Opening and Managing a Children's Boutique Store
By Brenda Bell
Article Word Count:
1093
Lots of
young mothers have a dream to open a children's boutique store. Understanding
the cost of children's clothing, lots of mothers think that if they could just
own their own store, they could get their children's clothing for half price or at a wholesale price. What most young ladies starting this kind of business don't realize is the
original cost of starting up a store. There are lots of things to consider in
the overhead of the store to start with. You can expect to pay from 1200.00 per
month to 4000.00 per month depending on your location. Then there are
utilities, clerks, unless you plan on doing it by yourself. A lot of ladies
think that they can do it by themselves but on a busy day, that is just almost
impossible. Most don't realize that the minimum start-up inventory for a store
of about 2500 square feet is between $100,000.00 and $200,000.00. That is money
that you may as well consider throwing away. You never get that money back.
That initial investment will be placed in your store and will have to be
continually replaced. It is not like you buy $100,000.00 in goods and then you
sell them and you buy more. It is absolutely necessary that you have that much
money to start your store with, that you never expect to see returned to you
again. If you think it is worth that to buy your children's clothing half price
then you may want to reconsider. As a clothing manufacturer and supplier to
Children's Clothing Boutique Stores, I have seen lots of ambitious young women
get into financial trouble in a short period of time. If you have the extra
money and you decide to go ahead with this venture, let me give you some
purchasing advice.
Beware
of certain sales reps. Some of them will write you a $1,000.00 order in his or
her showroom and when you get it shipped to you, it has been what we call
padded. This means that he will write more styles on your order after you leave
and you will get a lot more than you bargained for. My advice to you would be,
never buy a lot or overload on any one manufacturer. Don't put all your eggs in
one basket. Buy small quantities from several manufacturers until you see what
will sell in your area. Just because you think it is cute doesn't mean it will
sell. If you love someone's goods and you purchase 1/3 of your merchandise from
them, you have no guarantee that they will even produce those goods. You could
be left holding an empty bag when it is time to receive your goods for the next
season. When you order from several manufacturers, you will get to know each of
them individually. You will see how they ship. By that I mean, if they ship to
you during the time period that was designated on your order or if they
actually even ship the goods at all. If they are hard to deal with, you may
want to cut back on their orders and do business with the ones that you enjoy
doing business with.
I have
noticed, as a manufacturer, that new store owners buy loosely. By that I mean
they buy much more than necessary to begin with. My sales rep says, if they buy
like a drunk, they will pay like a drunk. By this he means that they come into
his showroom and order $5,000.00 or $6,000.00 from one manufacturer. When
shipping time comes, they don't have the money to take all of that at one time
and they don't realize it will all come at once from every manufacturer that
they order from.
First of all, different clothing items and
gift items sell differently in different regions of the country. We make
clothing that only sells in the south and you could not sell it at all in the
northern USA. Sales even vary from city to city and certainly from state to
state. This is why I say, "Don't buy too much from any line until you see
how it sells for you". I had a customer tell me that she bought a lot of
little girls coats her first year and then when she had a very mild winter, she
was trapped with a lot of her money tied up in coats that she couldn't sell.
This is a very typical thing that happens with store owners.
Managing
your debit cards and credit cards can also cause you great pain. I tried to
ship a store a $400.00 order this week and her bank had her debit card set at a
limit of $300.00 per day. We went through a week of difficulty and she finally
had to go to her bank and sign papers to get this changed. Some credit card
companies do the same thing. A lot of stores prefer to use credit cards instead
of taking a COD shipment because of the $ 10.00 fee that is charged for COD
shipments. If you will ask, the manufacturer will probably prefer to pay the
$10.00 charge themselves than to take your credit card. Most manufacturers pay
about 4% when they take a credit card because you are not there to swipe the
card. On a $1,000.00 order, the cost to take a credit card would be $40.00. The
$10.00 fee is much better. I even offer this service to my customers who have
good credit and I feel that I can take their company check.
I hope
something I have said here will be helpful to you if you are a new store owner
or thinking of opening a Children's Boutique Store. I have a on-line Children's
Boutique myself that is http://childrenscastle.net. The only reason for my
retail children's store is that I have lots of customers from my Bell Fashions
wholesale business that order merchandise from me and then when shipping time
comes, they don't have the money or some of them are going out of business. I
do not want to be in the retail business but because all people are not honest
in their dealings, it has forced me to be. If you are considering becoming a
retailer, please check out all of your options in the planning stage and
proceed very carefully if this is what you decide to do.
Brenda
Bell
Bell
Fashions
