Small Business Utilities

RebeccaWeatherburn

Hi there

I am looking for some advice. I am currently writing a business plan to open a wedding dress shop and was wondering what the average costs are for a small business :question:

Thanks in advance

Becky

Suarez

You haven't given much information.

Horace

Cost of stock
Cost of decorating the shop
Wages
Cost of Insurance
Cost of Advertising
Rates/Rent

What would set your shop apart from anybody else's? How many such shops are there in your area?

Do some thorough research - wedding shops are going to the wall all the time - I have part of the contents of one such shop cluttering up my flat.

paulwf

Your big hitters are rent, business rates and wages. No one can even give you a rough guide on these though for your business plan you should be able to give business hours and number of staff required and work out wages from there, and you can pick a suitable empty property to use as an example along with the relevant rent and rates.

As a very rough guide - and this is only to be used for the first rough draft - list most other expenses as £100 a month. Sure electricity might come in a bit over £100 but then telephone/broadband combined might come in under £100, you might spend more on advertising but less on transport and so on. But roughly £100 a month for most major expenses should give you a start. It really doesn't matter at this stage if your accountant is £900 or £1300 a year if you are paying £40K in rent, just get the big costs sorted out first.

Bridal shops do seem to be struggling though, and you're going to need a lot of money up front in stock which will sit there for months/years.