give me a clue....

the.fantastic.mrs.fox

Hi,
I'm looking at setting up a new business and I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea where to start?
I want to set up a habedashery type place which also sells handmade goods and rents sewing machines/ craft machines by the hour. We'd also run classes.
I have my eye on a premises two streets behind my house with big open sunlit windows. I'm struggling to find the person renting it at the moment but judging on the two shops available on the rest of the row rent should be about £3500 pa. the shop has masses of parking in front and behind.
I work full time so I was planning on opening the shop outside of work hours and on a weekend. My husband is a student so he'd open for extra hours during the holidays and on a Wednesday afternoon. If we took off I'm planning on asking my mum to work in the shop on a week day as she's already a shop manager and not happy where she's at. I wouldn't be happy asking her to pack in until we knew we could afford her wage.
where do I start?
I should probably also mention that my credit ratings pretty bad at the moment and my start up fund is probably about £2k.
any help gratefully recieved.

flea72

rent sewing machines by the hour? i dont know anyone who would want to rent a sewing machine, and ive no idea what fee you would be charging on that to ever make any money back?

also a shop that only opens outside of normal working hours, isnt going to get that much trade. looking at my local haberdashery stores, the majority of customers are 50+ and therefore not the type of people who like to go out of an evening, shopping

the classes would be your biggest earner. there are people crying out for sewing/craft classes, as most local/government funded colleges have dropped these from their listings

bit of a contradiction that you have found premises that have lots of natural light (something needed for sewing), but you only plan to open in the evening, when its dark and the curtains will be shut

on a budget of £2k, there is just no way you could fund this without additional money being found. £2k wouldnt even buy you the machines you plan on hiring, let alone have spare that could be used for classes. also stock for the store isnt cheap - ive prob got more than £2k of fabric and haberdashery items in my personal stash, and even that doesnt look enough to stock a shop

personally i think i would go down the classes route, and leave the store idea until i have more funding and a better credit history. if you have the necessary skills to teach, then start smallscale. hire local village halls/meeting rooms and run classes. take a small and basic stock of items that you can sell to people who come to the classes, and continually update items. these people will then start to know what you have and may call on you outside of classes for extra items, and it builds from there. once you have a following, then you could prob have a base, to run classes and a store from, so people come to you rather than you having to traipse around the area

F

heretolearn_2

I understand what you mean by the hire - people can use them on your premises for an hourly rate, right? I do think that's quite a good idea, especially if you are also running classes. People may not have space/money for their own machine, or may just want to try out a new hobby before they invest, or may just want to do the odd project. There used to be council run workshops near me offering all sorts of things and there was a sewing room there for hourly hire and it was very popular. If you've also got a cutting table, decent cutting shears etc for people to use, that would be great.

However, overall I would have reservations due to the restricted opening hours (yes working people will appreciate evening and weekends, but there will also be a lot of the target market who are at home during the day and want to go out then) and very small start up capital I think you'll have a job getting this off the ground.

As suggested, could you start with some classes and a couple of machines maybe at home, and expand later when you've earned a bit more capital.

QueenieB

All of the haberdashery/craft trade magazines are eraving about the new sewing cafes opening up all over the place.So while the idea is sound, public liability insurance alone will take a hefty chunk out of your budget, and that's without factoring in the cost of sturdy machines etc.
I'm a haberdasher(among other things) when not on mat leave and I can tell you straight off that £2k is nowhere near enough money for stock. As a rough guide, I'd spend at least £150 a week on buttons alone. You should do one thing wholeheartedly and then once you've got that established, add another string to your bow and so on. Opening only outside of office hours is a disastrous idea. Opening in the evenings os great, but it shouldn't be your only opening time.

the.fantastic.mrs.fox

thanks for your feedback everyone.
I was planning to stay open all of the weekend- not just evenings. But at the same time i suppose I do have another route- I have a retired MIL who loves to sew and is brilliant at teaching. She's also very supportive. Until we could afford to hire someone full time I could ask her to open up on a Monday and Friday. So we'd only be closed Tuesday and Thursday (although we'd still be open after 6).
I was thinking of starting with the machines and work stock up as I went along. I thought party's might be an idea eventually as well.

jexygirl

I like this idea, and would use it, despite having 2 machines as I could sew without having to get the machine out, set it up, mess about, then pack it all away!
I would use it for classes more, if you got people to teach knitting, crochet, as well as patchwork / quilting / basic sewing through to advanced, and charged for the course, then build up to having stock to sell once in profit.
The machines will be a huge outlay, and there is no point in getting rubbish machines that won't last, it is a false economy.
As others have said, I fear £2000 is not even nearly enough to even get the premises as there are so many other things such as legal fees, rent in advance, bond, insurances, utilities, installations, remodelling to suit your needs, lick of paint, signage, advertising the list is truly endless.

I would suggest you make a rough business plan, start with a simple "I WILL NEED" list, list everything from machines, cotton, needles to phone, electric, rewiring for plug sockets etc. add to it as you think of more. Then calculate the costs of those items. Once you have a total rough figure, add another 3rd on to it for working capital - trust me, you need it!
Then go from there, work out how many customers you would need to cover costs on a monthly basis or what average spend per head would be, and what realistically you can charge for a course and the profits involved, speak to other people already doing it in other areas so you can assess how viable it is.
Perhaps think of other ways to start it up, before committing to premises, such as renting space in another place, or starting classes in a church hall to build up.
I think it's a good idea, just that you don't have anywhere near the finance to start it up at the moment.
GL

lincroft1710

£3,500 pa seems very cheap for shop rental.

paddyrg

Hen parties!!!

flea72

heretolearn wrote: »

I understand what you mean by the hire - people can use them on your premises for an hourly rate, right? I do think that's quite a good idea, especially if you are also running classes. People may not have space/money for their own machine, or may just want to try out a new hobby before they invest, or may just want to do the odd project. There used to be council run workshops near me offering all sorts of things and there was a sewing room there for hourly hire and it was very popular. If you've also got a cutting table, decent cutting shears etc for people to use, that would be great

but you would need to charge at least £10/hr to hire a machine (and it would prob be over 100hrs hire per machine, before you break even), and when you can buy a basic machine suitable for a beginner for about £70 (less if 2nd-hand) then most people wouldnt entertain hiring one

lets not be funny, if you were a complete novice, you wouldnt want to hire a machine, as you wouldnt know what you were doing, and most people who have an idea of what they are doing, will just go out and buy a machine

yes, i can see that being able to use machines at a venue as part of a class would be handy. but would you then be charging for use on top of the class cost, or would it be included? then again most classes i have been to, people use the machines provided the first week, decided they prefer their machine at home, and then end up lumping their own machine to the classes (which then have to to be pat tested as some venues wont allow just any old electrical item to be plugged in at their premises)

F

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I think in principle its a good idea, but people might be put off coming back if you advertise you are selling habadashery stuff and have very little stock/variety...

What concerns me is you are going to be relying on other people to open and run the premises for you. Each person you are sking will have their own idea on the shop, how to run it, speaking to people, the advice/information given etc...

Just a thought... have you got like minded crafty friends? could you form a community enterprise? or rent a space in the shop, so someone would sell fabric, someone would sell handmade things etc....a bit like an antique centre and craft centres, where they rent out a certain amount of space, plus the space holders have also got to do a duty day each week... so this way you will have someone manning the shop everyday...

as I say its just a thought.....

paulwf

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

What concerns me is you are going to be relying on other people to open and run the premises for you. Each person you are sking will have their own idea on the shop, how to run it, speaking to people, the advice/information given etc...

That would be my concern too. My next concern would be that the people you are roping in may not be naturally gifted at retail...you need staff that know how to upsell, how to give natural customer service and generally be experienced at running a shop.

My next concern after that is you need staff that are prepared to open the set hours and do so 52 weeks a year. There are probably lots of retired family members that like the idea of having a part time job, but try telling them they *have* to open at 9am and shut at 5pm day in day out, even if it is Christmas week or if they are feeling ill or it is snowing and then see how far you get. Don't rely on family members mucking in, the goodwill lasts for a couple of months then you need reliable staff members and that means paying them a proper wage.