Starting a new business

Laci

Hi All,

My wife and I are thinking of opening up a boutique in Co Limerick.
She has extensive retail experience, but out of work for over 2 years now due to having 3 kids.
I lost my job recently and going back to collage from September.
We consider starting a business from next spring or so.
Anyone could advice how to proceed?
In the ballpark how much money are we talking about?
What kind of licences do we need to get before starting?
Is there any grants and other support available depending on location?
Does she need to form an LLC or can be self employed? (pros and cons for both please)

All advice welcomed.

CeilingFly

No licence needed, no grants available to retail business.

Limited company is best as it protects you and most suppliers will insist on it.

Boutique business is littered with casualties as purchasing is the most important aspect and unless you know your customers, you will make several errors and need to sell stock off below cost. There's a huge difference between working in retail and running a retail store

Location is also extremely important.

If you are going back to college, then I'd advise not to open a business as there are simply too many risk to a regular income. A good boutique will take 3-4 years to get a good regular clientele.

Have a look in Adare - that's where the boutique ladies from limerick go for their special outfits. look at the work inviolved in fit out, display and product choice. See the differences between the different boutiques that ensure choice for the customer.

If you can compete with that, then maybe there's an opening. Cost wise - 50k minimum between stock and fitout.

Laci

Thanks for the insight.
We still have a lot of resource to do.
We are not fully set on the type or class of clothes jet, but not the fancy ones. More like casual.
The collage is part of the reason we are only looking to open next spring/summer. We can look at it in more details and do resource in the meantime. It's only for 1 year though.

jimmii

What sort of budget you're going to need depends a lot of the footage you are looking at. If you're lucky you can find a unit that's retail ready to save on fitting costs.

enricoh

Hmm, I wish you luck with a boutique. There's a few successful ones and a lot of casualties.

As an aside I know someone who sells womens underwear on adverts n gumtree and ticks along nicely. No staff, rent, rates, theft, public liability, young ones dropping back the dress on a monday after wearing to a wedding! Etc

Laci

Yeah, I have heard of this too. Not much we can do with it is there?

Laci

How much are you allowed so sell on donedeal/adverts/gumtree etc? Is there a max limit? How can you do that legally? Do you need to get a trade licence? Let the taxman know? This might be a better side deal with a lot less hassle. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

L.Jenkins

You can sell all you want on Donedeal, but be sure to record your sales. You can state you're a trader and keep a receipts of the cost of your items to donedeal.

Even setup a group on facebook to sell items.

368100

Check out your local enterprise office....they'll help you with a business plan which will greatly help you obtaining finance if you need it.

There may be some level of financial assistance available but it would be through a formal application, also financial assistance for website design etc.....plus networking opportunities. I used to sit on DCC leo approvals committee, we wouldn't have been overly keen on retail but thats at the discretion of the committee.

B.A._Baracus

If you are on the social welfare you can apply for the start your own business scheme. You get to keep your social welfare for 9 months (it was for 2 years at one point... not sure if that is still going for that long tho)

Laci

Yeah, they would help with some of the start-up costs and got to keep 100% of the payment for a year and 75% for another year. Also no income tax for 2 years.

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

If you are on the social welfare you can apply for the start your own business scheme. You get to keep your social welfare for 9 months (it was for 2 years at one point... not sure if that is still going for that long tho)

Laci

Great advice. She'll have to do a start your own business course for starter. After that we'll approach the LEO office too. I think they provide some sort of mentorship too.

368100 wrote: »

Check out your local enterprise office....they'll help you with a business plan which will greatly help you obtaining finance if you need it.

There may be some level of financial assistance available but it would be through a formal application, also financial assistance for website design etc.....plus networking opportunities. I used to sit on DCC leo approvals committee, we wouldn't have been overly keen on retail but thats at the discretion of the committee.

iamafoodie

I rent out a lot of property and lately I have rented to a few fashion boutiques. They all started trading on facebook, then got their own website and their next step was to open the shop when their houses were no longer suitable. I would seriously suggest this route. One of them even did a year on a 1st floor before getting a full ground floor unit.
Retail is for the big players please exercise caution!!
Leo courses are great there's new one starting in limerick at the end of sept.

Good luck

Laci

Thanks a lot Foodie, I think we are going to go down in this route ourselves too. This seems to be the safest and least expensive way to start out.
My better half is going to attend a start your own business course in September through Ballyhoura. I think they are providing the training on behalf of LEO where we live.