Neverending Saga: My New Business Venture, oh brother....

[Frankie]

No doubt things will pick up soon, it's that time of year!

You have done a good job, the shop looks nice,,,as do you and Amy!

Best of luck!!

 

[kaykay]

Marty I love your shop!

I would go to some garage sales and pick up old horsey decorative items. (old broken bridles etc) They are always a hot seller to decorate with and go in with your tack. Decorate all the walls with it and put price tags on. I cant believe how much horsey old stuff I come across at garage sales.

Also think about running an ebay store in conjunction with your real store. My gf in Illinois did that and she had amazing sales. She sells tons of saddles on ebay!

 

[vickie gee]

You have your foundation laid to get a successful business going with all the hard work and decorative touches you have put into it! And the hospitality cookies. Now think about this...not everybody is into horses. And even the ones that are do not need that much stuff in these tuff economic times. Decide what few days you want to be open. Do not become a slave to being there everyday and getting down about the low sales volume. Put in a lot of shelves and stock, stock, stock. Horse people like other stuff too. I keep a booth going at a flea market consignment. People like to buy stuff. You can filter your farm theme over into all sorts of other stuff while keeping horse stuff. For example decor. Find out who collects what. I swear I can put anything dolphin in my booth and this one woman will buy it. AND she has never seen a live dolphin. Theme up your shelves. For instance: Americana, John Deere, kittycats, apples, kitchen utensils, bakeware, etc. Retro stuff. I pick up cute bottles for 10 cents each at places like the battered women's shelter store and sell them for $6.00. I can sell a Brendan's Irish Creme Whiskey bottle for $2.00 after enjoying the stuff myself! Caps, hairbows, the sky is the limit. I bought Ariat shoes end of season for $19.99 at Cavenders and sold them for $30.00. Get a tax id number and buy stuff wholesale. Let the farm theme be dominant but turn the place into yout own flea market. Rent a couple of shelves out to people you trust who have something to sell but don't have a building. Put x amount of time working there in their vendor agreement. Become a distributor for a particular kind of dog or horse feed. The sky is the limit. Make your own rules and let your dream come true. You have worked hard. Get into seasonal stuff, cute stuff. Even in tuff times people do impulse buys. I know you can make this work! You have the gift of hospitality obviously. That is such a plus. I hate shopping where the merchants are rude. I think you can turn this into something to be very proud of and have fun with it. Good luck!

 

[Marty]

I'm loving all these ideas. The good news is that since I first wrote this thread, I've been over come with customers all week long. Our weather hit 80 degrees so I think that had a lot to do with it.

I made up little flyers and laminated them for the local diner who put one on each table. This whole week has been very productive! Yestarday, it was like a revolving door and I had at least 30 people in there all buying stuff. Nearly all my stable supplies sold, I don't have a bucket or grooming tool left in the place. I'm off to scramble around because you can tell my stock has gone down considerbly. I've been promised 4-5 saddles this week and a couple of bridles but I do need to be on the look out for show clothing so I have a few leads on that.

Vicki good idea: My storage is over loaded with antiques from my family's estate. I might make another table and bring some of them down.

I've also got a dealership now to.....well I won't say here because I don't want anyone to think I'm advertising and I'll be setting up that display as well.

I'm also thinking of selling hay for a friend who bales some good stuff and could use some help with it so I've got the space outside in yet another building.

Can't believe this all started with a $20. dollar bill. But I'm not getting too full of myself, I know this can all fall down as fast as it started. Never count your chickens!

 

[mydaddysjag]

Your doing great, just have to give it time. I personally would quit providing free coffee soda and cookies. Not that they arent appreciated, but they add money to your overhead, and while it's nice to have hospatality, the main objective is to make a little money. I know recently on craigslist I saw someone giving away one of those polar water coolers that businesses have, maybe be on the lookout for something like that.