I don’t have statistics on this, but I strongly suspect that start-up consignment, resale and thrift stores which planned from the beginning to have funds available for support staff, have
fared better, grown faster, and profited sooner
than start-ups which relied solely on the owner working her or his butt off.
So tell us: did your shop open with just yourself working? Did you feel constrained in your operating hours?
When did you add staff, and what difference did it make in how your business operates and your bottom line?
If you are still, one or more years into your business, working by yourself and/or relying on temporary fill-in help from friends and family, what are your plans for increasing cash flow enough to add a staffer or two or twenty?
Or do you feel that you prefer to be the sole staffer in your shop?
I look forward to your comments!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
I have been running a successful shop for over 2 years solo. I can afford to hire, but have worked hard upfront to have efficient automated business systems in place that make inventory management and consignor payouts a touch of a button. I am open 4 days a week (including one late night and Saturdays) and do amazing. I’m very tech savy so social media is a 15 min daily commitment with a twice a month email as well that is a 10 min commitment. I take enough pics after merchandising weekly to last for the weekly social media posts. My shop is about 2000 sq ft and I sell on average about 400-500 items weekly. It’s peaceful by myself and I love seeing all my customers and consignors personally. Plus they get a consistent experience with my super high standards of music, displays, cleanliness, personal styling etc. My best advise is to streamline what is making you inefficient first before hiring. Also- taking on a higher retail rent is tough because it makes you have to be open more and no one can run a shop alone if they are open 6 or 7 days a week. Find the lowest rent upfront or move location if it is too high because it does really impact the decision of hiring directly (almost more than anything else I believe second to size of shop).
This was inspiring! I hired my first part time employee in May 2015, 24 hrs/wk. My sales from then on increased over the prior year an average or 65% per month. Why?
1. I was blessed with a great hire totally trustworthy, LOVES her job and at this point is doing every job in the shop, including photography, editing and now listing for my on line selling channels.
2. I am now open 60 hours per week 7 days (up from 40 hrs 5 days)
3. I’ve been able to devote some of my time to social media, in store events, new selling channels, marketing.
I was SO scared to hire someone, how will I get the cash flow? I waited until I had several months worth of payroll saved in a savings account. So far I haven’t had to touch that money!
I am so encourage I have an aggressive budget for 2016 that includes a raise for Employee #1 and bringing on Employee #2!
I have been open five months. I am a sole owner and I only have a temporary one day a week fill in. I agree that it would have been nice to have the start up funds to hire immediately but I did not. It’s been ok but I am not making enough yet to justify hiring anyone else. It’s exhausting and every minute is busy with just keeping on top of everything. I am reevaluating operations for the new year as we have slowed down quite a bit and I’m hoping that I will be able to add staff in a few months as I am already expanding.
Eight years ago when we opened we started with a cashier, a receiver, a pricer, a merchandiser and a part-time cleaning lady. I guess I was pretty brave to start with that much staff, but it has worked out fine. We now have 13 employees, some of which are part-time.
A cleaning lady! I am SO jealous!
I opened my shop while still working full-time elsewhere. For that reason, my husband and I were the staff. We started with 12 hours a week, then 15, After two years of figuring out what we were doing, we added a 25-hour week person and my husband and I worked on Saturdays. After four years we moved to a larger location, but kept the same hours. We are in a downtown area, where nothing is open after 5 p.m., so that helps. But, I do feel that we were smart to take it slow and figure out procedures before expanding. We have now been open almost 10 years. Now, the asterisk: I work another 20 hours a week when we are closed. I retired from my full-time job a year ago, so that has allowed me to do my “backroom” stuff in the daylight instead of the night, but I love every minute!
When I first opened my shop two years ago, I did not plan on employees. I figured I would figure it out along the way. It was in fact the only thing I did not think about thoroughly. I started out with the shop only being open 6 days a week so I had one day a week off, then when I decide to be open seven days a week is when I decided to hire someone. It took some time, but overtime I have hired more girls, and today I have three reliable employees for my little shop. Staffing is not easy! But my best employees have all been former consignors, so they already knew about the business and wanted to join our culture.
Now that the shop can run (partly) on its own. I’m working on expanding soon. Things have been lovely!