Did you miss this HowToConsign tweet?Probably. An awful lot of consignment, resale, and thrift store folk don’t follow the tweets that HowToConsign.com puts up that are aimed at consumers… your potential shoppers and suppliers.
You probably didn’t see this tweet. And it’ll inspire, amuse and motivate you in your business. So I’ll repeat it.
Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged resale shopkeeping, Twitter | 2 Comments »
The absolutely top, hands-down winner of the most detested job of any boss is firing people.
Even when the person being fired has been a drag on the business, has degraded the vision you’ve had… even if that person was stealing (not only her/his paycheck, but actual stuff)…
No one looks forward to firing staff members.
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk | Tagged daily operations, employees, resale shopkeeping | 1 Comment »
On the NARTS Conference bus tour, it was fun to see who else in your group zoomed into the same details as you did. Here, Continue Reading »
Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged display, home decor, merchandising, NARTS Conference |
Since the Federal government seems to be having problems handling our money recently, it’s time for us consignment, resale, and thrift shops to
and with a goal of growing our business and making it stable. Here’s some areas to look at:
If you are a consignment shop, you know the joys of being able to stock your showroom with goods that have a cost of attainment of, basically, zero. But with that joy comes responsibility: is every penny of the money you owe consignors set aside where it will be safe from spending on other obligations like rent? If it’s Consignor #4521’s money, it’s not yours. Simple as that.
If you’re a buy-outright resale shop, your open-to-buy is the same obligation. Don’t spend it on anything else, and make sure that your OTB grows as your business does.
You know that old saw about having 6 months of business and personal expenses in reserve? It’s an old saw because it’s true. Whether your shop is 4 months, 4 years, or 4 decades old. So keep those sawbucks safely aside, because it would be a shame for your business to go down the tubes simply because you think you’ve gotten this far, nothing will stop you now. Keep that reserve fund up, keep it reflecting today’s costs, and do not spend it on something else. It’s your cushion, your parachute… and you wouldn’t turn your parachute into a ballgown simply because they’re throwing a gala on that airplane over there and ballgowns are more fun to have than parachutes.
Recently, a thrift shop manager crowed to me about how she got a truck-load of used fixtures for $3200. Great deal… had she needed that type of fixturing. The thing was, these were not the fixtures that the store needed. It ain’t a deal if it doesn’t add to the growth of the business. She might as well have thrown that $3200 away. Worse, actually, because there were much better things to invest in for that store, so spending the money foolishly meant a loss of the potential revenue she could have had, had profits been invested where needed. So the money was gone, and so was the income the money could have generated.
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk | Tagged resale shopkeeping, small business, Thrift |
Great headline and body copy, isn’t it? (Thanks to Peonies for bringing it to the forefront of this busy brain.) SO effective… and it gives your consignment, resale, or thrift shop a chance to blog or FB about how you authenticate, what great items you receive… and what great items they might miss if they don’t
Posted in Shopkeeping talk | Tagged advertising, email, Twitter, web | 1 Comment »
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 