A resale friend recently asked me for some advice on how to plan for an anticipated move. She writes:
I have approximately 3 1/2 more months on my lease so I have to hustle to put things in place to move. I would like to know when and how to notify customers /consignors about the move. I am anticipating moving approximately 6 to 8 miles from my current location.”
I told her I’d ask YOU, the experts!
Those of you who have moved, what is your best advice to this peer?
The do’s? The don’ts? Things that went smoothly, things you wish you’d done differently?
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
We moved our store to the current location about 5 years ago and it was a fairly easy process. We began by sending out a email to our constant contact list of customers and consignors and handing out a flyer to the walk-in traffic. We assured them the transition would be smooth and we would take very good care of their items. We extended their consignment period an extra 30 days to make up for any lost time of the floor. We had a “We’d rather sell it than move it” SALE. We moved during the month of July and kept the first store open until December. In this store we kept the expired items that consignors did not pick up and some of our own items. BIG MISTAKE! Everyone wanted to shop the new store and very few customers went to the old one. We were fortunate enough to bring in enough to pay our monthly expenses but that was it. And we spent a lot of time running back and forth. Moving should be much easier than shutting down completely. I’m not exactly sure how that would be done?
Hi Kate,
I am in the process of moving my consignment/resale boutique to a much smaller space. My current space has had countless issues with water and sewer pipes from the upstairs apartments coming down on my merchandise in my shop causing me to have to close up, normally for a day or two, but this time it has been a month. So I have decided enough is enough and it is time to make a change.
I am going from a 1500 square foot sales space with 2000 square feet of storage to 800 square feet of sales space and around 600 square feet of basement storage. I will have to do away with selling shoes, men’s clothing and gowns in order to have the new space accommodate my needs for the items that sell the best.
I have been working with a counselor from the Small Business Development Center and she has had a few suggestions for me. One is a policy change. I just want to add real quickly that I work alone. I have owned my business for a little over five years and I get occasional help from my Mom. That being said, I was constantly inundated with clothing. I have received up to 15 totes or large garbage bags at one time, and at any given time can have up to 50 peoples items waiting in my storage area for me to go through and choose which items I will take. The biggest issue with this is that 90% of my time is spent going through items that are not good, that I refuse to put out on my racks and have to return to the owners. It is a waste of my time, I am not making the money that I could be and it is utterly exhausting.
The SBDC counselor says it is time for a change. I am thinking I should limit my buying to be by appointment only and only accepting 20 items per appointment, and only taking appointments a couple days a week when my Mom can be available to help.
I am extremely confused because so many of my customers like the convenience of being able to drop and run. The counselor also made the suggestion that maybe I should take a day to go out buying items at places like the Salvation Army and Goodwill since then I can choose what items i think will sell well and then can try to ease my customers minds that not all items in my store may have come from a small town neighbor. Do you have any suggestions for this very confused and overwhelmed small town shop owner. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time.
Brandee, that counselor is absolutely right that you’ll have to make changes when you no longer will have 2000 sq ft of storage space to shove stuff into! 🙂
Drop & Run is perfect for a one-operator shop (interesting, though, that even after 5 years, your business doesn’t warrant help?) and of course, for your clientele as well. You say you only accept 10% of what comes in the door? Is it, maybe, that you are not communicating your parameters for acceptance well? Are you allowing people who have never consigned/ sold to you to do D&R right off the bat? In the manual and in our Drop&Run Kit, I suggest that first-timers come in by appointment, and that they are invited to D&R in the future only if they seem to understand what you can sell and what you can’t.
Hope that helps. I’d hate to see you slogging up and down those basement steps any more than necessary in the new place.
Brandee, I have yet to use the Drop & Run kit Kate suggests but I do use appointments and have since I opened. I make 2 appointments a day and try to limit the amount to one large tote or 4 paper grocery sacks (no garbage sacks). I go through the items as they wait so I can immediately send back what I can’t accept. (I still work on my own also.)
After 6 years my consignors understand that appointments are the quickest way to get their items onto the sale floor. As the weather warms up the calander gets full pretty quick but there is no where else for them to take their items if they want to get any money out of them.
There are days you may still want to pull your hair out but at least you won’t be looking at a mountain every day when you come in. Hope this helps a little.
We had the same issue a few years ago and made several changes that have made our shop run like a well-oiled machine!
First, we limited in-takes to 25 per visit. Receiving unlimited bags just isn’t practical for most shops. Customers wait too long, get frustrated and walk out! We also do not accept any bags, except for some sweaters and shoes of course (no plastic garbage bags ever!). Items must be on hangers and we only do Drop and Run. At first we were concerned that most consignor’s would want us to look at their items immediately. But what we found was that they liked the Drop and Run better! Never any wait, no appointments necessary and we accept items every day at any time! Yes, consignor’s have to return to pick up items we don’t accept but we’ve never had anyone complain about the extra trip. Like I said, they love the fact that they can simply drop and run 7 days a week!
One more suggestion. Don’t take garbage bags! You’ll be able to breeze through your consignor’s items when they’re on hangers. Also, you’re less likely to receive items that have not be cleaned. We learned a long time ago that there’s something about a plastic garbage bag that encourages consignor’s to stuff almost anything in them. In fact, we had to wear latex gloves when we accepted garbage bags! The quality of our consignment’s also improved (consignor’s don’t bring in their junk items when they’re in plain site on a hanger!). You’ll also cut down on all the steaming (big labor savings!).
Hope these tips help and good luck with your move!
P.S. BTW, I think you’ll be pleased with your decision to move to smaller shop and focus on the high margin items that move quickly. Brick and mortar expenses are rising every year and the onslaught of FB groups and online consignment sites will not be subsiding any time soon. Lean and mean, that’s what I mean!
Does anyone besides myself see that all of the buy sell trade online sale sites are killing the consignment business? My FB alone has at least 50 local sites. I carry upscale ladies/teens and have added an antique mall a year ago when the shop next door came open. I’m really in a state of upset after 9 tough years in business.
Marsha, another interesting question, another topic. Thanks for commenting, and it’s a topic worth discussing sometime soon.
I agree! My children’s resale shop is struggling to maintain any kind of supply on baby gear or large items, like swings, cribs, etc. because everyone wants to sell on the FB groups. Kate, I would love to see a post on this subject sometime soon. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
For Andrea and Marsha, let’s talk about competing with Facebook buy-sell groups next week, shall we? Stay tuned, and everyone, get ready to share what worked for YOU! Meanwhile, there will be an aspect of this situation posted here on the AuntieKate blog tomorrow….