Second hand clothes shop

Ellie2008

Hi all,

Im thinking of starting a second hand clothes shop (not a massively original idea I know!), I think there's more of a market for them these days.

Basically I dont feel like going into work this morning and havent for a while now (I know poor me!).

Any feedback at all would be much appreciated! Particularly appreciate any stories people may have.

Thanks so much.

ssbob

Ellie2008 wrote: »

Hi all,

Im thinking of starting a second hand clothes shop (not a massively original idea I know!), I think there's more of a market for them these days.

Basically I dont feel like going into work this morning and havent for a while now (I know poor me!).

Any feedback at all would be much appreciated! Particularly appreciate any stories people may have.

Thanks so much.

Hi Ellie(love the name, my daughters name)

Second hand clothes shops are normally for charitys, but if you think you can make a go of it then good luck to you. Can I ask you where do you plan on getting your stock?

Ellie2008

ssbob wrote: »

Hi Ellie(love the name, my daughters name)

Second hand clothes shops are normally for charitys, but if you think you can make a go of it then good luck to you. Can I ask you where do you plan on getting your stock?

This may be v navive but I was going to go door to door where i grew up and offer to sell people stuff for them. I had thought of the charity shop thing I guess I would be looking for stuff that s a bit nicer that maybe people would want to get a bit of money for then again I wouldn't want to feel I was running a business taking money from charity.

ssbob

Ellie2008 wrote: »

This may be v navive but I was going to go door to door where i grew up and offer to sell people stuff for them. I had thought of the charity shop thing I guess I would be looking for stuff that s a bit nicer that maybe people would want to get a bit of money for then again I wouldn't want to feel I was running a business taking money from charity.

I would say there is a lot of hard work involved in going door to door, alot of people now are using sites like adverts.ie and ebay to sell their second hand clothes/handbags/shoes.......................

If I were you I would test the waters a bit and see how much you would make from selling some of your own items on these websites because having a premises can be very costly.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Ellie,

Please please please think this through before quitting your job. While the idea of running your own business and not going into work seems romantic. The reality of door to door selling is an absolute nightmare.

Like any business you need to do your market research. Every night for the next month after work grab clothes from your wardrobe and try door to door selling. It's a tough business and doors will be slammed in your face and you'll meet people who beat all rational levels of condescending.

People don't buy clothes at their door step and there would be a fear you were getting the clothes from the increased break ins that happen during a recession. This really isn't a viable business. Keep thinking i'm sure you will come up with something!

Cianos

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: »

Ellie,

Please please please think this through before quitting your job. While the idea of running your own business and not going into work seems romantic. The reality of door to door selling is an absolute nightmare.

Like any business you need to do your market research. Every night for the next month after work grab clothes from your wardrobe and try door to door selling. It's a tough business and doors will be slammed in your face and you'll meet people who beat all rational levels of condescending.

People don't buy clothes at their door step and there would be a fear you were getting the clothes from the increased break ins that happen during a recession. This really isn't a viable business. Keep thinking i'm sure you will come up with something!

From what I understood, she was proposing going door to door to source the stock rather than sell it. I think this could be a good idea because while people are using the internet more often for selling on unwanted things, it's the kind of thing people keep putting off. The idea of just handing it to someone at the door step seems a lot easier.

A problem you'd face is that people may not trust that you'd give them a fair price. Or, if you don't sell it people may think that you've done a legger with their clothes. Of course, if you had the shop first then they'd be a lot more trusting, but you can't have a shop without stock so it's a bit of a catch 22!

In any case it could be best to do up some really nicely designed fliers with a website to go along with it, with the day and time marked that you'll be calling around. This way people can have their clothes ready if they're interested which will speed things up a lot for you.

You could consider starting it as a market stall in Cows lane or somewhere similar. Test it out with friends and get a feel for the demand, start off small and go from there.

ssbob

Cianos wrote: »

You could consider starting it as a market stall in Cows lane or somewhere similar. Test it out with friends and get a feel for the demand, start off small and go from there.

+1 on the market stall. Your not going to lose your back on one of those.

steve_

This may not be the best idea but have you thought about letting the customers to a bit of the work for you? Instead of going door to door why not let people email you pics of clothes they want to sell, you offer them a price and collect the clothes from them. The difference between this and adverts is that you would collect directly from customers and as a person who is actively looking to buy clothes people would likely give you a call when looking to sell there stuff.

With the cost of entry for an online store being so low these days theres no excuse not to have one. If anything it gives people a place to view all your stock, you could even offer delivery of items for a small fee, 2euro or something.

Just out of curiosity can you tailor at all? I would like to see a second hand clothes shop that takes old clothes and breaths new life into them, would also make them one of a kind products which could bump your prices up a bit. Im not saying to do it for every piece of clothing but if you had one or two unique items a week it would be interesting to see how it works out.

Best of luck

Edit: Sorry only noticed there that you hope to sell peoples stuff on behalf of them. That sounds like a lot of extra work. Why not just buy the clothes off them add your overheads and sell them in your store?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Cianos wrote: »

From what I understood, she was proposing going door to door to source the stock rather than sell it.

Hmm that would make more sense my bad

Cianos

steve_ wrote: »

Edit: Sorry only noticed there that you hope to sell peoples stuff on behalf of them. That sounds like a lot of extra work. Why not just buy the clothes off them add your overheads and sell them in your store?

I would see the idea of selling clothes on behalf of people as a good way to fill a shop with stock with a massively reduced initial investment. It would be a lot more work but it could be a good approach in the beginning.

Ellie2008

Cianos wrote: »

I would see the idea of selling clothes on behalf of people as a good way to fill a shop with stock with a massively reduced initial investment. It would be a lot more work but it could be a good approach in the beginning.

That was my thought exactly, I was googling it (you can see Ive really thought it through!) and saw an American website which said you'd be better to locate in an area thats not very affluent. I was thinking of a Dublin sub that is very affluent purely because they're isnt one there and Im familiar with the locality (not that Im very affluent to clarify!).

Cianos

Ellie2008 wrote: »

That was my thought exactly, I was googling it (you can see Ive really thought it through!) and saw an American website which said you'd be better to locate in an area thats not very affluent. I was thinking of a Dublin sub that is very affluent purely because they're isnt one there and Im familiar with the locality (not that Im very affluent to clarify!).

What area, out of interest? If the area is too affluent then you may find people have an attitude towards second hand clothing, but if it's an area with a lot of young people it may be okay.

suey71

I think its actually a good idea if done correctly. Just do a little more research and play around with different ways of doing the same thing, if that makes sense, incase one way doesn't work. Improvise, think outside the box.

My Grandfather was in this business back in the 40's and 50's. He used to go around on a horse and trap all over the surrounding counties and give out balloons for rags. All of the kids in these areas loved to see him. He was a little like steptoe.

You could get lots of flyers printed up and offer to give a little something in return for thier unwanted items of clothing/shoes etc. for example a bag of sweets for the kids.

Lots of families have unwanted childrens clothes and some of these are designer. Timberland and Gap to name but two.

Say clearly on your flyers that you are not a charity.
I and others hate these charity clothes collections, as 95% of the time they are shipping the clothes back to a third world country for profit.

Rags for Sweets.

Best of luck.

Darlughda

Ellie

http://www.retrosellers.com/clothing.htm

This website should be of use to you in your research. Its an online directory of vintage and second hand clothes stores in Britain. Most of them deliver.

I have been into second hand and vintage clothes (as a customer), and would love to see more of a selection of them in Ireland, particularly if you can browse and order online.

Ellie2008

Cianos wrote: »

What area, out of interest? If the area is too affluent then you may find people have an attitude towards second hand clothing, but if it's an area with a lot of young people it may be okay.

dalkey. I think there s a decent teenage population there but as you said I'm not sure what the attitude to second hand clothes would be there.

kilburn

Hi Ellie,
its your lucky day, I have just completed a market research campaign for a second hand shop in county Limerick, It is open a year now and they are doing ok. They have a premises and sell literally everything second hand clothes, furniture, electrical goods, books, dvds. It is a good idea but location is key. Best of luck with it.

Cianos

Ellie2008 wrote: »

dalkey. I think there s a decent teenage population there but as you said I'm not sure what the attitude to second hand clothes would be there.

Dalkey wouldn't be my first choice for this kind of venture. It can appear quite busy but I think that's because it's quite a small, compact village. I don't think there'd be enough of a mix of people passing by to keep up a good amount of new customers.

There probably are quite a few teens in the area but do you think they'd do their shopping in Dalkey or would they rather go to Dundrum/city centre etc? And even still, how many of them would dress alternatively enough to consider buying from a second hand place?

John368

Ellie2008 wrote: »

That was my thought exactly, I was googling it (you can see Ive really thought it through!) and saw an American website which said you'd be better to locate in an area thats not very affluent. I was thinking of a Dublin sub that is very affluent purely because they're isnt one there and Im familiar with the locality (not that Im very affluent to clarify!).

I would go for the afluent area. You know the old-money confident types who will boast about wearing secondhand. America is a completely different culture where wellfare is not so good and the less afluent people are used to scrimping to keep themselves from being thrown out onto the streets.

suey71

Theres a guy beside the Texeco garage on the N4 near Lucan in a 40ft container with a sign saying "cash for rags".

highlandseoghan

Hi Ellie,

I am just wondering if you every open up your second hand shop or how did the venture go. I would be very interested in hearing how you are getting on.