How To Run a Successful Nearly-New Shop.

By Ann Constance

"How To Run a Successful Neary-New Shop. - With No Stock Costs - From Less Than 200 Sq. Feet - In A Back Street!"
This book is based on fact. The quoted income was for 1987 - multiply by 3 or 4 now!
For five years I ran this successful business and made it work. Many times it was pointed out to me that it was one of the most elegant formulas for business success ever invented. There are many reasons for this and they will all be explained to you in detail in the book.
Initially the business was purely a Nearly New dress agency. I took in from the public items of top quality clothing in prime condition that my customers wished to sell - and I sold them on to other customers who appreciated their combination of quality and affordability. For doing this I earned 40% commission on every sale.
Then I added New clothing from special sources, and my income soared. I was earning at the same rate as the CEO of a medium-sized UK business, according to the Institute of Directors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Barry
• Release date: Jan 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301162468

Book preview

HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL NEARLY NEW SHOP

By

Ann Constance

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Perceptive Creation on Smashwords

Copyright © 1991 and 2012 Perceptive Creation

The Counting House, Dodington, Nether Stowey,

Bridgwater, Somerset TA5 1LE

(24,150 words)

SMASHWORDS EDITION LICENSE NOTES

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

CONTENTS

1. An introduction to an elegant business.

2. All about premises.

3. All about clothes.

4. All about money.

5. Do I need to be a particular person?

6. Creating an image and reaching your customers.

7. Expanding the range you sell.

8. Selling!

9. Working procedures.

10. What type of business should I be?

11. Opening for business.

PREFACE

There is one cautionary note to be sounded on reissuing this information book 23 years after I wrote it and that is that monetary values change over time, and carry on doing so. In 1991, when I closed my very successful business in Guildford I had been earning at the same level as the Managing Director of a Medium-sized UK company (according to figures released by the Institute of Directors) - viz over £28,000..

The picture is a lot more complex today – with directors earning bonuses, share participation schemes and so on, but it might not be far from the truth to multiply the sums in this book by a factor of 3 or 4.

There is no doubt in my mind, that if location is well chosen and impeccable standards are maintained, this is a business that will always yield a healthy living.

Time has also moved on in throwing up many more top Designer labels than those mentioned in the book – and indeed, more importantly, Classic wear labels too. But nothing changes the principles outlined.

I should add that when I ran my own business the internet did not exist. Even now I don’t count myself a computerate person. I know there are dress agencies operating on line – but Virtual is not for me. This book is about a REAL business operation!

CHAPTER 1 - AN INTRODUCTION TO AN ELEGANT BUSINESS

Do not be mistaken by the title of this book - when I refer to Nearly New I am not talking about rags, threadbare hand-me-downs or stolen goods! The business I am going to be describing to you involves only the best quality clothing - garments that are both classic and wearable, new and nearly-new.

Let's start at the beginning. Everything that follows is based on fact. For five years I ran this business and made it work. Many times it was pointed out to me that it was one of the most elegant formulas for business success ever invented. There are many reasons for this and they will all be explained to you in detail in the pages that follow.

Initially the business was purely a Nearly New dress agency. I took in from the public items of top quality clothing in prime condition that my customers wished to sell - and I sold them on to other customers who appreciated their combination of quality and affordability. For doing this I earned 40% commission on every sale.

In this way I built up over 5 years a business that paid me nearly £30,000 a year (1987 values) for a 10 to 5 job, five days a week. And I enjoyed every minute of it!

I didn't buy these garments - by taking in I mean that I held them as agent for the customer. They were not mine - in other words I had no stock costs to provide for.

Standards were high. I made a special point of never taking in from a customer any garment whose quality was less than I would personally be prepared to wear. This was a long term insurance policy that was to pay dividends. People began to trust my judgement. Even the slightest stain on an item was enough for me to turn it away.

The business thrived on low overheads: none of these items of clothing was stock in the traditional financial sense. I acted as an agency and took a percentage of the price when I made a sale. Any unsold items were returned to their owners after a period of time. It was - and is - a winning formula.

However it goes beyond the Nearly New. Within a short period of time I was able to add New clothing, by taking ex-sale stock from two independent retail outlets who specialised in top quality, well styled clothing that would outlive the trendier fashions of the day.

The New clothing side of the business was run on the same agency basis as the Nearly New side. Once agin, this meant that there was never the often crippling overhead of stock costs to weigh down the business.

As the whole operation was in any case rapidly approaching the VAT limit, this latter New clothing side was formed as a separate business and traded on its own account.

It should be clear from the above that with the combination of high quality and high standards applied to the Nearly New clothing and with the addition of top quality New clothing, that this is a very different business operation from the rather more common, rather more down-market Nearly New dress agency often seen. This can readily be appreciated when the customer profile of the shop is understood.

It quickly became clear to me that I was building up a customer profile of people who would not normally ever consider buying second hand clothes.

By combining impeccable standards to the second hand clothing that I accepted for the shop, with a high level of honest but tactful service in advising customers on what might be appropriate for them to wear, I soon attracted a top level clientele. By this I mean that ladies were coming to the shop, who would not normally have dreamt of going anywhere near a second hand shop.

Word-of-mouth operated firmly in the shop's favour. Every day at least one more new customer would arrive following a recommendation from a friend.

After a modest first year, business grew rapidly to the point where I was able to take from a back street shop of very small dimensions, a personal salary in excess of that normally earned by Managing Directors of medium sized firms employing several hundred people. And that was for a five-day week, 10 to 5 only!

This is no mean achievement - and given a basic dress sense, and given the probably essential ingredient of being a person of the feminine gender (!) it is an achievement you can also make. The following chapters will spell out in detail the secrets of this successful