sweater contest and the winner get’s a gift certificate to the store. There are definitely some ugly sweaters out there! The past two weeks have been amazing selling wise, I hope it keeps up. It was funky weather today, windy, rainy and I couldn’t put the mannequin out. I have had to stop taking clothing because I am getting full.
I have a very small space/selling floor and even less storage. Most consignors follow the rules but some still think I will take anything, I won’t, but most of my consignors know what I keep in my store. I am very, very picky and people appreciate that. I am also very anal about smells and my store smells wonderful! Scentsy works amazing and I spray all my clothing before I steam it with lavender linen spray. I spray all my shoes with Febreeze also.
I know it’s a lot of work, but it makes my stuff looks amazing and I can sell more if it looks nice. It has been a learning process and I am still learning.