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Archive for the ‘Shopkeeping talk’ Category

Deja Vuesday: Don’t fool yourself in your consignment shop

Posted in Deja Vuesday, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on February 19, 2013|

After all, some Auntie Kate messages are, ahem, Too Good to be Threw!

Click the image for more Deja Vuesday posts that are too good to be threw from TGtbT.com

Deja Vuesday

where you can visit a gently-used, recycled, and even restyled blog post in case you missed it the first time. It’s even better the second time around.

Spring is just around the corner… which means mountains of incoming consignments. If you have quantity issues at the beginning of each season, this Deja Vu post is worth reading or rereading, to alert you (and your merchandise evaluators as well!) to “unintended consequences” that might befall your bottom line. Click to see a lesson that surprised even a veteran shopkeeper:

Kate Learns Something New

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A quote for resale shopkeepers

Posted in quotations of use, Shopkeeping talk on February 18, 2013| 3 Comments »

Don't see things the way you WANT them to be

All too often, we make decisions on business policies and procedures based on “the way we are” rather than really, the way things are.

No one shops after 5 pm in my area, so no sense staying open any later. If I allowed returns, people would wear stuff and bring it back. But everyone loves Fluffy, they come in just to pet her!

Now, assuming that because you‘ve not shopped after 5pm in the last few years, what with gymnastics class and getting dinner on the table for the kids, that no one does; basing broad business decisions on the fear of being occasionally taken advantage of; or using a “Love-me-love-my-pets [child, incense, music]” attitude might be excusable for the wannabe shopkeeper who’s daydream-planning a maybe-business with her friends or in her diary.

But to have your consignment, resale, or thrift shop be a success, you really really need to see things the way they are.

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Amen, sister.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 17, 2013| 12 Comments »

A consignment shop owner said recently, in response to a shop still in its first year and struggling with cash flow:

Sometimes what we envision as our “dream shop” doesn’t necessarily translate to making a profit

Your dream consignment shop may be a castle in the airIt’s wonderful to have dreams, and it’s imperative to have them, otherwise we would never try something new (like opening our own store!) But once the shop is open, we have to (more…)

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Designer deals, Target, and the consignment biz

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on February 16, 2013| 13 Comments »

Is Target consignment-worthy?Now, most consignment and resale shops are hesitant, with good reason, to allow Target merchandise into their shops. But it still behooves shopkeepers to keep an eye on what’s happening there, and this article (more…)

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The best advertising advice I ever got.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on February 15, 2013|

For many years, I wrote a small weekly ad for my consignment shop in our local newspapers. Since I didn’t have a lot of ad money in my shop budget, I had to make every word count. I can see her still: Billy, my ad rep. A staunchly unimaginative-seeming middle-aged woman in Talbots’ finest, right down to the penny loafers. She looked like a high-school English teacher, and maybe she had been, because she gave me the best (more…)

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