Retail owners.

Anyone know where I can find knives,Tactical gear,swords,survival gear and medieval, western and aboriginal home decor, skulls, and fur?
 
Interesting thread.

Do you pay rent based on a dollar amount per square foot, Sean?
 
Sean Buckley said:
I agree 100%. That was my plan to begin with. With the storefront going good right now I need to find some time to get the online stuff up and running, it's there but my site is outdated. I might contract that work out because of my lack of time but it's a big upfront cost.

Also plan to get a wholesale program going within the next year, but one thing at a time...
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Dont know how it is in Ontario. Here in the states the credit card fees are massive for small business owners. One aspect to consider prior to expanding into web retail.
 
blokeybloke said:
Interesting thread.

Do you pay rent based on a dollar amount per square foot, Sean?
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Actually, I looked for a location for about a year. Most places were a bad location or asking way too much and I'm never in a hurry to spend money so I just kept looking. Then one night I saw a new location for rent and in a great location for retail. The guy that owns the place has owned it for 40 years and is still charging under market value so I got a great deal. Right now the average location in my area leases for about$10-$14 per sqf. I pay about $4 per sqf right now and that includes water and heat.
 
KaNesDeath said:
Dont know how it is in Ontario. Here in the states the credit card fees are massive for small business owners. One aspect to consider prior to expanding into web retail.
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They were pretty high around 3 years ago, about 3%. but now the standard is 1.6% per transaction. One thing I can suggest for anyone looking to start your own bizz is to sign up for your local chamber of commerce. Right now I have a debit machine that I pay $10 per month for and 1.6% per credit transaction. If you go through a bank it's about $65 per month and 1.6% per transaction. My chamber of commerce cost $170 per year and they often run free seminars for training and networking, at least a few times per month. Not to mention group benefits and a discount gas card among a lot of other perks.
 
Sean Buckley said:
The plan is to either open a second store or one really big location within 24 months. One place I have been lacking, because of lack of time, is the website sales. I have not spent much time at all on the website and that should be my best source of revenue once I get on top of that, but for now I am way too busy with the retail location. What type of shirts do you sell?
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I sell zombie shirts, my brother does all the designs: TeeNoEvil.com

We attend comic conventions, artwalks and fairs. Several local shops also carry our shirts. Nothing comes easy but we're doing it because we love art and horror.

That second store sounds like a good idea. How long is the lease? Be careful if it's for too long because it might stop your growth.

For credit card, we use square. Don't need any CC machines and I think it only charges 1% - 1.5% per transaction. I get the money into the bank account 2 days after the charge.

Since you're into medieval stuff, here's our design closest to it:

p_1.JPG


That amazon shop sounds like a great idea.
 
highkicknomore said:
I sell zombie shirts, my brother does all the designs: TeeNoEvil.com

We attend comic conventions, artwalks and fairs. Several local shops also carry our shirts. Nothing comes easy but we're doing it because we love art and horror.

That second store sounds like a good idea. How long is the lease? Be careful if it's for too long because it might stop your growth.

For credit card, we use square. Don't need any CC machines and I think it only charges 1% - 1.5% per transaction. I get the money into the bank account 2 days after the charge.

Since you're into medieval stuff, here's our design closest to it:

p_1.JPG


That amazon shop sounds like a great idea.
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Doing shows and festivals is a great source of revenue, that's how I started the business. I still do shows during the summer, usually about 6 per year. I love the shirt concept. I know a guy that own a horror company that might be ineterested in your stuff if your interested.

I am going to look into the square for my shows. Where do I go to get one of those?
 
Sean Buckley said:
Hey guys,

I have owned my own retail business for the past 3.5 years. So far things are going great. I have noticed my best form of advertising is word of mouth, by far! I have spent only about $3,000-$4,000 on other forms of advertising, and all in the past year but doesn't seem to be worth it. I'm sure if I spent a lot more on advertising it would be a bigger ROI but don't really see the need at this point. The hardest part of running retail at this point, for m, is keeping enough inventory in stock (which is a pretty good problem to have) which obviously effects sales a bit.

Just wondering if anyone else on here owns a retail store and what some challenges you have had are and share any secrets of the trade. For me one secret of the trade I ave found very profitable is simply be a shameless self promoter everywhere you go and always have cards/flyers on you.
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Other forms of advertising may not lead to ROI, but you should at the very least be spending money on google and adwords. If you're not, you're really hurting yourself.
 
Sean Buckley said:
Doing shows and festivals is a great source of revenue, that's how I started the business. I still do shows during the summer, usually about 6 per year. I love the shirt concept. I know a guy that own a horror company that might be ineterested in your stuff if your interested.

I am going to look into the square for my shows. Where do I go to get one of those?
Click to expand...

I think you can sign up online. They'll ask for the usual info. Just google "square credit card." There are horror stories about Square freezing your account and funds for 6 months but from what I've read, it's the accounts that aren't verified.

That'd be cool if you can PM me the horror guy's shirt. Thanks for your help man!
 
anaconda said:
Other forms of advertising may not lead to ROI, but you should at the very least be spending money on google and adwords. If you're not, you're really hurting yourself.
Click to expand...

I've heard different opinions on google adwords. Sure it can't hurt but there are ways to get great exposure without putting the money out. Once I focus more on the ecommerce side of the bizz I probably will start with adwords though.
 
Sean Buckley said:
I've heard different opinions on google adwords. Sure it can't hurt but there are ways to get great exposure without putting the money out. Once I focus more on the ecommerce side of the bizz I probably will start with adwords though.
Click to expand...

In just my humble opinion, I think that is seriously flawed logic. It is also backwards looking. You should be looking to build the business now and setting up the website for future success. For a retail location that is not online, I'd say its even more important to start now.

The beauty of adwords is you only pay for clicks; clicks mean someone is looking at your site. You should be willing to pay for increased traffic. If, through the analytics you realize that most people are not staying long or are backing away quickly, then you know you picked the wrong words (or your site sucks).

But yeah - not having adwords is a disservice to your business IMO. And it will pay off even more when you do go to e-commerce. And of course SEO goes without saying.

Though it all depends on if you want to grow the business or if you just want to stay the same.
 
anaconda said:
In just my humble opinion, I think that is seriously flawed logic. It is also backwards looking. You should be looking to build the business now and setting up the website for future success. For a retail location that is not online, I'd say its even more important to start now.

The beauty of adwords is you only pay for clicks; clicks mean someone is looking at your site. You should be willing to pay for increased traffic. If, through the analytics you realize that most people are not staying long or are backing away quickly, then you know you picked the wrong words (or your site sucks).

But yeah - not having adwords is a disservice to your business IMO. And it will pay off even more when you do go to e-commerce. And of course SEO goes without saying.

Though it all depends on if you want to grow the business or if you just want to stay the same.
Click to expand...

I hear what your saying and I agree for the most part. I am already online and sell on my website. The problem is I don't have alot of time to update the site daily or even monthly, so it's a bit outdated. Because of this I don't to goodle adwords because I won't have the time to keep up with increased sales on the site, as it is now I reply to about 30 emails per day and ship only a few packages per day from the site. I hope to get on it soon as I just hired a second employee to take off some of my workload.

When I do finally free up some time I will not only to adwords but amazon as well, maybe ebay too. Trick is to find the time to keep up with it. As you might know or not know. A fully functioning ecommerce site is a full time job in itself. As a starting business owner I was unaware of the time it was going to take to keep up with the site and that's why it kind of took a back seat for the time being.
 
Im not a retail owner but I work in advertising and I have met with literally hundreds of retail business owners in the last 15 years, Ive seen anything you can imagine. I can only tell you my perspective from what I have seen.

You are right, the absolute best advertising is word of mouth, however standard paid advertising also works BUT you have to understand that YOU WILL NOT SEE the results in advertising short term, it doesnt work like that, advertising is like a little "pinch" that you put in the consumers mind, its like a little "hey Im here" "hey Im here" over and over and fuckiing over again.... they WILL NOT use you immediately, maybe it will take years for this particular consumer to have a need for your service, but if he EVER is in need of the specific product that you are advertising, you will be already in his mind and for sure he will be more likely to use you before anybody else who he has never heard of, now multiply that same scenario hundreds of times and that is what advertising is, it doesnt work short term, its a long term investment to keep your name in the mind of the collective consumer's mind

Now spend what you can, take it as an investment, dont expect anything out of it, and in years or months you will see, you will start hearing people OUT OF THE BLUE saying "hey yeah I saw your ad, I heard of you"

The biggest problem I see all the time is local business owners expecting an inmediate result out of advertising, and unfortunately sales people will feed you into that illusion because obviously they want to sell their product, Im not a sales person I work in the creative side, and Im just telling you the no bullshit approach of advertising, it does work, but dont expect anything to happen right away.... good luck!!
 
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thetruth2709 said:
Im not a retail owner but I work in advertising and I have met with literally hundreds of retail business owners in the last 15 years, Ive seen anything you can imagine. I can only tell you my perspective from what I have seen.

You are right, the absolute best advertising is word of mouth, however standard paid advertising also works BUT you have to understand that YOU WILL NOT SEE the results in advertising short term, it doesnt work like that, advertising is like a little "pinch" that you put in the consumers mind, its like a little "hey Im here" "hey Im here" over and over and fuckiing over again.... they WILL NOT use you immediately, maybe it will take years for this particular consumer to have a need for your service, but if he EVER is in need of the specific product that you are advertising, you will be already in his mind and for sure he will be more likely to use you before anybody else who he has never heard of, now multiply that same scenario hundreds of times and that is what advertising is, it doesnt work short term, its a long term investment to keep your name in the mind of the collective consumer's mind

Now spend what you can, take it as an investment, dont expect anything out of it, and in years or months you will see, you will start hearing people OUT OF THE BLUE saying "hey yeah I saw your ad, I heard of you"

The biggest problem I see all the time is local business owners expecting an inmediate result out of advertising, and unfortunately sales people will feed you into that illusion because obviously they want to sell their product, Im not a sales person I work in the creative side, and Im just telling you the no bullshit approach of advertising, it does work, but dont expect anything to happen right away.... good luck!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I have had people come in that have seen my add from one paper or another. I am planning on advertising more, but I feel the amount needed to make a difference to pretty substantial. What types of advertising would you recommend for a niche market retail owner?
 
Sean Buckley said:
Thanks for the info! I have had people come in that have seen my add from one paper or another. I am planning on advertising more, but I feel the amount needed to make a difference to pretty substantial. What types of advertising would you recommend for a niche market retail owner?
Click to expand...

Facebook is an option. I spent $10 and my post got 1600 more "views" but overall, it didn't really work. The activity on the post was similar to unpaid ones, which meant, people just skimmed through the post. Maybe I have to do it more.
 
highkicknomore said:
Facebook is an option. I spent $10 and my post got 1600 more "views" but overall, it didn't really work. The activity on the post was similar to unpaid ones, which meant, people just skimmed through the post. Maybe I have to do it more.
Click to expand...

Ya facebook seems to be good for customers that already follow you to get product updates.
 
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