anybody have any experience in setting up/opening a shop?

makavelithedon

I am considering opening a shop in my local town in 2012. It would potentially sell iphone accessories, some household electrical equipment, and maybe stock some tvs and stereos.
I do have some experience in day to day, floor level retail from a few years back. I have a few pound to invest and am confident in my idea (ie that it will be a success)
I solicit your advice, from the first step of securing a premises to the actual day to day running, any serious advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

tucked

Great to hear of people opening new businesses these days. There's a huge amount of hard but enjoyable work involved and probably too much to go into in a posting here. I would be happy to offer some guidance (it may or may not be of use to you!) or if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me. I have set up a couple of small businesses in the past.

irishgeo

makavelithedon wrote: »

I am considering opening a shop in my local town in 2012. It would potentially sell iphone accessories, some household electrical equipment, and maybe stock some tvs and stereos.
I do have some experience in day to day, floor level retail from a few years back. I have a few pound to invest and am confident in my idea (ie that it will be a success)
I solicit your advice, from the first step of securing a premises to the actual day to day running, any serious advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

if you are going selling tvs etc, make sure you have decent parking outside of it.

may i ask what town?

makavelithedon

Id rather not disclose the location at present. Thanks for the input guys

FMartinp

Basic bit of advice I'd give you would be to keep your costs down. It's survival of the fittest out there and there is no room for fat !

soterpisc

FMartinp wrote: »

Basic bit of advice I'd give you would be to keep your costs down. It's survival of the fittest out there and there is no room for fat !

I would 2nd that. Plus always keep the taxman happy. Can be a struggle to keep cash flow going and pay everyone on time

Iphone accessories in Mayo?. There was a shop in Ballina pretty much selling what you describe, it was not in a bad location on the exit of diamond carpark going towards lidl.

Iphone accessories.. I would just buy them on ebay. Television you will find it hard to compete with multiples, Just look at tescos prices.

To be a sucess you have to go at it big. Marshes in Ballina closed.

Sorry to be negative, But Mayo is not an easy place to setup to sell what you are going to sell and made a decent profit. You could be lucky have have a store that your family owns.. so rent could be cheaper or zero, if so you might make a go of it. Otherwise if you have to pay all the rates, rent, bills, wages and make a profit you will have to be a very cut throat business man.

makavelithedon

soterpisc wrote: »

FMartinp wrote: »

Basic bit of advice I'd give you would be to keep your costs down. It's survival of the fittest out there and there is no room for fat !

I would 2nd that. Plus always keep the taxman happy. Can be a struggle to keep cash flow going and pay everyone on time

Iphone accessories in Mayo?. There was a shop in Ballina pretty much selling what you describe, it was not in a bad location on the exit of diamond carpark going towards lidl.

Iphone accessories.. I would just buy them on ebay. Television you will find it hard to compete with multiples, Just look at tescos prices.

To be a sucess you have to go at it big. Marshes in Ballina closed.

Sorry to be negative, But Mayo is not an easy place to setup to sell what you are going to sell and made a decent profit. You could be lucky have have a store that your family owns.. so rent could be cheaper or zero, if so you might make a go of it. Otherwise if you have to pay all the rates, rent, bills, wages and make a profit you will have to be a very cut throat business man.

.

It's not Ballina by the way. Can I ask why the question mark after "iphone accessories in mayo" and why would mayo be more difficult as regards this venture than any other county. Your input was off topic and not what I originally solicited but I thank you all the same.

alex73

makavelithedon wrote: »

.

It's not Ballina by the way. Can I ask why the question mark after "iphone accessories in mayo" and why would mayo be more difficult as regards this venture than any other county. Your input was off topic and not what I originally solicited but I thank you all the same.

Look at your target market, if there is a market and you can make a profit then more power to you man. As an iphone owner here myself I just buy online because its cheaper or go to a vodafone/o2 store.

At the end of the day its your money/Your decision. Mayo is not a big place and if you are going to setup say in Castlebar well Argos already offer a wide range of iphone accessories.

Lastly I work for an american multinational here in Mayo, So in the plant we are not badly paid, but I would say out of 400 people I think 20 of us have iphones. Its not a phone that the population in mayo seems to have bought in their thousands?I could be wrong.

Its your call, If you are investing your own money, then its your own risk, if you are going to borrow from the Bank they will want to see a solid business plan with a Profit forecast.

However what I have seen work well is a phone repair shop in Ballina run by a Polish lad, He repairs all kinds of phones and also sells accessories. Its a small unit but he makes a living, he also buy and sells 2nd hand phones. He gets good trade.

Best of luck, not trying to discourage you from making a business. Why not open a poll in this thread describing what you are offering and seeing what people in Mayo think?

biko

I solicit your advice, from the first step of securing a premises to the actual day to day running, any serious advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Mayo -> Entrepreneurial/Business.