Can I have your Ideas pls-Wanting to open gently used clothing, kitchenware store

[Tida]

I think that is a great idea. My sister just open a consignment store in Vernon, BC this year in order to stay with her 1 month old son. She loved it. She got lot of donations from friend and family to start up. However, you need to think about your fixed expenses such as rent. My sister always complained about this. Some month she would make a great sale some month barely anything to cover the rent. That why it is very importance to have some money save up first as a back up plan. Having an open line of credit doesn't hurt either. They just charge you interest and you can pay any extra amount you want. Good luck all the best!

[mhk]

I work for a second-hand store in Edmonton. If you're relying on donations, you're going to have either A) sub-par stock or B) no stock

Where I work, we pay for the items brought to us, and even then, we're still only able to purchase 20% of what's brought in because most of it is in terrible, terrible condition.

With the economy where it's at we've actually doubled our customer base because people would rather sell than donate. We're buying twice as much, but still selling the same amount.

Good luck. The first thing I would do is ask other businesses in the area what they're overhead is for utilities, phone, rent, taxes... and then determine how much you would need to sell each month to cover that.

Wow! I never knew discount stores BOUGHT stuff!!! I thought people just brought it over - like leftovers from a garage sale or basement cleanups or clothes too big or too small etc. Interesting to know. Wow!!

Thanks for letting me know thatgengirl!

[mhk]

I think that is a great idea. My sister just open a consignment store in Vernon, BC this year in order to stay with her 1 month old son. She loved it. She got lot of donations from friend and family to start up. However, you need to think about your fixed expenses such as rent. My sister always complained about this. Some month she would make a great sale some month barely anything to cover the rent. That why it is very importance to have some money save up first as a back up plan. Having an open line of credit doesn't hurt either. They just charge you interest and you can pay any extra amount you want. Good luck all the best!

Thanks for your good wishes and input Tida! Yeah - it seems its going to be more difficult than to just put up a shingle and wait for donations to arrive and start selling.... Perhaps I should just wait till spring to even start thinking about this now.... Its so cold in the winter months, and sales would be sluggish, so I wonder if I would even break even let alone donate to charities like I want to....