Leasing/renting a shop - advise required on starting up

martindow

I would worry about being overly reliant on business from one school. Can you rely on remaining the sole supplier? The school may change its uniform policy and allow less restrictive designs of clothing.

If you are stuck with a lease of several years on a shop and find a major source of income disappears would you be in trouble?

mrs_sparrow

martindow wrote: »

I would worry about being overly reliant on business from one school. Can you rely on remaining the sole supplier? The school may change its uniform policy and allow less restrictive designs of clothing.

If you are stuck with a lease of several years on a shop and find a major source of income disappears would you be in trouble?

If you read above this would not be my only source of income, the current income from my online sales can easily pop up the shop, however, additional business will give me more income and this additional business will come from walk in sales.

There will always be people wanting the items I sell, as I stated, I can oppose any other companies coming here to sell these products once I have a shop and the brand will not supply them and the only place to get these items from is the brand themselves.

I am in a very unique industry. Yes there will be cheaper options but some of the items I sell are simply not available from anywhere other than this brand and there are no alternatives and the customers I have currently buy them online.

I am in catch 22 situation - stagnate and stay where I am with not having the room for expansion or take a chance, get the shop and potentially increase my customer base by numbers I can only ever dream of via the schools. As I have enough money to prop up the shop for the minimum 18 month term required, it seems silly not to take the chance and see where it takes me. The worst that happens is I do not make a single penny for 18 months. My husband works full time so it's a non-issue in all honesty, my earnings pay for our nice holidays but we will not be having these for the forseeable future anyway as the kids have moved into secondary education.

Errata

Everything in life is a risk, isn't it?

Indeed it can be. For instance schools can change their uniform policy and standard on the turn of a sixpence. Have you done a thorough risk assessment?

usefulmale

I thought that having a sole supplier for school uniform items was no longer allowed?

mrs_sparrow

usefulmale wrote: »

I thought that having a sole supplier for school uniform items was no longer allowed?

It must be allowed as we can only get our badged items from one company.

However, I am not, nor would I be, the sole supplier - what I am is the only shop in the area that has this item in stock to try on and check it fits properly before buying.

mrs_sparrow

Errata wrote: »

Indeed it can be. For instance schools can change their uniform policy and standard on the turn of a sixpence. Have you done a thorough risk assessment?

Yes I have. Did you - or others - read any of my replies or just the first post? As stated, everything in life is a risk as I could actually drop dead tomorrow.

To clarify

I do not 'need' the business from the school, I have run this business for 12 years and make money selling by other means which means I can afford the running of the shop.

However - the schools want me to supply their pupils an item of clothing and I need a bigger shop to accommodate the number of additional people school sales would bring in.

There is nowhere else to go buy this item 'in person' which is my niche in the market and it is why the school wants me to supply it. Yes, people can buy online but other factors mean people will want to come in person and try it on.

I am not actually sure why people are so negative on me trying to make a go of this personally, I can afford it from my own pocket so it's not a big deal.

I simply asked for advice on some stuff to do with it as I have not had to do anything like this before.

I have a niche line of products and I offer a niche service and I am in a place now where I have the time, and money, to try make a go of it.

Doing this is not in question, assuming I can get the correct terms on the contract, then I aim to be opening in early March.

martindow

You seem determined to get into this and I wish you well.

You see this as a great opportunity which suggests that, as sole supplier, you will be able to get a very good margin on your sales. I think some of our comments are not aimed at your enthusiasm but the perils of supplying school uniform. While most parents are in favour of uniforms they often put pressure on schools that insist on restrictive policies that mean they are forced to buy expensive items.

Uniforms can be changed at any time and you could be left with no market and stock that may be very hard to shift.

Acc72

Hi OP,


As you started this thread with a view to obtaining "advise" (sic), you appear to be very defensive in your replies.


People are only trying to help and offering their opinions (as asked), so why not just ignore anything that you don't like and carry on as you were anyway ?

paddyrg

I think Mrs S knows her market well enough and is willing to take a punt to expand the business - don't we all take punts with every new line/gig/contract? If she was a complete new starter the words of caution might feel more appropriate, especially as she's addressed a lot of peoples (genuinely concerned!) concerns - I think I'd be getting wound up myself! ;-)

Mistral001

At the end of the day a business will have a monopoly on the supply of these items as far as I can see. No doubt it does happen, but aren't public authorities supposed to stop this form happening. Perhaps a plan B as a backup might be worthwhile before signing a lease, if paying the rent is dependent on keeping the monopoly