Mobile supplies shop

jamesy

I have and idea which i would like peoples views on!

I have been planning to set up a mobile/static supply shop simular to a burger van sort of thing although i would not be selling burgers!
Would this be allowed!


Thanks in advance!

Errata

No idea, unless you can indicate what you would be selling. Tip - if it's crack, no you won't.

jamesy

I dont really want to say what i will be selling because i know certain people that use this forum will see what it is that i am planning and could end up doing it before me!

What has happened there is a suppy shop that i know of that has closed down,

Now i know you will say why start up in a business that has already closed,

Well i was thinking if i started as mobile/static shop i would not have to pay business rates or anything like that just the pitch like the burger vans do and as the business is already there i would not have to do all the usual advertising to get the customers!

lincroft1710

If you have a permanent "pitch" where you park the van and this is on private land, you may well end up paying business rates. Permanently parking on public land would possibly get you moved on at the very least.

Not knowing what you intend selling, it's very difficult to know what laws or regulations you need to comply with or whether local bye-laws would prohibit this.

Errata

jamesy wrote: »

I dont really want to say what i will be selling because i know certain people that use this forum will see what it is that i am planning and could end up doing it before me!

What has happened there is a suppy shop that i know of that has closed down,

Now i know you will say why start up in a business that has already closed,

Well i was thinking if i started as mobile/static shop i would not have to pay business rates or anything like that just the pitch like the burger vans do and as the business is already there i would not have to do all the usual advertising to get the customers!

Are you planning to do mail order? If not, then it probably won't matter if MSE members set up a similar operation in every town in the country. They won't be stealing business from you as you don't plan to advertise.
If you want some info/advice/help, stating what you plan to sell from your mobile shop may attract some useful responses to your post. TBH at the moment you're flogging a somewhat dead horse.

jamesy

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If you have a permanent "pitch" where you park the van and this is on private land, you may well end up paying business rates. Permanently parking on public land would possibly get you moved on at the very least.

Not knowing what you intend selling, it's very difficult to know what laws or regulations you need to comply with or whether local bye-laws would prohibit this.

Hi thanks for your reply, It will not be a permanent pitch the reason being because of the customers that will be buying the products, i have asked the current owner when are the busiest times of day and they are 8am-10am and 2pm-5pm so my plan is to drive to the location and be there at those times therefore would not require a permanent pitch!

The current owner sells 2 products and the 2nd product is one of the reasons for them going bust, he put a lot of money into product 2 and it did not return what he had hoped, I asked him if a business could do well enough just selling product 1 and he said yes if you did not have business rates etc to pay, hence why i am thinking mobile shop!

Now i dont know if a council would let a mobile shop pitch on a place like a burger van?

or if on private land they might just charge me money for pitching there for those sort of hours.

lincroft1710

In rating terms, being in one place for most of the working day is permanent, it would be the pitch that is rateable not the mobile shop. Having said that the rates on a piece of land are likely to be much cheaper than those for a shop or small warehouse. However if you can negotiate the edge of a car park or yard of an existing retail/wholesale business, although you would pay rent, you may avoid business rates if you didn't have "exclusive" usage of that piece of land.

As I am ex VOA, as soon as someone says "we're going bust as the rates are too much" I immediately think "we're going bust because we can't make the business pay i.e. we're not selling enough stuff!!

I don't know where councils permit burger vans to park, and as we still don't know what you intend selling, it's very difficult to comment. One idea - does your town/city have an open air market which would enough space to park a mobile shop on market days.

lincroft1710

Further thought.

Our council does permit a few small trailer type vans selling food plus a tiny vehicle based mobile shop selling batteries (mainly watch and small size) to park in a pedestrianised shopping area. They obviously pay a rent or licence fee, but not rates as parked on public land which is referred to as "land struck with sterility" and such land is not rateable. Does your council have a similar policy?

Also ice cream vans in parks and leisure areas.

paulwf

jamesy wrote: »

i have asked the current owner when are the busiest times of day and they are 8am-10am and 2pm-5pm so my plan is to drive to the location and be there at those times therefore would not require a permanent pitch!

You'll therefore be tied up with the business from perhaps 7.30am to 5.30pm. Although you might be working part time hours it will prevent you from getting another job, therefore presumably you will want it to give you a full time income? Will this be possible only trading for 5 hours a day?

At the moment you seem to be looking at it with rose tinted glasses...just turn up for 5 hours a day and sell as much as the previous shopkeeper but selling half the range and having no overheads. Easy money!

Now you need to go and get some objective (and perhaps even pessimistic) input from other people so you can form a rational business plan. perhaps it can work but bear in mind mobile shops aren't usually anywhere nearly as busy as their bricks & mortar counterparts so it isn't all positive.