May 7, 2010
Open a Fancy Flea Market Store
Open a Fancy Flea Market #147;Store#148; By Glory Borgeson Ann and Cathy wanted to start a business together that they could do part time, that would utilize their creativity (especially Ann#146;s beautiful hand painting talent), and that would be a lot of fun. They considered opening some type of retail store, but they knew that the hours the store would be open would turn it into full-time work. After expanding their thoughts a bit, they realized there was a flea market a few towns to the west that was open once a month on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. One weekend, they visited the flea market to see what types of items were sold at each booth and the types of things people were buying. They decided that the flea market was a great place to start their business. They would find bargain items and fix them up with paint, Ann#146;s decorative painting, silk greens such as ivy, ribbon, and whatever else they could dream up. They would create their booth each month like it was a beautiful store with an antique/shabby chic look. Their plan worked so well, that by their third month, customers lined up on Friday morning early to get to their booth first. Before long, Ann and Cathy began renting two booths to double the size of their fancy flea market #147;store#148;. How did they do it? First, they formed their business as a corporation, opened their bank account, and did the work needed to get set up to collect sales tax on their future sales, and to be set up to purchase some materials at wholesale. (Note: The scope of this article will not focus on the how-to#146;s of that general aspect of the business, but will focus on the activities specific to this type of business.) From there, they started scouring garage sales, tag sales, rummage sales, resale shops, and other flea markets for items they knew would be great to start with for their first sale. They also decided which month to join the flea market and reserved an indoor booth starting with that month. They each had a workspace in their homes. Sometimes they worked alone, but they also spent time together to plan, create, and review ideas for the items they purchased. They sanded and scraped, removed rust, painted, and made all of the items they purchased become more beautiful, desirable, and sell-able. What About Pricing? Choosing prices for items proved to be tricky. Since theirs was not a typical retail store (where items are usually #147;keystoned#148;, meaning the cost is doubled to arrive at the sales price), they needed to be more creative and forthright in how they priced their items. So far, the idea for this business may have sparked a few thoughts of fun possibilities, and you also get to make money! And in order to get the best price for your merchandise, I#146;m going to show you how to keep track of each item in a manner that helps you to keep your sanity. You want to keep track of each item that you fix up and beautify in order to price it appropriately. To do that, create a form that you will use to track the cost of an item, the cost of anything you add to it, and the amount of time you spend working on it. It will include the hourly rate you choose to apply to your work. The form will help you arrive at a price for the item. You can even have a column to add the initials of the business partner who worked on the item. Toward the bottom of the form, include a box titled #147;Price#148; to write in the final sales price. To make the form even more useful, leave an area in the top right corner for a number. Then take the mocked-up form to a printer to create pre-numbered forms for you. This will ensure that each item has its own unique item number. When you purchase an item that will be fixed up in any way, start a form for that item and write in the amount you paid for it. Find a way to keep the form with the item (for example, staple it to a wooden item; put it in a plastic sleeve and tape it to the item; or tag the item and write the form#146;s item # on the tag, and file the form). As you work on the piece, update the form with the amount of time spent working on it, plus the cost of any materials you add to it (i.e. the cost of silk greens put in a container; this would not include the cost of paint and other materials that you purchase to fix many items). If an item you purchase does not need to be fixed or painted, but can be sold #147;as is#148;, keep a log sheet for these purchases. You can create a log in Excel and use Excel#146;s #147;fill-a-series#148; function to create an item number column. Perhaps you can start with #A1001 to keep these numbers separate from the other item numbers for the items you fix. Tag these items with the item number on the log. Use the log to decide the item#146;s sales price. Later, when you#146;re ready to price items that you#146;re selling #147;as is#148;, you can easily match the tagged items to the log and re-tag the item with a price tag. For the items you fix up, you may also choose to keep a log of these items as well. This log would have the item number (from the form) and a brief description (such as #147;wooden chair#148;; #147;birdhouse#148;; #147;metal container/planter#148;). You could also add a column titled #147;Sales Price#148;. You could bring your log sheets with you to the sale as an inventory control. The beauty of the log page and the individual item sheets is that your accountant can easily determine your cost of good sold. You may find that, as you choose your sales price, there may not be a simple formula that is applied to price each item. More likely, you will find that as you gain experience, you will select the best sales price: a price that your customers will pay and that will yield you the highest possible gain. Arranging Your Booth Ann and Cathy needed a way to display their merchandise in their booth. On their purchase outings, they bought lightweight furniture pieces, crates, and bookshelves, fixed them up, and used them for their displays. Make certain the pieces you buy for display are easy for you to fit into your vehicle and to carry. You may choose to put this furniture up for sale, or you may decide that certain pieces are working well for your displays and that you will keep them. If they display your merchandise well and are easy to transport, why not keep them? (Put a tag on display pieces you want to keep that read: #147;Display only; Not for sale#148; so that customers will not ask you for the price all day.) Nice looking silk green pieces will make your booth look very attractive! As a business that buys wholesale (i.e. assuming you have already obtained something from your state that says you are buying to re-sell, such as a sales tax ID), you can set up an account with a wholesale florist company that sells silk greens, ribbon, and other trim. You can usually shop at these companies in person to choose exactly what you want. Check the #147;business-to-business#148; yellow pages under categories such as #147;Florists-Wholesale#148;. Also check www.floralshops.com/wholesalefloral1.html and click on your state for the names, addresses, and phone numbers of wholesale florists in your area. Before you make a trip to visit them, call all of them in your area to find out what types of floral items they sell. Once you know that they have the types of silk greens you are looking for, ask them about their terms for setting up an account with them. Some will require that you pay by check when you shop with them. Others will have you do that for a short time, and then will give you net 30 terms. Use silk greens either as display pieces only, or use them in your displays and sell them, too. (If you purchase nice quality greens, people will want to buy them!) Working these silk greens into your displays will attract many people who are looking to purchase items that are #147;a step up#148; from flea market wares. And that#146;s what you#146;re selling: merchandise that is a little nicer than the average found at the flea market. The whole look and feel of your booth will be a little nicer than the customers usually find. People will be drawn to your booth. You will go home with only a few items left over (for next month) and lots of money from all of your sales. Use Your Booth for Marketing Because they wanted the good word to get out about their booth, Ann and Cathy created a half-sheet flier as their marketing materials. They used plain light pink paper, some creative wording, and a creative font style. They gave one to each buying customer and made them available to people who visited their booth. Using a word processor, you can create your own half-sheet flier to give away at your booth. Put it on pastel-colored plain paper. Choose a color that will be your #147;signature#148; color: pink? light green? baby blue? In addition to including your business name, come up with a clever phrase or tag line (for example, #147;Creative Objets d#146;art for Your Home Garden#148;; #147;Funky Frolicking Fun from the Flea Market!#148; ). If appropriate, list some of the types of things you sell. Include the dates you will be at the flea market for the next several months (or for as long as you have booked a booth). Also include the name of the flea market, the address, and days and hours of operation. If appropriate, include your contact information (name, phone number and/or e-mail address). If you know the booth number you have reserved for future events, include the number. People may give your marketing sheets to friends who haven#146;t seen your booth. You want them to be able to find you. When customers purchase your items, be sure to give them a marketing sheet in their shopping bag or rolled up inside one of the items they purchased. Extra Materials Ann and Cathy sold some breakable items, and they didn#146;t want customers having to be concerned about breakage. They purchased some plain paper for packing. (They thought about using newspaper, but they knew the newsprint could be a problem for some of their items.) Depending on the item purchased, you may need to wrap it in some type of wrapping materials so that it doesn#146;t break. Find a local supplier of materials such as packing paper and bags. When you are first starting out, stick with inexpensive wrapping materials and bags. Try to choose similar colors (i.e. white, cream, or a pastel to match your marketing sheet) to go along with the whole theme you#146;re creating for your business. Your Flea Market #147;Store#148; Are you ready to create your flea market #147;store#148;? Do some up-front planning. Are you going to have a business partner or are you going it alone? Do you have an area in your home to store your purchases and fix them up? Have you checked the flea markets in your area? Have you scoped out how you#146;re going to find the inexpensive items to purchase? Print out this article and start a #147;to do#148; list of all the things you need to do to get started. Then prioritize the list. In what order are you going to tackle the items on your #147;to do#148; list? What things can you do at the same time? And, please, let me know how you#146;re coming along with your #147;fancy flea market store#148;! Glory Borgeson is a small business consultant and coach who loves to work with clients by phone from her Chicago-area home office. She works with clients individually, and is also planning to hold teleclasses on the details of starting a home-based business. Please contact her by e-mail at glory.borgeson@borgesonconsulting.com for more information about your home-based business. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.

Posted by Staff at 1:44 AM