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| school old dude |
 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:40 am |
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Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3
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| I'm working on my buisness plan right now and could use some help. First of all there already is an established shop (opened in 2004) right across the street from the local skatepark so I have one tough hurdle against me already. I will be on the other side of town 10 miles north of existing shop, which is the higher income side of town, where established shop is lower/middle class. I have at my disposal $75 grand for start up and inventory and my overhead (rent, ins, electric, alarm, etc) is looking to be about $2200-2500 a month. The city I live in has ninty thousand residents and is expected to hit about one hundred fifteen thousand withen in 5 years with a median income of about 90 grand a year. I have taken in consideration that the shoe companies like to play games, and play hard to get so I am thinking of carring hot topic type stuff to make up for lack of shoes, untill I get established and the shoe reps will talk to me, all the kids I know like black flag and misfits shirts just as much as skate shirts. Also i would like to offer a deal where if a kid breaks his deck in a 1 month period , I would sell him a shop deck (store logo) at cost in order to get him/her back on the board. The established store does not carry a lot of reissue throwback stuff , which i also would like to expand on. Another thing lacking at the other shop is girl stuff which I see as a huge money maker where I live. I won't be quiting my dayjob , for I can work part time at night and keep my medical benifits. also I plan on having longer hours then my compitor , he is open from 2-8. I don't want to mention where I am living because I don't want the compition to know, so with what I have told you all, do you think my ideas will work , will I turn a profit after a couple of years, do you have any good advice, could you tell me why you failed . I'm not trying to get rich on this venture , just trying to get by, for its some thing that i have always loved. thanks |
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| grim reaper |
| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:52 pm |
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Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Posts: 330
Location: spokane
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| just take the $2500 buy all the skate stuff that you need personally and forget about the skate shop idea.it's over rated and often a dream that becomes a nightmare.just my $.02 |
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| PlayGod |
| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:57 pm |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 3882
Location: Dirty South
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Build a successful, lucrative business in some other realm, then use the skateshop as a hobby / tax writeoff.
.02 + .02 = .04 |
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| jcruz |
| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:09 pm |
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Joined: 23 Sep 2002
Posts: 1271
Location: Nashville,TN
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| Don't go there. Seriously. The odds are not good and the industry is tanking fast. |
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| grim reaper |
| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:31 pm |
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Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Posts: 330
Location: spokane
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PlayGod wrote:
.02 + .02 = .04 |
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| school old dude |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:24 am |
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Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3
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| thanks for the change. got any SPECIFICS why this won't work? vague answers aren't helping anyone. |
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| jcruz |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:35 pm |
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Joined: 23 Sep 2002
Posts: 1271
Location: Nashville,TN
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Sentence #2 in your post is reason #1.
The city is not big enough and your competition is sitting on top of a skatepark
I'm not trying to be mean but I would rather see somebody not lose their $$$ . Especially a fellow skater. I have seen too many shops fall because someone let their love of skating get in the way of hard reality.
Some less vague reasons.
You cannot make a living selling hardgoods (decks,trucks,etc..)There is not enough margin unless you are selling a ton. Therefore, you need to sell softgoods which you already have mentioned. But even softgoods are declining. Sole Technologies (Etnies,Emerica,Es)just found out the hard way. Pac Sun dropped ALL closed toe shoes in their stores due to low sales.
The economy is tanking.
You will be CHAINED to your shop. If you are open more hours that doesn't nessecarily mean you will make more sales. It just means you have devalued YOUR time. And staffing is a bitch not to mention another cost.
Kids are fickle as crap. They will look at the stuff in your shop and buy it from Active because you had the wrong colorway. And you will have had invested $2500 in prebook.
The Re-issue/old school market isn't THAT big. Look @ all the surplus available online & e-bay.
The industry is geared to support large chains-not mom&pops. And you better believe you are on the bottom of the supply chain. Try getting Adidas or Altamont/Krew in your store.
I thought about doing the same thing and opening a shop years ago and decided the only ones that make it more than a few years seem to have the same attributes.
-they are located in large cities or suburbs of large cities.
-they are located in a city with a skateboard culture present. Ex: Atl, Tampa, Portland, Louisville, Austin, LA, etc...
-they are large enough to have buying power and enough cash to have a fluid inventory. That means when LRG is out and RVCA is in, they can eat the loss. They can stay on top of the trends.
-they are established. I know this sounds stupid because everybody has to start somewhere-but the successful ones have been around since the last slump.
-they have multiple locations.
-they run over half of their inventory with softgoods.
Put togeter a business model but be brutally realistic when you do so- do not operate unless you can operate at a loss at least one-two years. that should be your safety net. good luck. |
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| slob-air |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:47 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 27 Oct 2001
Posts: 63453
Location: S&B HQ
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jcruz wrote: Don't go there. Seriously. The odds are not good and the industry is tanking fast.
It's not tanking, we're just at the bottom of the cycle where the dumb get flung from the wheel and the smart hang on tight and absorb the market left by those that were flung.
school old dude - what kind of park is the competition sitting on? Is it good? Crap? Give me a better picture. |
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| Cappy |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:03 pm |
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Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 11580
Location: Cloud cuckoo land
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Don't sell what others can sell in your town (so forget the common kids market). Be sure you have the exklusives rights from the Brands you sell for deals. Softgoods should only fit to the Hardgoods. Always stock more hardgoods! Bearings, Griptape etc sell always! Don't spend everything now, start small!
my 0.90 (strong euro  ) |
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| jcruz |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:32 pm |
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Joined: 23 Sep 2002
Posts: 1271
Location: Nashville,TN
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| Slob- you are a much more positive dude than I am. You are right-it's a cycle. |
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