Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignment, recycle on February 12, 2008| 2 Comments »
Crocs is going to shoe the world. Read about how they are going to recycle “worn-out” Crocs into another shoe destined to protect the feet of what’s commonly called “the third world.”* Here’s a posting of the AP story.
And here’s the Crocs site explaining it all. You will notice the Wear a Pair/ Share a Pair promotion, which invites (more…)
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged buy-outright, consignment, Thrift on January 7, 2008| 7 Comments »
Consignment shops appeal to a lot of potential retailers simply because they do not require a large grubstake to purchase merchandise to sell to customers. Well, they think, that’s cool. If I don’t sell it at a profit, heck, I don’t have to pay for it. So, I don’t sell it, I’m not out a penny.
We’ve already talked about how easy it is to go bankrupt.
There’s another way to go bankrupt in a flash, and this way is not limited only to consignment shops. It applies just as well to BOR stores (Buy OutRight, those second-hand shops that pay cash for underused possessions) and even thrift stores (stores which sell donated items, usually operated by a bona-fide charity).
This way of ruining your own hard-worked, hard-earned, hard-won business is totally inadvertent. In fact, you may see (more…)
Posted in My Favorite Things, tagged consignment on November 30, 2007|
Searching for the utility cart that I was suggesting as a solution to a resale shop owner who needed to move merchandise around in her home furnishings consignment shop, I ran
Especially if you do as Auntie Kate suggests, and use the wall space above clothing racks or shelving for displays, you’ll need a step stool. So why not get one that becomes a hand truck too? This one’s from Hammacher Schlemmer.
It costs as much as TGtbT The Complete Manual and chances are you won’t use it every day like you do the manual, but it will make your professional life easier just like the Manual!
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignment, HowToConsign.com, starting a consignment shop on September 23, 2007| 98 Comments »
Today is my anniversary. On September 23, 1975, I opened One More Time, gently-used good clothes, in a blue-collar neighborhood of Columbus Ohio. Doesn’t seem that long ago. That’s my father, there, with the broom. He also painted my “coming soon” sign (which went upthe literal MINUTE I signed the lease) and was the owner of the Ford station wagon (1969 vintage if I remember correctly) that’s reflected in the shop windows.
I had, in reserve that September day, all the money I had in the world (less than 3 months’ expenses for the shop); a father and step-mother willing if necessary to feed me; a boyfriend willing if necessary to pay my apartment rent; and a whole lotta moxie.
I talked the landlord into taking half the rent for the first 6 months, then taking 1 1/2 the rent the remaining 6 months of the lease. Figured (correctly) that would help my cash flow.
When, a few weeks after opening, several customers mentioned that they had
been hesitant to come in because the window displays made the shop look expensive (one of my past jobs had been as a window trimmer), I started doing the windows less perfectly. I didn’t know where to buy price tags (this was pre-Google, remember!) so I used little squares of paper safety-pinned to the upper left chest. I found a lot of peach index cards on sale, so for the first couple years, all my financial records were in peach. Sales counter? Door on frame, sided in plywood, created in BF’s garage (and believe me, he was no finish carpenter!)
Now one thing you have to realize is: back then/ there: NO ONE had a clue as to what consignment MEANT, yet alone how it worked. A whole buncha time was spent explaining the whole idea. By me, in between everything else! Dressing room? I replaced the door to the storage closet tucked under the staircase that led to the upstairs offices with “saloon doors”, swinging half-height shutters. Layaways? In the bathroom. Which I had to WAIT to use (remember, I worked alone) until a friendly pair of local secretaries (Nancy the blonde and Mary the brunette) stopped by every lunch-hour to relieve me for 5 minutes!Excited to start your own shop? Check out TGtbT.com’s Start-a-Shop Page, and get The Manual!
A part of any profits I made, those first few months, went to the Grandview Cab Co. because my old red-and-black Toyota often refused at 8am to transport me from my German Village apartment to my Grandview Heights shop.
Yes, my parents fed me more often than not (my step-mother made her charity festive by bringing me lunch disguised as a “shop picnic”… her AMC Gremlin would pull up outside and my taste buds would perk right up), but The Boyfriend never did have to help out with my living expenses (and yes, he’s STILL The Boyfriend).
A year after opening, I had two (very) part-time employees (both of whom became full-timers and stayed on for 8-9 years longer) and I was able to buy a house. A modest house, yes, but houses should be modest.
Eight years later I began publishing a newsletter for consignment, resale and thrift shop owners. A few years after that, I wrote the first edition of Too Good to be Threw, The Complete Operations Manual for Consignment Shops (Note: Updated every few years, the Manual is still the MAIN resource for shopkeepers, I’m proud to say!))
Twenty years after I opened the shop I sold the business to my manager of ten years and retired at the ripe old age of 48, only to start a career as the web hostess of Too Good to be Threw, TGtbT.com (as you can see, I thought the name was too good to be threw as well!) One More Time is still growing and prospering under the guidance of Chris, who not only succeeded at shopkeeping, but who fulfilled a dream of hers: to serve as president of the industry association!
So if you doubt you can make a success of a small (mine started out at 750 sq ft) shop on an even smaller budget, remember me, way back when people didn’t even understand consignment!
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Posted in Mailbox: 1-on-1 Advice, Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignment, customers, merchandising, resale shopkeeping on May 11, 2007| 4 Comments »
Here’s Chris’ rear room. It’s part of her selling floor, but she can’t seem to get browsers to explore the room no matter what merchandise she features there. Chris asked for help.
Here’s a few solutions Chris might try. We want to engage all the senses of her browsers to tempt them into exploring this area.
To use sight to lure them in, increase the level of lighting, making the room actually brighter than your front room. This might be tricky, since we’re assuming that display windows add to the intensity in your main room. If there’s no way to get enough light into the rear room without the heat and expense going too high, try “washing” that back wall with track lighting.
Another appeal to sight: Mount mirrors so the reflection is seen from the main room. That will make the back room look larger, so it won’t look cramped or crammed. Cheap version of this: have LOTS of for-sale mirrors hung on that blue slatwall, even if you have to go BUY them and sell them for ZERO profit (you know me, it’s impt to have as few “not-for-sale” items in your shop as possible!)
Touch: Install, probably in the right front corner of the rear room, an oscillating fan to move the air (in addition to the ceiling fan you already have…read on:). Doesn’t need to be a big one, but just enough to “tinkle” a small wind chime set in the path of the air. So customers will hear something going on back there. (A small CD player with quiet instrumental music so as not to conflict with the music you play in the main room, is another way to charm people into the room.)
And there’s smell: A barely-noticeable scent of orange or vanilla influences people’s browsing. Have it subtle enough that people do not remark on it.
The final sense is taste. Maybe you could put a coffee pot or a slow cooker of apple cider back there? 😉
I notice that the flooring seems to change as you step over the threshold? If it does, think about using a runner to bridge the change. People won’t even notice they’re entering another room!
And last: no matter how crowded your shop may be, do not infringe on the width of that door way. It can seem claustrophobic to many. Leave the doorway totally open and all pathways within the room circular, so shoppers do not come to dead ends.
For more good ideas on getting the most out of every inch you have, see The Essential Guide to Using All Your Space, a Too Good to be Threw Product for the Professional Resaler.
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 