Camping equipment wholesalers prices

[BeaterButcherB]

So one of the local cash and carrys in town that I use to buy whistles and airhorns from
When I emailed them my shopping list, they sent me a link with there camping gear that they had for sale. But what do you think of the prices?
www.manchesterwholesale.co.uk/a/search?q=camping+&page=1

Thanks

 

[IanSuth]

looks dear

The last camping stove like that i bought retail was £10 in middle of lidl.

they do a camping week each year - things like rubber mallet £1.

The only decent looking thing on there is the folding stool at £3.50 but you will still struggle to sell many if you go over £5

 

[IanSuth]

you should be looking at places like this (random google search i know nothing about them)

Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6x4ft

Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6ft x 4ft. Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6ft x 4ft Waterproof Festival Cover Sheet Polyethylene Woven

www.mxwholesale.co.uk

90p for a 6'x4' bit of tarp, also 4x225g butane gas cylinders (fits those stoves in your link) £5

or tis lot

Wholesale Camping | Gem Imports Ltd

Wholesale camping accessories offering great value.

www.gemimports.co.uk

Adult poncho 55p each if you get 24, footpump £3, cutlery 58p, torches 1.75 (plus need batteries) etc

 

[BeaterButcherB]

you should be looking at places like this (random google search i know nothing about them)

Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6x4ft

Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6ft x 4ft. Green Jem Camping Ground Awning Tarpaulin Sheet 6ft x 4ft Waterproof Festival Cover Sheet Polyethylene Woven

www.mxwholesale.co.uk

90p for a 6'x4' bit of tarp, also 4x225g butane gas cylinders (fits those stoves in your link) £5

or tis lot

Wholesale Camping | Gem Imports Ltd

Wholesale camping accessories offering great value.

www.gemimports.co.uk

Adult poncho 55p each if you get 24, footpump £3, cutlery 58p, torches 1.75 (plus need batteries) etc

So the wholesaler in Manchester I linked to is a bit of a rip off then?

 

[BeaterButcherB]

Adult poncho 55p each if you get 24, footpump £3, cutlery 58p, torches 1.75 (plus need batteries) etc

If selling at a camping festival of 1000-1500 people
how many ponchos would you order? how many foot pumps? and how many torches too?

Great site BTW! Always found it hard to find proper wholesales listing web sites online as opposed to selling micky moues stuff on ebay

 

[Mark James]

I take it you’ve got or getting a stand at a festival this year? If so what date exactly?

 

[IanSuth]

If selling at a camping festival of 1000-1500 people
how many ponchos would you order? how many foot pumps? and how many torches too?

Great site BTW! Always found it hard to find proper wholesales listing web sites online as opposed to selling micky moues stuff on ebay

took me under 30 seconds to find that site

As for numbers - who knows - it depends on the punters and how used to camping/pre prepared they are.

1500 person bike rally you might only sell 10 even in a deluge, 1500 person music festival of teenagers with a summer storm you might sell 1200

 

[Picture Bute]

So the wholesaler in Manchester I linked to is a bit of a rip off then?

Not trying to be rude here dude, but where do you live ?

Most cities have a 'wholesale area' where the warehouse lease rates are low and you'll find a load of them all together. Go along there with a wad of cash and see what you can do. I use all of the 'non food' C&Cs in Glasgow and I don't pay their ticket prices. The best cash and carrys barely even have a usable online presence.

I don't trade out of Manchester but I know where all the cash and carrys are. If you're city based, find where they are and go and negotiate.

 

[BeaterButcherB]

Not trying to be rude here dude, but where do you live ?

Most cities have a 'wholesale area' where the warehouse lease rates are low and you'll find a load of them all together. Go along there with a wad of cash and see what you can do. I use all of the 'non food' C&Cs in Glasgow and I don't pay their ticket prices. The best cash and carrys barely even have a usable online presence.

I don't trade out of Manchester but I know where all the cash and carrys are. If you're city based, find where they are and go and negotiate.

is that why people come all the way from Glasgow and London to shop in Manchesters C&Cs

edit** if you ever do decided to come shopping down hear then you will find the best and most famous road is Darby/ Derby st. That is where you will find the shop i linked in OP. BTW it would appear to be the best I have been into for bricka bracker

 

[BeaterButcherB]

took me under 30 seconds to find that site

As for numbers - who knows - it depends on the punters and how used to camping/pre prepared they are.

1500 person bike rally you might only sell 10 even in a deluge, 1500 person music festival of teenagers with a summer storm you might sell 1200

so you are saying from your experance that there is no telling

 

[fisicx]

so you are saying from your experance that there is no telling

Yes.

But once you have been running a stand at shows for a few years you will start to get a feel for what sells and what doesn't.

I went to a car restoration show a couple of weeks back and brought some tools. Chatting to the seller and he said the location of the pitch was crucial. Get this wrong and you won’t make much money regardless on how desirable your kit.

 

[IanSuth]

so you are saying from your experance that there is no telling

I am saying know your customer base (like any business)

If you don't you are guessing - as i said my experience is motorbike rallys since 1993 (basically a bunch of bikers turn up friday night pitch tents, spend sat & sunday nights drinking in a bar with a bunch of stalls around an arena outside, a stage with bands on both nights and usually a ride out and custom show on the saturday afternoon). look at https://mapevents.co.uk/into-the-valley/

I also go to a local covers band "festival" locally each year which is bars, stalls & stage with camping.

The products on the stalls and the pricing/variety of food/drink available are chalk and cheese.

Bike Rally, couple of vans doing fried&chips plus something else (pizza or noodles or curry), stalls selling belts, buckles, bike clothing, jewelry, tankards and camping essentials. Beer large choice of real ales and c £3.50 a pint

Festival, loads of food vans selling all sorts of random things (like churros stall) at high prices, stalls selling hats, glowsticks, mosquito flares, face painting, random tat, tshirts, hoodies, vuvuzalas, fancy coffee and bubble tea. Beer, 1 or 2 ales, couple of largers and a fizzy cider at c£6-7 a pint

 

[fisicx]

Car shows: tea, coffee, beer, burgers, pizza and loads and loads of car stuff.

Local music thing: vegan everything, ladies wear, cosmic stuff and astrology things (it’s a bit too flowery for me).

Every event is different. And the weather is key. You supply for the weather.

On a hot day pimms is always popular. If it’s cold then hot drinks.

 

[BeaterButcherB]

Yes.

But once you have been running a stand at shows for a few years you will start to get a feel for what sells and what doesn't.

I went to a car restoration show a couple of weeks back and brought some tools.

As a matter of a fact i own an Mk1 Metro and was thinking of joining a club and going to some rallies but though best not coz of the cost. But could you book a stall at a classic car show? do they camp up for the weekend? do they buy any thing or bad news lie the bikes?
Thanks

Chatting to the seller and he said the location of the pitch was crucial. Get this wrong and you won’t make much money regardless on how desirable your kit.

Did he say where the best place for the pitch was??

 

[BeaterButcherB]

I am saying know your customer base (like any business)

If you don't you are guessing - as i said my experience is motorbike rallys since 1993 (basically a bunch of bikers turn up friday night pitch tents, spend sat & sunday nights drinking in a bar with a bunch of stalls around an arena outside, a stage with bands on both nights and usually a ride out and custom show on the saturday afternoon). look at https://mapevents.co.uk/into-the-valley/

I also go to a local covers band "festival" locally each year which is bars, stalls & stage with camping.

The products on the stalls and the pricing/variety of food/drink available are chalk and cheese.

Bike Rally, couple of vans doing fried&chips plus something else (pizza or noodles or curry), stalls selling belts, buckles, bike clothing, jewelry, tankards and camping essentials. Beer large choice of real ales and c £3.50 a pint

Festival, loads of food vans selling all sorts of random things (like churros stall) at high prices, stalls selling hats, glowsticks, mosquito flares, face painting, random tat, tshirts, hoodies, vuvuzalas, fancy coffee and bubble tea. Beer, 1 or 2 ales, couple of largers and a fizzy cider at c£6-7 a pint

What are the chances of having a mobile bar as a pitch at one of these places you go or is it no chance closed shop?

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

What are the chances of having a mobile bar as a pitch at one of these places you go or is it no chance closed shop?

Why don't you contact some of these places and ask the question?

This forum is great as a sounding board, for sharing experiences, asking opinions, learning from others etc. It's not here as the one single source of answers to all your questions just to save you doing any research.

 

[fisicx]

The bar at the car show paid a whole more than the £100 you are paying @BeaterButcherB. The better the location the higher the price.

I recall one show where the best pitches (near the main arena) were well north of £1000/day.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The problem you have here is that you are looking for clear, concise answers to what is an extremely broad and vague scenario.

Getting it right is a mixture of experience, research, observation and - luck.

Nobody will buy a poncho if its warm and dry - loads will buy them if it suddenly poors. Will they buy them from you? Depends largely on location and competition.

Everyone buys food & drink - but most festivals are extremely well catered in that respect.

Apart from the demographic, you need to understand the layout & footfall, just as a start point.

 

[IanSuth]

What are the chances of having a mobile bar as a pitch at one of these places you go or is it no chance closed shop?

zero at a bike do

We plan on the bar actually making our profit - if you want to run it oyu would have to guarantee us a large proportion of what we would normally expect to take. we also market ourselves on our choice of real ale (we were the first people other than Tom Kerridge to sell Rebellion's cask lager) so you would have to agree to stock a decent range. Also we work the bar unpaid, so you couldn't actually make a profit doing it.

We set ticket price so upfront sales cover upfront costs, on the gate purchases are a bonus bar profit is profit

 

[IanSuth]

As a FINAL FROM ME as you are asking unanswerable questions

Many many stall holders do it as a cheap way of visiting events not as a way of making a lot of money. There is a leather jacket stall who does the bike rallies - he sells off old stock/end of lines but runs it as a way of driving custom to his shop/website by being seen by the right people. Not easy for a pakistani guy to get a strong inroad into the biker community but he has done it, people trust him and will pay him significant money up front for custom fit protective clothing because they trust him because they have chatted to him face to face at events over years.

I know this is a bit of a toe in the water for you so I would say - buy stuff that is cheap, little risk and that you can sell on otherwise without losing £ if the event is a washout/failure.

If you want to continue doing it afterwards, spend this summer visiting a variety of events over the weekends so you knw both the mix of stalls/punters but also meet the organisers

 

[BeaterButcherB]

The bar at the car show paid a whole more than the £100 you are paying @BeaterButcherB. The better the location the higher the price.

I recall one show where the best pitches (near the main arena) were well north of £1000/day.

But how many tickets where sold or how many turned up? as you lot have said 1000-1500 is a small gig!
Was this some kind of bikers rally or something? or something ells?

 

[BeaterButcherB]

Everyone buys food & drink - but most festivals are extremely well catered in that respect.

Not for those that are completely smashed out of there face, it all just be water

Apart from the demographic, you need to understand the layout & footfall, just as a start point.

As all pitches are 100 quid and there is only 1000-1500 people. it is such a small event that i dont think location will make much odds

If i get there early then where do you think the best place to set my pitch up would be? near the band stand? or near the entrance?

The organizers say "booze you just bring your own and there is no selling it hear" end of conversation . Getting any info out of them like a phone number and an address is like blood out of a stone!

 

[BeaterButcherB]

zero at a bike do

We plan on the bar actually making our profit - if you want to run it oyu would have to guarantee us a large proportion of what we would normally expect to take. we also market ourselves on our choice of real ale (we were the first people other than Tom Kerridge to sell Rebellion's cask lager) so you would have to agree to stock a decent range. Also we work the bar unpaid, so you couldn't actually make a profit doing it.

We set ticket price so upfront sales cover upfront costs, on the gate purchases are a bonus bar profit is profit

So do you run the bar side o things as well or just the whole event for the bike rally.
you said you charge 3.5 a pint for real ale there but on other venues you said you charged 6/7 quid a pint for cider!

Real ale must be hard to shift at the end of it unless you have a full time bar somewhere ells. Did the other music events do real ale or just draft

 

[BeaterButcherB]

I know this is a bit of a toe in the water for you so I would say - buy stuff that is cheap, little risk and that you can sell on otherwise without losing £ if the event is a washout/failure.

At the moment I cant get any gas cans or gas cooker, air beds and tent pegs at a decent wholesale price
B&M charge 4 for 6 quid and now on offer 15 quid a cooker. The best price I have seen for wholesale gas cans was 1.12 plus vat. Hardly makes it worth doing at the profit margin.

Blow up beds, well that site you listed before called Gem Wholesale are doing them at the same price you can get from ebay and amazon. Have you bough gear from them in the past? because I have emailed them twice now and had no answer! BTW they dont do tent pegs

 

[BeaterButcherB]

Many many stall holders do it as a cheap way of visiting events not as a way of making a lot of money.

Thats what I want to do with the Austin/ Rover Metro rallies

 

[Mark T Jones]

@BusterBloodvessel is right. It % is a wind up..

Nobody is this stupid

 

[BeaterButcherB]

@BusterBloodvessel is right. It % is a wind up..

Nobody is this stupid

so i made the whole thing up right?
how can anyone be so stupid not to know what to sell at a music festival and how much stock to order
no one can be so stupid to not know where the best pitch location is
no one can be so stupid not to know how much the rent could be coz it is that that simple getting it right ant it? infact a 5 year old could organize it

 

[BeaterButcherB]

The problem you have here is that you are looking for clear, concise answers to what is an extremely broad and vague scenario.

Getting it right is a mixture of experience, research, observation and - luck.

Nobody will buy a poncho if its warm and dry - loads will buy them if it suddenly poors. Will they buy them from you? Depends largely on location and competition.

Everyone buys food & drink - but most festivals are extremely well catered in that respect.

Apart from the demographic, you need to understand the layout & footfall, just as a start point.

and you offer no advice what so ever!

 

[fisicx]

If i get there early then where do you think the best place to set my pitch up would be? near the band stand? or near the entrance?

You don't get to choose. The organisers will tell you where your pitch is located.

so i made the whole thing up right?
how can anyone be so stupid not to know what to sell at a music festival and how much stock to order
no one can be so stupid to not know where the best pitch location is
no one can be so stupid not to know how much the rent could be coz it is that that simple getting it right ant it? infact a 5 year old could organize it

You won't get answers to your questions because every venue and type of event is different. You need to use this first one as a loss leader to learn how the system works. You will be better prepared next year.

 

[ecommerce84]

Yes as @fisicx says, the organisers will normally have an allocated spot for you.

We’ve attended nearly 300 events with our business and not once could we choose our own pitch on arrival - granted these are established events rather than a first time but I’d be amazed if the organisers will allow you to just turn up and pitch up anywhere. I’d definitely double check this with them if that’s what you’re hoping to do.

The ‘no alcohol’ being sold could well be because they don’t want to bother themselves with an alcohol license or maybe the council have indicated that one wouldn’t be granted for the festival so BYOB is the only option.

I’d also check with the organisers how many pitches they have sold. The usual process is that you’d apply for a pitch and in your application state what products you are selling. That way the organisers can ensure they get a wide variety of offerings with minimal crossover rather than booking a pitch and then sorting out the products. If they’ve taken this approach then there is a chance that everyone will turn up with the same things to sell.

You’ll also need Public Liability Insurance for the day if you haven’t got it in place already.

 

[BeaterButcherB]

You won't get answers to your questions because every venue and type of event is different. You need to use this first one as a loss leader to learn how the system works. You will be better prepared next year.

I want to do some of the other ones that the same group attend like the carry on camping. I do know that on per head of population they spend about between 10-20 times as much as the pro Palestine movement. I want to do some more festivals this summer so that I am not sat on stock for a whole year

 

[BeaterButcherB]

You don't get to choose. The organisers will tell you where your pitch is located.

The point i am getting at hear is if they dont care or are to stupid to know any better then my early presents and polite asking of "can I put my stall up there" may work

 

[BeaterButcherB]

I’d also check with the organisers how many pitches they have sold. The usual process is that you’d apply for a pitch and in your application state what products you are selling. That way the organisers can ensure they get a wide variety of offerings with minimal crossover rather than booking a pitch and then sorting out the products. If they’ve taken this approach then there is a chance that everyone will turn up with the same things to sell.

Its more of a gentlemen's agreement and a for friends invite only then to what you lot think it is. As i said 1000-1500 turn out.
Example; I was very surprised to see they had a TEN in place

 

[IanSuth]

Its more of a gentlemen's agreement and a for friends invite only then to what you lot think it is. As i said 1000-1500 turn out.
Example; I was very surprised to see they had a TEN in place

If they have a TEN in place do not be surprised if environmental health turn up about 11am/12noon on the Friday wanting to check all food vendors hygiene certificates and other stalls compliance with relevant rules (like if you sell knives a little age limit sign). They no longer bother us as after a decade of no issues ever (and the fact our licencee who does the paperwork is an ex firebrigade investigator who now does insurance arson investigations and is OCD with regs) they only pop up every few years.

If they are not happy the TENS is not valid and the event will not go ahead - when they were on iste we would all be sat there holding our breath as they have the ability to just stop you with an x in a box

 

[BeaterButcherB]

If they have a TEN in place do not be surprised if environmental health turn up about 11am/12noon on the Friday wanting to check all food vendors hygiene certificates and other stalls compliance with relevant rules (like if you sell knives a little age limit sign). They no longer bother us as after a decade of no issues ever (and the fact our licencee who does the paperwork is an ex firebrigade investigator who now does insurance arson investigations and is OCD with regs) they only pop up every few years.

If they are not happy the TENS is not valid and the event will not go ahead - when they were on iste we would all be sat there holding our breath as they have the ability to just stop you with an x in a box

Like I said before; if the whole event was ran in the private and hidden from sight then no one that did not need to know what was going would!

But I guess its not what you know its who you know high up in the job to grant you your TEN.
Nod nod wink wink. And if you know no one then you are going to be the first in line for that X in box

 

[BeaterButcherB]

I want to do some of the other ones that the same group attend like the carry on camping. I do know that on per head of population they spend about between 10-20 times as much as the pro Palestine movement. I want to do some more festivals this summer so that I am not sat on stock for a whole year

I now have 2 events booked with a 3rd one on the cards!
I have been for a short shop today down the C&C. I have done all 3 of them a leaflet, which 2 of them will put on there social media pages to advertise me

What do you think of it?
Thanks

hear is the link to the leaflet (shame there is no upload file server on this site)
ibb.co/phy5vXX

Better now that it is hyper linked
ibb.co/phy5vXX

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I wouldn’t be advertising in advance. That would make me think “oh yeah I better take a roll of gaffa tape with me and make sure I’ve enough rizlas”

You want them to be forgetting that stuff

 

[BeaterButcherB]

I wouldn’t be advertising in advance. That would make me think “oh yeah I better take a roll of gaffa tape with me and make sure I’ve enough rizlas”

You want them to be forgetting that stuff

why go to all that hassel finding a shop that sells gaffa tape and why over stock on Rizlas in the event that you likely will not need it when you can buy it from the festival?

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

Good luck then.

 

[fisicx]

why go to all that hassel finding a shop that sells gaffa tape and why over stock on Rizlas in the event that you likely will not need it when you can buy it from the festival?

Or they borrow some from a mate at the festival.

This is going to be an experiment on your part. You might be lucky and turn a profit of you might end up with a load of unsold stock.