Setting up a "Bargain Shop"

Fooster King

Am looking to set up a "Bargain" type shop. Anyone out there who has experience of doing this willing to share their knowledge on how to go about this/what not to do, etc. It would be in the Meath area so won't be competition to you (unless you have such a shop in Meath of course ). All advice will be gratefully received.

Bandara

Fooster King wrote: »

Am looking to set up a "Bargain" type shop. Anyone out there who has experience of doing this willing to share their knowledge on how to go about this/what not to do, etc. It would be in the Meath area so won't be competition to you (unless you have such a shop in Meath of course ). All advice will be gratefully received.

Have you ever run a retail store ?

Fooster King

Have never run a retail store, but have worked in a few

asherbassad

Fooster King wrote: »

Have never run a retail store, but have worked in a few

PM me......I might want to have a chat with you.

Recessionbust

Fooster King wrote: »

Am looking to set up a "Bargain" type shop. Anyone out there who has experience of doing this willing to share their knowledge on how to go about this/what not to do, etc. It would be in the Meath area so won't be competition to you (unless you have such a shop in Meath of course ). All advice will be gratefully received.

When you say bargain shop what type of product range are you looking at selling?

Fooster King

Recessionbust wrote: »

When you say bargain shop what type of product range are you looking at selling?

Am thinking of a broad range, from household goods such as washing powders, toys, latest gadgets & gizmo's, etc. Typically what you see in a "euro shop" but I don't want to limit all prices to 1 or 2 euro.

Recessionbust

Fooster King wrote: »

Recessionbust wrote: »

When you say bargain shop what type of product range are you looking at selling?

Am thinking of a broad range, from household goods such as washing powders, toys, latest gadgets & gizmo's, etc. Typically what you see in a "euro shop" but I don't want to limit all prices to 1 or 2 euro.

Well what I would advise against is selling the novelty rather than the necessities, I have found that people are buying the basics and the novelty lines are slow to shift, also sourcing washing powders at the right price is vital as the larger shops and supermarkets often sell these on special while they make a tight margin on them it gets people in.

Pottler

Recessionbust wrote: »

When you say bargain shop what type of product range are you looking at selling?

' Bargains. Generally. My advice would be: Don't sign a lease, pay week to week. get a good location. buy cheap sell cheap, but not as cheap as you buy. Don't do it as you lack experience and will go bust. My advice may or may not be useful.:)

markymark21

Fooster King wrote: »

Am thinking of a broad range, from household goods such as washing powders, toys, latest gadgets & gizmo's, etc. Typically what you see in a "euro shop" but I don't want to limit all prices to 1 or 2 euro.

Have you ever been to London by any chance? These types of stores are everywhere over there. Usually run by Indians they sell everything and anything! From cheap cleaning products, to garden tools, glassware, furniture etc etc. They cram so much stuff into a small shop its un-believable! In fairness though, the products are usually really good value as well..

These shops had all those little bits and bobs and odds and ends that you never realise you need to run a house hold.

So maybe it could be worth your while to take a short trip to London and check them out? Ask a few questions while your there y'know?

Fooster King

markymark21 wrote: »

Have you ever been to London by any chance? These types of stores are everywhere over there. Usually run by Indians they sell everything and anything! From cheap cleaning products, to garden tools, glassware, furniture etc etc. They cram so much stuff into a small shop its un-believable! In fairness though, the products are usually really good value as well..

These shops had all those little bits and bobs and odds and ends that you never realise you need to run a house hold.

So maybe it could be worth your while to take a short trip to London and check them out? Ask a few questions while your there y'know?

Yeah, they're the kind of shops I was thinking about. But I was hoping to talk to someone in Ireland though who operates a successful similar shop. Thanks for the tip though.

dave98

Fooster King wrote: »

Am looking to set up a "Bargain" type shop. Anyone out there who has experience of doing this willing to share their knowledge on how to go about this/what not to do, etc. It would be in the Meath area so won't be competition to you (unless you have such a shop in Meath of course ). All advice will be gratefully received.

Hi there, funny you posted this. I came on boards tonight to post the exact same question. I was a retail manager for approx 10 years and am looking at doing the exact same as you (Limerick area).
I have checked out some companies that supply the likes of euro shops and believe I could make a good go at it.
However, I was looking at doing it in my local town (approx 3000 residents) , rent would be very cheap. The thing that is throwing me off is that I was wondering if I would generate enough sales to cover over heads.
Opening a bargain type store is a goal of mine at this stage, I was in Waterford the other day and went into 3 different euro shops just to look around. If anyone has ideas or if you have any thoughts I would love to chat. Cheers
Dave

highlandseoghan

@dave98 Have you seen any units available to rent at a good price?

Outside of the 3k people that are in the town is there other areas close by that people would come from?

What sort of competition would there be in the town, is there any euro shops or similar operating?

borderlinemeath

What is going to be your competition in the town? How many supermarkets etc?

What is the footfall like in the location you are considering? Is there a post office locally that will attract people collecting SW/Pensions/Allowances?

What are the commercial rates for the unit you are considering? Is it in a shopping centre? Are there additional service charges?

Don't forget commercial utilities are far higher than domestic rates.

dave98

In the town there is a small newsagents, a fairly good spar, a centra, a few pubs, a post office, a few take aways, a national school, hair dressers, bookies, chemist etc. there are plans for building more houses but that might be awhile yet. There is good passing trade. I'm not sure cost of rent but I know a girl that opened a beauty saloon in a unit and she said its v cheap and got first 2 months free. I reckon 20k worth of stock for initial opening? Not sure

sandin

Just be careful and do your sums right.

A bargain shop in a small town will be very difficult to make succeed.

1 - For a retail shop to be successful you must "turn" stock regularly. e.g. always be bringing new lines in.

2 - stock that does not sell, get rid of at cost or below cost as soon as you realise its a non runner.

3 - Don't look at margin, look at turnover and gross profit. You will need a gross profit of circa €100,000 to make it work assuming 15k or less rent, 4k rates, 4k electricity, 5k advertising, 20k other staff, 10k all the other expenses, 40k yourself.

4 - Do your sourcing in the UK - buying though most Irish distributors is adding an extra layer of cost. There are exceptions, but the UK is a huge market and that's where the product and pricing will be.

Fooster King

Thanks Sandin, you seem to be knowledgeable in this area. Any advice on what value of stock would be required to start off?

chargerman

I would estimate 20k worth of stock for initial order, although hard to say depends on size of the store. does anyone here actually know anyone with a bargain store? they can be very popular, there was one where I lived breviously and it was v popular, the had about 10 value lines of fruit and veg too, apples/oranges/pears etc 5for €2 etc was v popular, then he started with a value milk and bread and then newspapers, was better value than the other supermarkets in the town!

highlandseoghan

You would be looking at 20k for initial stock. I think the first thing you need to do is look at the retail units that are available and see what price they are looking for, have a chat with the auctioneers and see what the best deal you could get is.

TheInquisitor

How big is the shop? Without knowing square feet of store no one could say a value on opening cost of stock.

0ph0rce0

Used to work in one of these places

We were in a pretty busy town, On average we'd make take in about €1000-€1500 a day monday - satuday 9-6.

Biggest sellers were mainly beauty products (makeup, tan nail varnish, hairbrushes, etc... and household stuff like cleaning products and jacks roll and the odd tin opener and that kinda stuff. Kids toys, and sweets were a big one too.

When a fad like those kids braclets stuff came in we'd be doubling our daily intake if not tripling but it is a fad and never lasts too long.

When the sun came outt we made a killer on the summer and beach stuff, again wouldnt depend on it.

Halloween & Christmas we were taking in about 3-5k a day on costumes and decorations.

We had 3 of the same shops pretty much beside one another so it wasnt as easy but if its the only one in town i can see it being a profitable business, depending on rent and rates of course.

dave98

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Used to work in one of these places

We were in a pretty busy town, On average we'd make take in about €1000-€1500 a day monday - satuday 9-6.

Biggest sellers were mainly beauty products (makeup, tan nail varnish, hairbrushes, etc... and household stuff like cleaning products and jacks roll and the odd tin opener and that kinda stuff. Kids toys, and sweets were a big one too.

When a fad like those kids braclets stuff came in we'd be doubling our daily intake if not tripling but it is a fad and never lasts too long.

When the sun came outt we made a killer on the summer and beach stuff, again wouldnt depend on it.

Halloween & Christmas we were taking in about 3-5k a day on costumes and decorations.

We had 3 of the same shops pretty much beside one another so it wasnt as easy but if its the only one in town i can see it being a profitable business, depending on rent and rates of course.

Thanks v much for that message, a lot of good information there. Hope you don't mind me asking but do you know if the store was making a profit? Excellent post anyway

0ph0rce0

dave98 wrote: »

Thanks v much for that message, a lot of good information there. Hope you don't mind me asking but do you know if the store was making a profit? Excellent post anyway

I honestly cant say exactly how much, but yes always in profit, the shop was small enough so rent wasnt a killer, wages were minimum wage and because it was so small only needed 2 members of staff, and bills were never too high, the shop has been going for over 10 years so i'd say its doing something right.

dave98

Fooster King wrote: »

Am looking to set up a "Bargain" type shop. Anyone out there who has experience of doing this willing to share their knowledge on how to go about this/what not to do, etc. It would be in the Meath area so won't be competition to you (unless you have such a shop in Meath of course ). All advice will be gratefully received.

I was talking to a man who set up a similar type shop. He opened 7 months ago. Didn't have a lot of advice. He said it cost him approx €32000 to stock the shelves initally and that didnt include greeting cards. I wasnt expecting that!!Have you done much about setting up?

enricoh

my little nugget of wisdom would be to take a full day off go to a few similar sized towns 100 mile away, go in n ask owner/manager in budget shops for 5 min chat. once they know your not competition u wont believe the good info u'll get
off most people.
i'd have a small section at door for logs, turf, small coal etc because there's a good mark up on logs n turf and they'll be back every week for 6 months for them

Bandara

enricoh wrote: »

i'd have a small section at door for logs, turf, small coal etc because there's a good mark up on logs n turf and they'll be back every week for 6 months for them

there is not a good markup on logs and turf, its about 18-25% MAX

enricoh

how can you say that? it all depends what you buy them and sell them at, last year we bought for 1.70 n sold for 3 and almost everyone buying bought a couple.

Bandara

enricoh wrote: »

how can you say that? it all depends what you buy them and sell them at, last year we bought for 1.70 n sold for 3 and almost everyone buying bought a couple.

What about briquettes and coal ?

JD Dublin

sandin wrote: »

Just be careful and do your sums right.

A bargain shop in a small town will be very difficult to make succeed.

1 - For a retail shop to be successful you must "turn" stock regularly. e.g. always be bringing new lines in.

2 - stock that does not sell, get rid of at cost or below cost as soon as you realise its a non runner.

3 - Don't look at margin, look at turnover and gross profit. You will need a gross profit of circa €100,000 to make it work assuming 15k or less rent, 4k rates, 4k electricity, 5k advertising, 20k other staff, 10k all the other expenses, 40k yourself.

4 - Do your sourcing in the UK - buying though most Irish distributors is adding an extra layer of cost. There are exceptions, but the UK is a huge market and that's where the product and pricing will be.

You couldn't buy this advice - the last bit is the most important.

Find out who the wholesalers are in the UK as this is the cheapest way to go. In my experience, many of the wholesalers are Asians and have great sources in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for keenly-priced goods.

There's a few shops on Talbot Street in Dublin that are good examples, good sales and great range of shops. Bear in mind that the world and it's wife walks down Talbot Street every day and the rent there is quite reasonable.

dave98

JD Dublin wrote: »

You couldn't buy this advice - the last bit is the most important.

Find out who the wholesalers are in the UK as this is the cheapest way to go. In my experience, many of the wholesalers are Asians and have great sources in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for keenly-priced goods.

There's a few shops on Talbot Street in Dublin that are good examples, good sales and great range of shops. Bear in mind that the world and it's wife walks down Talbot Street every day and the rent there is quite reasonable.

Ya thanks excellent advice. I am going to have a look at some shops on Friday in Dublin. I've already got in touch with some companies who supply these type of products for price lists etc. There is some good deals out there alright. Would cost a fair bit to set up though I think. Trying to work on that at the mo, getting costings etc