Thinking of opening clothes shop up

Shazza1976

:hello:
I am thinking about opening a clothes shop up, i have a few suppliers lined up.
I dont really know where to start tho, Can anybody advise on opening a shop for the first time for a complete novice ... from step 1 pls
I am also finding it hard :wall: to find sites that advertise empty shops for renting in manchester or oldham areas

Thanks

Al1x

you could contact Business Link .... they have lots of good advice on their site.

Savvy_Sue

Not quite this question has been asked before so it would be worth searching this board for 'high street shop' threads. I know one point which was made was that you will almost certainly need to employ staff unless you're going to be there all day every day, even if you only open for a few hours a day you may need cover for emergencies. And that can be one of your biggest problems: I have a friend who was running a cyber-cafe more or less successfully until his wife had several emergency admissions to hospital in quick succession and he just couldn't be there to open up any more!

Bluespidermonkey

Hi, a great site for seeing available shops is - http://www.shopproperty.co.uk/

covers the entire UK (i think) - you need to register with the site and then you get free access.

You can also set it up to regularly email you a round up of shops available in your chosen area.

Good luck

windswept

Why not start with an ebay shop/your own website to see if your business is viable before you commit so much cash on start up?
Rent alone can be enormous, you probably need £20k turnover before you see a penny in profits with a shop.

motorguy

things to think about - rent, staff, rates, location, advertising, start up costs, cashflow, who's your competitors, how successful are they, whats your differentiator from them, margin, how are you as an individual going to survive without a wage if it doesnt make any money for six months.

High Street Retail = Big Risk

I'd start with ebay, see how it goes from there.

you could blow your brains out to the tune of £30K in a year if you open a retail unit and it doesnt work out.

motorguy

windswept wrote: »

Rent alone can be enormous, you probably need £20k turnover before you see a penny in profits with a shop.

Rent for high street retail, which a clothes shop will need to be could be £12K a year. One full time employee = £10K, your own pay = £15K

Add in rates, phone, advertising, electric and your totalling probably £45K overheads. Working on a 100% markup, you'd need a turnover of £90K :eek:

selfemployeddebtbuster

Hi
I opened my shop in November last year, It is the best thing that I ever did.
I sell Fashion Accessories and I found it really easy to set up

..I had already been in Retail for 19 years so new the ropes, but what I did to find the ideal shop was to walk around the area that I wanted to be in.

I Checked out the footfall and then looked out for properties coming onto the market by ringing the local commercial agencies.

They soon get to know you and the size of property you are after.
When I found the one I wanted, I just went full on for it and managed to secure the key 2 months before I signed the lease, therefore managed Christmas trading without paying a penny in rent.
As for suppliers you need to seek out all the trade shows that are coming up. there are lots in London and I think for clothes the one to look out for is called Pure...
Good luck in your new venture and you wont look back..Have positive thinking at all times and you will suceed..
This is the best time to get going before the Christmas rush.

Tooticky

New businesses are a daunting thing, but there are many helpful people out there, i have to agree with Al1X business link are a good place to start.

You could look at an online store and Pay per click advertising it's certainly cheaper than bricks and mortar etc...

A friend of mine recently got an ecommerce store from: www.mistore.co.uk and he couldn't be happier. He pays a small monthly fee, and gets free upgrades, he can add and remove pages, and products himself without any experience of websites.

They did charge for an initial design set up (which surprisingly include a logo design too) but i think it was only about £300.

He seems to think it's money very well spent, best of all theres no tie in.

I'm tempted to get one myself, i just can't think of anything to sell

Either way, good luck!