posted on July 27, 2006 07:12:06 PM new
With all the hue and cry over the increased store fees, may I compare a day at a REAL B&M store with your virtual one?
Friend with highly successful antique venture in single owner storefront goes on buying trip. Rather than closing the store for a week, I volunteer to shop sit. What fun!
Here's my day:
The meter is running from the time I disable the alarm system: it is costing something like $5 a hour in rent, plus utilities, advertising, insurance, said alarm system, etc. etc. Tick, tick.
First customer. Whoo hoo! It is now 90 minutes and $12 into the day. Lovely lady with distraught husband put a chair on layway in May. Has been paying $20 a month. $157 to go. Apparently, husband intercepted message from Dear Friend The Owner to step up the payments. "We don't need no chairs. She don't need no chair. We want our money back." Sorry darling, it ain't happening. That's minus those $157 that ain't happening either.
A few casual browsers. Do we have square salad plates? No. Do we have a bungling board? No. Do we need help lifting anything heavy? Not today, dear. I'm here for $50 in Downtown Association somethingorother. Not today, dear.
posted on July 27, 2006 07:19:09 PM new
LOL You make the eBay store look like a real bargain.
I'm in a local antique mall. I'm sure they have days like that too. Thank G*d I don't have to be there to see it.
[ edited by max40 on Jul 27, 2006 07:20 PM ]
posted on July 27, 2006 10:43:11 PM new
Any chance it was a typical Thursday slow day? I'd sure hope the weekends would be better. But your point is well taken.
posted on July 28, 2006 04:46:10 AM new
Oh, it certainly may have been a slow day. And it's a dog days slow time of year although some tourists wandered through. And one local girl did look at a $450 armoire (casually at least).
posted on July 28, 2006 06:11:54 AM new
When we had our B&M store, our heating bills were $400 a month in the winter, temp was set just high enough to keep the pipes from freezing. (And this was before the jumps in natural gas.) When we were in the co-op, that $90 per month was better, and better traffic, but some months (in winter) barely paid for the booth fee.
I'll be keeping my store, I'll just try to whittle away at the smaller stuff. I'm going to list Mark's smaller garden pieces as my "niche" items. We just have to "redesign" them so they are not "oversized".
posted on July 28, 2006 08:05:08 AM new
Thank you!
It's been a little over three years since I closed my store and I was starting to get a little nostalgic.
Thanks for reminding me why I spent 15 years building up my mail order business... So I could close that damn store!
With online sales, profits may not be where I want them to be. On the other hand, Ino longer have entire days when I sit around waiting for someone to walk in the door, and when they do... it's for a REFUND!
Dr. Arcane, revelator of mystical secrets http://www.drarcane.com
Got questions about the secrets of the universe?
posted on July 28, 2006 11:45:10 AM new
Sorry! The garden pieces were just large enough that we had the "over-size" shipping fees for UPS and USPS. I ordered boxes this morning just large enough to fit within the shipping guidelines so they will fall within the high end of the measurements. No one wants to pay $30 to ship something that costs $10-$35.
posted on July 28, 2006 01:14:48 PM new
Hi
I also know how having a store can ware you out. I had 3 antique stores for 15yrs and lucky my son took care of one and my daughter ran the other one while I worked the main store, My husband was the buyer for all 3 stores. The only break I got in all the 15yrs was when my other two daughters watched the stores when I went away, which I did every year for at least 2 weeks. And it gave my son and daughter time off also. But one store had to stay closed.
It was just too much to worry about all the time.
It's no fun being in a store anymore once the Internet became a great shopping place.
Paying all that rent and the time you spend 6 days a week was no fun. Sure your making money but just knowing everyday you have to be there and deal with strange requests from customers wasn't any fun.
Closed all 3 stores and started selling on Ebay which WAS great fun at the beginning but now its just another job. But my time is my own, I work when and how much I want to work.
I just closed 2 stores on Ebay and I'm so very happy I did. Sent everything to auction with BIN price and sooooooo many things have sold. They sat in the store for weeks and no sales.
Having the Ebay Store would be GREAT for me even with the raise in fees BUT.......not having exposure is like paying for something to site with a sheet over it and no one can see it, so what good is the EBay store. It eats your money up and for the amount that sells that's if it sells, just about covers your fees...........so what's it all for?.......
Way before I even opened any ebay stores I had a selling system and that worked very good for me,
Now I will go back to how I did it on Ebay before I opened any stores........Ebay Stores might work for some people but to use the store for storage is not my idea for the store..
toni, sorry it's so long....lol
[ edited by tonimar1 on Jul 28, 2006 01:22 PM ]
