shoe shop setup ?

bob5666

I just brought a building in town center was thinking of opening shoe shop with shoe repair as my father had a shoe repair buisness before so could train me up .
Just wondering how much mark up on shoes normally ?
will it be hard to get brands that are all ready being sold in my town. ?
When you make and order what sizes do you have to take ?
How much money for stock would you need ?

Bandara

bob5666 wrote: »

I just brought a building in town center was thinking of opening shoe shop with shoe repair as my father had a shoe repair buisness before so could train me up .
Just wondering how much mark up on shoes normally ?
will it be hard to get brands that are all ready being sold in my town. ?
When you make and order what sizes do you have to take ?
How much money for stock would you need ?

You have bought a building without a business for it ?

bob5666

Hammertime wrote: »

You have bought a building without a business for it ?

Yes just looking to start a business

DubTony

Lease it out. Get some other eejit to pay your mortgage, and look after your property.

bob5666

DubTony wrote: »

Lease it out. Get some other eejit to pay your mortgage, and look after your property.

Anyone else any answers

Driveby Dogboy

You could do 'Buy one get one free' offers, to get the punters in,

bob5666

Driveby Dogboy wrote: »

You could do 'Buy one get one free' offers, to get the punters in,

Yea could do that as a promotion
Any one with experience in running a shoe shop ?

Graham

I have an acquaintance who has two shoe shops and owns both buildings in reasonable sized towns. It's fair to say he wouldn't be opening any more branches in the current market.

Don't write-off the 'rent the shop out' suggestion, in the current market you're likely to make more money that way.

bob5666

Graham wrote: »

I have an acquaintance who has two shoe shops and owns both buildings in reasonable sized towns. It's fair to say he wouldn't be opening any more branches in the current market.

Don't right off the 'rent the shop out' suggestion, in the current market you're likely to make more money that way.

Im not going to right it off but i am only looking to explore the option of opening a shoe shop and more advice be great on running shoe shop

Bandara

bob5666 wrote: »

Im not going to right it off but i am only looking to explore the option of opening a shoe shop and more advice be great on running shoe shop

I'm going to be blunt.

If you open a shoe shop you will not last, you have not got a clue what your doing and your going into a savagely competitively specialist business on a seeming whim.

I am struggling to believe that you actually bought a commercial premises 'to start a business'

bob5666

Hammertime wrote: »

I'm going to be blunt.

If you open a shoe shop you will not last, you have not got a clue what your doing and your going into a savagely competitively specialist business on a seeming whim.

I am struggling to believe that you actually bought a commercial premises 'to start a business'

If everyone thought like that nobody would start anything . Thats for me to prove if i will last or not i have my building payed for with no mortgage so at least i have no rent to pay
If anyone can help with the questions i asked in my first post it would be great

La Haine

A menswear shop, a chipper and now a shoe shop?
Having a mortgage-free premises is fine - have you a business plan in place to approach the banks with for finance? You know; in order to fit the place out and get stock in and the like?

bob5666

La Haine wrote: »

A menswear shop, a chipper and now a shoe shop?
Having a mortgage-free premises is fine - have you a business plan in place to approach the banks with for finance? You know; in order to fit the place out and get stock in and the like?

Dont need finance have eunff money to start either which should save me more money by not needing costly finance but i will do a buisness plan when ever i choose a buisness because i know they are very important .
if anyone can answer a few my questions in my first post would be great

sbsquarepants

Bought a commercial premises on a whim, with no real use for it. Wont need finance to kickstart whatever business you eventually settle on.
Did you win the lotto or what?

bob5666

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Bought a commercial premises on a whim, with no real use for it. Wont need finance to kickstart whatever business you eventually settle on.
Did you win the lotto or what?

I guess i kind off did lol so anyone can answer a qusetion from my first post it would be great maybe someone who worked in one before or ran one thanks

Graham

A couple of questions I'd be asking myself from the off:

How many existing shoe shops do you see with a 'shoe repair' section?
Where do people in my town currently buy shoes?
Are any of the shoe multiples already in my town?
- YES - How will you compete with their massive buying power?
- NO - Why? Do they know something you don't?

You appear to be in the very fortunate position of having a premises and sufficient funds to start a business. That's an absolutely fantastic opportunity, one that many people could only dream of. Do not squander it. Opening a business that you have absolutely no experience/understanding of is very likely to see your nest-egg dwindle away, especially in competitive areas like Shoe retail. How would you feel at the end of the week if you didn't have to bother banking your takings because you'd only just taken enough to pay your staff wages!!

I'm not trying to be negative, there is no better way to learn an industry than by starting your own business. On the flip-side, if that business fails it can also a very expensive way to learn.

I really would recommend you learn about whatever industry you choose BEFORE you start piling cash into it. The 'pick-a-random shop type' investment strategy is probably not the best.

DubTony

bob5666 wrote: »

i have my building payed for with no mortgage so at least i have no rent to pay
If anyone can help with the questions i asked in my first post it would be great

Well, in that case, I'll refer you to my reply from earlier (adjusted for the updated information)

DubTony wrote: »

Lease it out. Get some other eejit to pay your wages, and look after your property.

bob5666

Graham wrote: »

A couple of questions I'd be asking myself from the off:

How many existing shoe shops do you see with a 'shoe repair' section?
Where do people in my town currently buy shoes?
Are any of the shoe multiples already in my town?
- YES - How will you compete with their massive buying power?
- NO - Why? Do they know something you don't?

You appear to be in the very fortunate position of having a premises and sufficient funds to start a business. That's an absolutely fantastic opportunity, one that many people could only dream of. Do not squander it. Opening a business that you have absolutely no experience/understanding of is very likely to see your nest-egg dwindle away, especially in competitive areas like Shoe retail. How would you feel at the end of the week if you didn't have to bother banking your takings because you'd only just taken enough to pay your staff wages!!

I'm not trying to be negative, there is no better way to learn an industry than by starting your own business. On the flip-side, if that business fails it can also a very expensive way to learn.

I really would recommend you learn about whatever industry you choose BEFORE you start piling cash into it. The 'pick-a-random shop type' investment strategy is probably not the best.

That why im here try to get information from people with industry nowledge before i pile in money

bob5666

DubTony wrote: »

Well, in that case, I'll refer you to my reply from earlier (adjusted for the updated information)

I know i can do that but not looking for advise on that
Just a few answers to my questions be great

Peterdalkey

You are never going to get enough information on a discusssion board to start a business of any sort. You may well pick up advice and tips, both good and bad, but certainly not a full diy kit. Most importantly you will not equip yourself with the requisite experience and expertise to understand how to run such a business from posts on here.
You have not provided any information as to your own resources (other than you have a free shop) , education, career work experience or areas of expertise, if any.
If you are serious, go and get a job in a shoe shop and learn how it works, but if you think there is some magic shortcut to learning, your niavity is going to cost you plenty

bob5666

Peterdalkey wrote: »

You are never going to get enough information on a discusssion board to start a business of any sort. You may well pick up advice and tips, both good and bad, but certainly not a full diy kit. Most importantly you will not equip yourself with the requisite experience and expertise to understand how to run such a business from posts on here.
You have not provided any information as to your own resources (other than you have a free shop) , education, career work experience or areas of expertise, if any.
If you are serious, go and get a job in a shoe shop and learn how it works, but if you think there is some magic shortcut to learning, your niavity is going to cost you plenty

All i am looking for is a fews answers to
the questions i asked my first post and not a heap of questions on where i got my money and what should i do with it the questions i asked are simply to answer if you knew what your talking about dont want to get hateful just looking for few simply answer so if anyone can answer it be great

Peterdalkey

Your questions, as posed, show you to be totally clueless about the shoe business and business in general. The replies you have gotten so far are trying to tell you politely to get a grip on reality. If you had those answers, you would be no nearer to being ready to open a shop.
As advised already, if you are serious, go learn the trade.

bob5666

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Your questions, as posed, show you to be totally clueless about the shoe business and business in general. The replies you have gotten so far are trying to tell you politely to get a grip on reality. If you had those answers, you would be no nearer to being ready to open a shop.
As advised already, if you are serious, go learn the trade.

Just looking for few simply answers not going to get any of you if anyone else got the answers it be great

Peterdalkey

I am out Bob!

beazee

The best way to get your questions answered would be to get a job at the shoe shop and learn the trade. I won't hurt you and in the longer term will give you the knowledge you're looking for.

Atomico

OP, no-one here wants to be negative, but how on earth can you possibly think you can set up a business in this area without knowing the first thing about it?

Being interested in a particular area but having no knowledge to go with it - do you think that's a good recipe for starting a business?

The idea is that you gain knowledge and experience in an area before you go out on your own. You have to know the sector. I freelance in online marketing but I worked for others in the area first. If I had started on a whim like you are planning to, I would not have had the first clue about the industry or had any experience or expertise in the area.

I'd also love to have my own restaurant someday, but my knowledge of the restaurant game = 0. Should I set one up, or maybe work in one first and maybe learn from the best in the game before I do it myself?

See what we're driving at?

ImDave

bob5666 wrote: »

Just looking for few simply answers not going to get any of you if anyone else got the answers it be great

You can't come on to a forum looking for someone to essentially devise a business plan for you without you contributing any real information or engaging in discussion.

If that is the way you approach your new venture, whatever that may be, it's not looking good.

Atlas_IRL

I do, worked in the family business for 12 years and operate the website currently, please listen to everyone else. I could highlight every response to you as being good advise. Stick with what you know or open up something easier. You don't know where to get stock, you don't know what brands to sell.. I could go on all day but wont.

bob5666

Atomico wrote: »

OP, no-one here wants to be negative, but how on earth can you possibly think you can set up a business in this area without knowing the first thing about it?

Being interested in a particular area but having no knowledge to go with it - do you think that's a good recipe for starting a business?

The idea is that you gain knowledge and experience in an area before you go out on your own. You have to know the sector. I freelance in online marketing but I worked for others in the area first. If I had started on a whim like you are planning to, I would not have had the first clue about the industry or had any experience or expertise in the area.

I'd also love to have my own restaurant someday, but my knowledge of the restaurant game = 0. Should I set one up, or maybe work in one first and maybe learn from the best in the game before I do it myself?

See what we're driving at?

all i see is nobody has answered my simply questions on
how much mark in the norm in this sector .?
Can you order select sizes or do you have to take all the odd sizes too?
How much stock be needed for a shop in medium sized town?
Is it hard to get brands to stock if someelse is selling them all in my town are small companies 2 others in total

bob5666

ImDave wrote: »

You can't come on to a forum looking for someone to essentially devise a business plan for you without you contributing any real information or engaging in discussion.

If that is the way you approach your new venture, whatever that may be, it's not looking good.

Its hardly a business plan a few simply questions get real

jimmii

how much mark in the norm in this sector .?
It will vary from brand to brand and if you are willing to buy last season shoes etc. You can get last season designer shoes for massive discounts on the retail price.

Can you order select sizes or do you have to take all the odd sizes too?
You can pick and choose what sizes you want. Be a bit harsh if they made everyone buy size 14 shoes in every style!!

How much stock be needed for a shop in medium sized town?
Impossible to tell will depend on number of shoe shops and how high up the chain you plan on fitting in and the physical size of your shop and your stock room.

Is it hard to get brands to stock if someelse is selling them all in my town are small companies 2 others in total
Some brands will only sell to one shop per area some will sell to anyone so again it will differ by brand.

buttercups88

I worked in a shoe shop for 5 years (i've been out of it 4 years though so mightn't be much use) from what I can remember the mark up's were fairly high apart from the bigger brands

Graham

bob5666 wrote: »

get real

Great idea. This is going to be blunt:

Have you done your homework!

Have you spoken to any of the shoe & footwear wholesalers? They should be able to answer most/all of your questions relating to supply/margins and if you find a friendly one they may be able to give you an idea of stock requirements, expected turnover etc.

Try getting in touch with the Independent Footwear Retailers Association in the UK. They even have a book "How to Open a Shoe Shop" http://www.ifra.org.uk/open-a-shoe-shop

Learn how to use Google. I already have a ballpark profit margin of around the 40% mark but I don't know if that includes returns.

Look for shoe shops for sale, they will quickly give you a ballpark for turnover/profit. You might also get the opportunity to visit them, ask them questions maybe even look at their figures.

You will find you get much much better advice and feedback from this forum if you can demonstrate that you have put more than 2 minutes into researching your intended business/market.

Bandara

bob5666 wrote: »

all i see is nobody has answered my simply questions on
how much mark in the norm in this sector .?
Can you order select sizes or do you have to take all the odd sizes too?
How much stock be needed for a shop in medium sized town?
Is it hard to get brands to stock if someelse is selling them all in my town are small companies 2 others in total

The reason no one is answering your questions is because they are so basic that the fact you are asking them is a huge red flag. It's just not on to be asking things like that when your on the verge of sinking thousands of euro into a business, your being completely reckless and we are actually trying to talk some sense into you here, w no one is having a pop at you, we are trying to stop you losing your money.

You can't learn on the job, it's not possible.

Your questions are irrelevant at this stage, it's the fact you are going to open a store and on day one your going to stand in the middle of the floor and not know what to do. If you build it they are not going to come, you are going to have to get them in, and you simply don't have the ability/experience to do this.

Anyway, I hope you try to take some of what every person is saying on board, we all admire your drive and desire, but your not channelling it responsibly.

Take your stubborn hat off, taken a step back and consider what you would do if a friend told you he wanted to be a chef and open his restaurant, but he couldn't cook.

That's what your doing.

Regards,
HT

bob5666

Hammertime wrote: »

The reason no one is answering your questions is because they are so basic that the fact you are asking them is a huge red flag. It's just not on to be asking things like that when your on the verge of sinking thousands of euro into a business, your being completely reckless and we are actually trying to talk some sense into you here, w no one is having a pop at you, we are trying to stop you losing your money.

You can't learn on the job, it's not possible.

Your questions are irrelevant at this stage, it's the fact you are going to open a store and on day one your going to stand in the middle of the floor and not know what to do. If you build it they are not going to come, you are going to have to get them in, and you simply don't have the ability/experience to do this.

Anyway, I hope you try to take some of what every person is saying on board, we all admire your drive and desire, but your not channelling it responsibly.

Take your stubborn hat off, taken a step back and consider what you would do if a friend told you he wanted to be a chef and open his restaurant, but he couldn't cook.

That's what your doing.

Regards,
HT

Im trying to sell shoes its not a trade like a chef which takes years all i have to do is buy a good product at a good price and sell it to as many people as possiable in a nice store and be a goodsales man not excalty rocket science
Just be smart and innovative that about it you see problems ill get solutions lol
Think i got my answers that i want from the 2 posters before you ,
ask you a question get ten questions back

Bandara

bob5666 wrote: »

Im trying to sell shoes its not a trade like a chef which takes years all i have to do is buy a good product at a good price and sell it to as many people as possiable in a nice store and be a goodsales man not excalty rocket science
Just be smart and innovative that about it you see problems ill get solutions lol
Think i got my answers that i want from the 2 posters before you ,
ask you a question get ten questions back

Ok, fair enough.


Best of luck with your business.

Atomico

bob5666 wrote: »

all i have to do is buy a good product at a good price and sell it to as many people as possiable in a nice store and be a goodsales man not excalty rocket science

If that's the case, why isn't everyone doing it then?

bob5666

Atomico wrote: »

If that's the case, why isn't everyone doing it then?

I guess they dont have my sales skills

Peterdalkey

This thread is definitely a wind up. Well done Bob! You got us all going... My money is on you being Bob-a-Job!

Atomico

bob5666 wrote: »

I guess they dont have my sales skills

If only that was all there was to it

Graham

Peterdalkey wrote: »

This thread is definitely a wind up. Well done Bob! You got us all going... My money is on you being Bob-a-Job!

I thing you're right Peter.

Only 4 months ago bob was going to rent a commercial unit to run a takeaway.
5 months ago it was a menswear shop.
Before that Bob was looking for wholesale jumpers which appeared to cross with the Halloween costume project.

It's either a wind-up or pretty soon you'll be able to go into Bob's Fantastical Emporium in small-town Donegal and come out with shiny new brogues, designer jeans, matching reindeer jumper and a gorilla mask. All that shopping will probably have made you hungry so don't forget to grab a bag of chips as your leaving.

Payment will only be accepted in Danish Krone, as Denmark is apparently Bob's preferred banking location. :rolleyes:

Peterdalkey

Will the real Bob please step forward!

bob5666

Graham wrote: »

I thing you're right Peter.

Only 4 months ago bob was going to rent a commercial unit to run a takeaway.
5 months ago it was a menswear shop.
Before that Bob was looking for wholesale jumpers which appeared to cross with the Halloween costume project.

It's either a wind-up or pretty soon you'll be able to go into Bob's Fantastical Emporium in small-town Donegal and come out with shiny new brogues, designer jeans, matching reindeer jumper and a gorilla mask. All that shopping will probably have made you hungry so don't forget to grab a bag of chips as your leaving.

Payment will only be accepted in Danish Krone, as Denmark is apparently Bob's preferred banking location. :rolleyes:

This is no ordinary bob lol

bob5666

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Will the real Bob please step forward!

Just looking for a few answers

Peterdalkey

repetitio est mater studiorum

sandin

Either you are genuine, but at wits end as to what to do with a premises you have or you are just trolling.

Benefit of the doubt, I'll say its the former.

I worked at a senior level in the shoe trade in UK and France - both retail and distribution.

It sounds easy - buy shoes at x price, then sell them at y price. But if it was that simple, there'd be shoe shops in every village.

You need to know your local market and what part of that market you are going for. Paul Byron is a great local town shoe shop whereas Fitzpatrick's in Dublin are a great city fashion store.

Once you understand your customer, you source the brands/styles that customer wants. e.g. older more mature lady would be looking at Ecco, Elmdale, Vandal, Hotter, Rohde etc (not sure if all these brands still exist), whereas high city fashion would be designer names along with the likes of marco moreo, UGG, sebago, timberland.

Then within the brands you mix in some everyday value from whoelsalers - mostly UK based with the higher end in east London and the lower end in leicester.

Then, you get your staff and you need to train them into having the patience of saints and to understand fitting and issues people have with feet - corns, dropped arches, turned toes, cracked heels etc etc. Do it right and treat them well and you could have a customer for life aka byron, fitzpatricks, cripps in terenure and the many many long term shoe shops around the country.

So its not as easy as it seems - that's why you don't see many shoe shops opening, but alos why you don't see many of the old guard closing even through the recession. I worked as a rep in the Irish shoe trade about 25 years ago as my first job and its great to see so many of the same names still about, but not too many new names. - that should tell you a lot about the trade.

bob5666

sandin wrote: »

Either you are genuine, but at wits end as to what to do with a premises you have or you are just trolling.

Benefit of the doubt, I'll say its the former.

I worked at a senior level in the shoe trade in UK and France - both retail and distribution.

It sounds easy - buy shoes at x price, then sell them at y price. But if it was that simple, there'd be shoe shops in every village.

You need to know your local market and what part of that market you are going for. Paul Byron is a great local town shoe shop whereas Fitzpatrick's in Dublin are a great city fashion store.

Once you understand your customer, you source the brands/styles that customer wants. e.g. older more mature lady would be looking at Ecco, Elmdale, Vandal, Hotter, Rohde etc (not sure if all these brands still exist), whereas high city fashion would be designer names along with the likes of marco moreo, UGG, sebago, timberland.

Then within the brands you mix in some everyday value from whoelsalers - mostly UK based with the higher end in east London and the lower end in leicester.

Then, you get your staff and you need to train them into having the patience of saints and to understand fitting and issues people have with feet - corns, dropped arches, turned toes, cracked heels etc etc. Do it right and treat them well and you could have a customer for life aka byron, fitzpatricks, cripps in terenure and the many many long term shoe shops around the country.

So its not as easy as it seems - that's why you don't see many shoe shops opening, but alos why you don't see many of the old guard closing even through the recession. I worked as a rep in the Irish shoe trade about 25 years ago as my first job and its great to see so many of the same names still about, but not too many new names. - that should tell you a lot about the trade.

Finally a man talking sense you have me sumed up just a commercial premises looking to open a business
Id say you are not far wrong it would be hard to open a new shoe shop and make it work but not impossible might go back to plan a open a chipper which i have experience just there wud b a lot more start up costs with it

ImDave

bob5666 wrote: »

Its hardly a business plan a few simply questions get real

Thats why I said essentially devise a business plan.

bob5666

ImDave wrote: »

Thats why I said essentially devise a business plan.

Its the way you said it and its be a very poor essentially business plan too 4 questions answered lol

magic_murph

I smell a rat - I have a feeling this bob5666 is simply bored at work and has zero intentions of going into the shoe selling / fixing business.

Bring on the next dreamer please.

bob5666

magic_murph wrote: »

I smell a rat - I have a feeling this bob5666 is simply bored at work and has zero intentions of going into the shoe selling / fixing business.

Bring on the next dreamer please.

You just watch me then