Bridal Shop start up

[EmilyHelen]

Dear all

I am new to this forum so would like to say hello to you all. I really need some advice please. I have had a dream of opening a bridal shop in South Wales for 21 years but never took the plunge as I knew if it failed it would affect the good life I had built for my daughter. My daughter is now 21 and has started her own life, getting married in 2022. I feel now that it is my time to pursue my dream. I have researched snd researched so know where I want my premises, name, stockists etc etc. I just need a business loan and am currently building my business plan. I don't want to take over the bridal world, just to have a job and business thst I am so passionate about my shop will be small, stocking around 60 dresses, veils, hair accessories and shoes. Unfortunately I don't have money available so will need to borrow. This is scary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It will just be me working in the shop initially. I would be giving up a £40000 a year job in nhs but its now or never. How much do you feel I would need to borrow to give me 3 years to make it a success, including salary. My shop will be no more than 800sq foot, is this big enough. Any advice please? I feel weddings will go through the roof once people can travel again now vaccine is in sight. Thank you x

 

[Mr D]

You will be unlikely to be able to borrow 3 years running costs.

The shop costs will depend on location, adjustments you make, staffing etc.
You may end up wanting the shop open while you are also attending a bridal fair.

 

[EmilyHelen]

You will be unlikely to be able to borrow 3 years running costs.

The shop costs will depend on location, adjustments you make, staffing etc.
You may end up wanting the shop open while you are also attending a bridal fair.

 

[EmilyHelen]

Thank you. How.many years running costs ....2 years? I will add into my business plan a salary for a part time member if staff as what you say makes perfect sense. My first reply and already you have helped me

 

[mattk]

800 sq ft sounds tiny. How much space does 60 wedding dresses actually take up, plus you'll need changing rooms, a "display" room (don't know if there is a technical name for this - a room with mirrors for the big reveal), plus room to smooze your customers, as don't forget, you're going to be selling them a very high end product, at presumably a high end price, so you don't want a small, cramped premises?

Do you need to buy the 60 dresses or can you get them on some kind of credit or sale or return? That would significantly reduce your setup costs.

Don't forget marketing costs. How are you going to get brides to your store? What is the local competition and online? What does it cost to attend wedding shows/fairs?

Staff - presumably you won't be working seven days a week, so you will need some assistance.

Finally, you need to work out what the absolute minimum amount you need to live on. If you don't have savings, this will need to draw a salary from your running costs and of course, there could be tax and NI implications for both you and the business.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

@EmilyHelen did you search the word 'bridal' on UKBF?

What did it tell you about how the experience of opening a bridal shop has been for the many other people asking for advice?

 

[EmilyHelen]

800 sq ft sounds tiny. How much space does 60 wedding dresses actually take up, plus you'll need changing rooms, a "display" room (don't know if there is a technical name for this - a room with mirrors for the big reveal), plus room to smooze your customers, as don't forget, you're going to be selling them a very high end product, at presumably a high end price, so you don't want a small, cramped premises?

Do you need to buy the 60 dresses or can you get them on some kind of credit or sale or return? That would significantly reduce your setup costs.

Don't forget marketing costs. How are you going to get brides to your store? What is the local competition and online? What does it cost to attend wedding shows/fairs?

Staff - presumably you won't be working seven days a week, so you will need some assistance.

Finally, you need to work out what the absolute minimum amount you need to live on. If you don't have savings, this will need to draw a salary from your running costs and of course, there could be tax and NI implications for both you and the business.

Thank you so much. I will take on board all of your advice. I will have to relook at size of premises. I was trying to keep rental costs down but maybe I shoukd be looking for larger premises. Just worried about the higher rental costs. I am not sure how much I can ask fir on a business loan. Is there a capped amount?

 

[MikeJ]

There's no maximum limit to a loan. The question is how much will people be willing to lend someone that's starting a business that they've no experience in. They'll also be looking to see how much you're investing in, and if you've any security for them to lend against.

I'm sorry to sound negative, but I really think you're going to struggle to get finance for this...

 

[EmilyHelen]

There's no maximum limit to a loan. The question is how much will people be willing to lend someone that's starting a business that they've no experience in. They'll also be looking to see how much you're investing in, and if you've any security for them to lend against.

I'm sorry to sound negative, but I really think you're going to struggle to get finance for this...

Your not being negative, this us advice i need to hear. Thank you

 

[Mr D]

Thank you. How.many years running costs ....2 years? I will add into my business plan a salary for a part time member if staff as what you say makes perfect sense. My first reply and already you have helped me

Write yourself a business plan.
It will be your roadmap to the business.

Figure out the costs you can find out. Figure out the costs you can estimate.

Its very easy - speaking from experience - to borrow money planning to have it last xx months and blow through it quickly. Then you have all your usual costs plus the loan to repay.

 

[EmilyHelen]

Write yourself a business plan.
It will be your roadmap to the business.

Figure out the costs you can find out. Figure out the costs you can estimate.

Its very easy - speaking from experience - to borrow money planning to have it last xx months and blow through it quickly. Then you have all your usual costs plus the loan to repay.

Thank you. I am in the process of building the plan. It is tricky as you say, some content is fact and some is literally a guesstimate.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I think you have the cart before the horse Emily? How much you can borrow will depend on how much capital you're putting in and any security. Best sort that out before making any plans based on funding that may not be available?

 

[EmilyHelen]

I think you have the cart before the horse Emily? How much you can borrow will depend on how much capital you're putting in and any security. Best sort that out before making any plans based on funding that may not be available?

Thank you. This seems to be the theme so will look at this

 

[Mark T Jones]

2 things of slight concern in your opening post.

1. The word 'dream' - there is nothing 'dreamy' about this, if you want to succeed (actually, most businesses that people dream of are far from dreamy). A former customer of mine does this in a big way, and he is about as hard-nosed as it gets!

2. The general disorganisation of your thought process.

Fortunately, neither is insurmountable. In my view, the best way to move away from dreaming and start thinking in an organised, business-like way is to do a business plan & cashflow projection. There are templates here though you can use any other, or simply create you own

The important thing is that you put lots of thought into it, and make it your own - don't just treat it a form to be completed. In particular, filling out the cashflow will help you to ask more focused and precise questions.

I know little about the market, but just some random question:

Will you be reliant on footfall, or will you be a destination?
Do you need 60 dresses on site or can you store off-site?
How will people hear about you?

With regards to funding, again, some thoughts:

Welsh Assembly / LA support (This was quite liberal for a while as they squandered their EU budget - not sure what the situation is now)?
Start Up Loans - may offer a loan upto £25K per person against a solid plan and clean credit history.
Leasing / asset finance for fit out costs.

 

[SillyBill]

You need some cash or its a non-starter. You need skin in the game as the lender will see it; the vast majority of lenders are not in the business of 100% funding dreams with only their capital at risk. And this comes as a shock to a surprising number of people amazingly.

 

[ethical PR]

What market research have you done to look at your competitors, what they are offering? how do they market themselves? What you can offer that is better/different than your online and face to face competitors?

You are unlikely to get a business loan without putting up some of the cash yourself.

One of your biggest costs apart from premises and staffing will be your marketing costs. Do you know how to market your bridal business to those you have identified as your potential customers?

So many retail shops are going by the wayside, why do you think you can make a success of yours, particularly taking into account that you are unable to fund your start up costs and are looking to start up during Covid?

 

[saton]

What is the population in your city? have you studied statistics?
It is important not just to know the number of people. Namely, those who can get married. Find information on how many weddings there were in your city, how many such stores are already there, what are the prices in competitors' stores. It all matters

 

[pcourtney]

touching on the above post by saton
footfall is your number 1 goal, also the old adage - location location location
if you are opening in a large town/city, I would visit all of the largest department stores and dress shops, and ask if you could have a spot in their store, use it purely for marketing the business, have a few token dresses at each location, start off with 1 site, then grow the business to 10 or 20 sites all over Wales, don't staff it, don't have any leases or long commitments, be honest with the owners/landlords of these stores and see if you can get a great 12 month deal to get you started with little or no running costs, see how it works, its a great way to get going with little capital outlay

get the clients to call you on your hotline, then go and see them and close the deal - be a trusted expert in the world of bridal - you will know if this approach has legs after 6 months or so

 

[Darren_Ssc]

footfall is your number 1 goal

Not with a bridal shop.

 

[pcourtney]

I don't mean footfall in the traditional FMCG sense, I mean when the mum, sister, cousin, auntie walks past your bridal dislpay/promotion area ( whatever you want to call it ) , and they mention it to the new bride, getting enquiries is the most important thing for a business like that

I should know, because I was involved in a "Fancy Dress Hire" business, we had two shops costing us a lot in overheads, we found out the hard way, but we always had lots of leads and enquiries from shops that allowed us to rent a little bit of their frontage on the high street, we had over 100 shops and post offices in the area that allowed us to do this, we closed the two shops down and ran the business from a small warehouse costing £500 a month (this was a few years ago mind )

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I think the issue here is does the OP want to be yet another bridal shop reliant on passing trade or does she want to be a destination where people go out of their way to visit, sometimes from the other end of the country?

Both sorts exist but one, generally, does much better than other. As @Mark T Jones says above:
Will you be reliant on footfall, or will you be a destination?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Do you own a house you can use as a asset to the lender, if not it would not be unusual for lenders to ask you to put up 50% or more

Shops even now will require a minimum 3 or 5 year lease which you will be liable for. you will also need to pay the landlords building insurance which they take out on your behalf

Deposits may be required for phone. electricity, water etc

Dress makers are very selective on how close you are to another stockist of the same range and have minimum stock levels you must buy

For consideration I would suggest a different approach, start from home selling Prom dresses which are generally cheaper to hold, where you can learn customer support at little cost, and then when established move into weddings still from home before taking on a shop. in both cases you can back it up hiring men's hire suits

 

[Opinion87]

I'm in the industry and despite what I said earlier this year, things are going to be quite tough for a while. I'd really, really put a lot of thought into this. Feel free to PM me.

 

[Talay]

I'm in a tangential industry with a lot of bridal shops as clients and sadly, even the established ones are suffering hugely from the attraction of the internet.

What they see, time and time again and with a growing trend is that people come to their shop, take up their expertise, use their time and then go away and find the exact same dress in the size they know suits them and buy it from an online resource.

I advised a few shops to take a £250 deposit, refundable against the dress, just as my daughter's skiing outfitters takes a £50/100 deposit to arrange an appointment for new ski boots etc. However, they all baulked at the idea and yet this would simply protect them.

It is not an industry I would get into. Your investment is huge, you end up up with worthless unsold garments and if you have a sell through section then people will not buy too many from full price. You are also somewhat restricted in RRP and the volumes you have to buy to even get stock.

Do you even know how fat the people are where you intend to do business ? You cannot have size 8 to 22 in every dress style but if you live in the land of the larger woman then you might as well go plus size and drop the 8-12 sizes. However, buy sizes 6 to 14 when everyone is 16 plus and you'll go broke in 3 months.

If I was forced to enter the industry, I'd go part time, even working for free, with an established shop and really see the insides.

I know a few have gone bust in recent times and I've seen sole proprietors crying after closing because they haven't had an enquiry all week or a sale all month.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Don't get too hung up on the cash-input bit, it really isn't the most important thing, though by inversion, the less you borrow, the easier it is to demonstrate you can repay it.

Start Up Loans don't require any personal cash input, They do however require a well reasearched & thought-through business plan

 

[Socio South West]

What they see, time and time again and with a growing trend is that people come to their shop, take up their expertise, use their time and then go away and find the exact same dress in the size they know suits them and buy it from an online resource.

I advised a few shops to take a £250 deposit, refundable against the dress.....

Excellent advice - and the biggest thing you will be coming up against.

...but first get your capital together....

Best of luck to you.

 

[japhyryder]

Dear all

I am new to this forum so would like to say hello to you all. I really need some advice please. I have had a dream of opening a bridal shop in South Wales for 21 years but never took the plunge as I knew if it failed it would affect the good life I had built for my daughter. My daughter is now 21 and has started her own life, getting married in 2022. I feel now that it is my time to pursue my dream. I have researched snd researched so know where I want my premises, name, stockists etc etc. I just need a business loan and am currently building my business plan. I don't want to take over the bridal world, just to have a job and business thst I am so passionate about my shop will be small, stocking around 60 dresses, veils, hair accessories and shoes. Unfortunately I don't have money available so will need to borrow. This is scary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It will just be me working in the shop initially. I would be giving up a £40000 a year job in nhs but its now or never. How much do you feel I would need to borrow to give me 3 years to make it a success, including salary. My shop will be no more than 800sq foot, is this big enough. Any advice please? I feel weddings will go through the roof once people can travel again now vaccine is in sight. Thank you x

I think it's a magical dream but I also would be very cautious with any bricks and mortar retails idea. Online would be better...

 

[Lucky8]

I have researched snd researched so know where I want my premises, name, stockists etc etc. I just need a business loan and am currently building my business plan

This sentence is the wrong way round.

Only once you have done your business plan do you know you have researched as much as you need, selected where your premises should be, your brand and which stockists you'll use, and the amount of loan you require.

Turn this on its head, and start with that.

 

[MichelleB-UK]

Make sure you research your nearest competitors and that you're not too close in the same catchment area.

 

[Kristina Louise]

Hello everyone,

My name is Kristina and I am new to this forum. I had to close down my bridal shop last year because of the pandemic and I still have 20 dresses left from various brands like Morilee, Randy Fenoli, Cabotine and Allure Bridals. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to sell them all online. Prefer looking for bridal shop owners that would like to buy them all at a very good price

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[ethical PR]

Hello everyone,

My name is Kristina and I am new to this forum. I had to close down my bridal shop last year because of the pandemic and I still have 20 dresses left from various brands like Morilee, Randy Fenoli, Cabotine and Allure Bridals. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to sell them all online. Prefer looking for bridal shop owners that would like to buy them all at a very good price

Looking forward to your replies.

Why not post on bridal forums? Or EBay.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

If you dont have available funding of your own a high level of borrowing could possibly destroy a new start up.
Look at starting up small possibly from home and avoid any borrowing if possible a Wedding Consultant ?

One positive thing with a high divorce rate repeat business could be good

 

[John Toomey]

Emily, a couple of thoughts: a. could you start this business while still holding down the 40k a year job? This would mean you don't take a lease on a shop until you absolutely need it; premises are a a big fixed cost? A lot of bridal shows, events that you will want to be at, are held at weekends. This may enable you to get going. b. Could you combine a well thought through website, with getting your brand known at these shows? This would keep your costs low. Good luck and reach out if you need any more feedback.

 

[Interestedobserver]

I think the issue here is does the OP want to be yet another bridal shop reliant on passing trade or does she want to be a destination where people go out of their way to visit, sometimes from the other end of the country?

Both sorts exist but one, generally, does much better than other. As @Mark T Jones says above:
Will you be reliant on footfall, or will you be a destination?

For it to be a bridal shop people travel from the other end of the country to visit the owner needs to be incredible at what they do

The OP has passion and a dream but will be a long way from being incredible

 

[Bridalinvesto]

Hi Emily is there a way to reach you. I have a proposal of which I haven working on and think it might off interest

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Dear all

I am new to this forum so would like to say hello to you all. I really need some advice please. I have had a dream of opening a bridal shop in South Wales for 21 years but never took the plunge as I knew if it failed it would affect the good life I had built for my daughter. My daughter is now 21 and has started her own life, getting married in 2022. I feel now that it is my time to pursue my dream. I have researched snd researched so know where I want my premises, name, stockists etc etc. I just need a business loan and am currently building my business plan. I don't want to take over the bridal world, just to have a job and business thst I am so passionate about my shop will be small, stocking around 60 dresses, veils, hair accessories and shoes. Unfortunately I don't have money available so will need to borrow. This is scary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It will just be me working in the shop initially. I would be giving up a £40000 a year job in nhs but its now or never. How much do you feel I would need to borrow to give me 3 years to make it a success, including salary. My shop will be no more than 800sq foot, is this big enough. Any advice please? I feel weddings will go through the roof once people can travel again now vaccine is in sight. Thank you x

Hi Emily,

A lovely dream, but don’t make it a nightmare.

My granddaughter is a wedding photographer (part time) and bookings are still slow.

You won’t get a loan for 3 years running costs and well as setting up costs. You would also need money for your own wages and it is unlikely to be profitable in the first year, maybe two. Banks will expect you to put up some capital yourself.

I would suggest you start by doing it at home on a part time basis and then gradually build it up.

You could offer fittings at your place or the customers. You could start with a small range of show dresses. You could fund marketing costs out of your salary. You would get the experience of the business without the headache of owning a shop and loosing a salary.

With low running costs you can build up savings. This would then give you the capital to open a formal shop and you would already be known in the area.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I don't want to take over the bridal world, just to have a job

I don't want this to sound harsh, but if this is all you want, get a job. don't start a business.

Also, what collateral are you prepared to offer for the loan? Your house? Your car? Without having some skin in the game, your approach to business will be different to if it is your cash/house on the line.

BTW, what experience do you have in this area?

 

[Mark T Jones]

You won’t get a loan for 3 years running costs and well as setting up costs. You would also need money for your own wages and it is unlikely to be profitable in the first year, maybe two. Banks will expect you to put up some capital yourself.

@Trevor Andrews the OP is more than a year old - I'm guessing they took the advice and have decided against doing this.

However, for forum members, I want to pick up on this

it is possible to get a loan without security or capital input on pretty good terms (6%)

The key requirements are a clean credit history, eligibility to work in the UK and, most important, a clear, well researched business plan.

It's amazing how often the last one put people off applying!

 

[CHUKTC]

Have you thought where you are going to source the bridal gowns etc from? Clearly you want to be able to offer a good range of options to your clients and ensure the quality. We work with a number of UK bridal wholesalers and I would be happy to put you in touch with them if you think that would be helpful.