newbie - looking to open my first baby / childrens wear designer shop!

[Joanneclaire]

Hello,
firstly I guess I need to introduce myself, my name is Joanne and Im so glad to have found this site with lots of helpful information, im sure its going to take me a while to look around it!

At the minute, Im quite excited but nervous as well as Im looking into opening my first babywear / childrens wear shop, I aim to sell good quality and designer childrens wear rather than your market style / primark clothing, to hopefully attract a following of customers, not that theres anything wrong with market and primark lol, my aim is to be different thats all.

I have just secured a small shop and got insurance, have a few contacts for clothing, and found a couple of shows.

I guess I am in need of any guidance possible at this stage, never ran a shop before , and looking for any information on suppliers etc, even down to carrier bags with our names on !

thank you for reading my post and hope to get this off the ground and my shop open shortly!

Joanne

 

[deniser]

Have you actually signed the lease yet?

If yes, I won't post my advice because it will be too late but if not, I will.

 

[Joanneclaire]

hi and thanks for your post.

I am actually awaiting the letting agent today to confirm an appointment day/time to go sign for the shop.

Joanne

 

[Banned]

hi and thanks for your post.

I am actually awaiting the letting agent today to confirm an appointment day/time to go sign for the shop.

Joanne

Please say you have a solicitor involved, as it doesn't sound like you do.

If you don't DO NOT sign anything.

 

[deniser]

OK, don't sign anything.

What you have to realise about childrenswear is that it runs in seasons. Most brands have two seasons - a few have four. We are currently in the selling season for autumn/winter 2012. This means that to get stock, you need to be planning your ranges now for opening in late summer.

Orders placed now are for delivery in July/August/September.

If you try to open before that, you will have difficulties getting stock.

Have you been to the Bubble Trade Fair a couple of weeks ago?

This article is a bit out of date but might help:

http://www.squidoo.com/howtoopenachildrenswearshop

 

[Joanneclaire]

Hi
Many thanks for your post and information, sadly I missed the Bubble fair going to the Harrogate one in March.

I appreciate there are seasons as with all clothing, and know ordering now for winter 2012 is likely, but thought I would have got at least some stock for the summer?

I have being in touch with a couple of big names but have not arranged an appointment with them as yet until I could confirm I had secured the premises I wanted.

a bit worried now?
Joanne

 

[deniser]

You can tell them that you have agreed the premises. You don't have to have signed on the dotted line.

The problem with trying to get summer stock now is:
a. you've already missed the best of the sales period because the best customers order from the first pick of the Jan/Feb deliveries
b. the first warm day is the next date when people will flock to your shop - if you have it open in time
c. the rest of the people will wait until the sale and the sale starts in June.
d. you won't be able to see samples of what you are ordering and will only be offered the leftovers that other shops don't want.

You are therefore not maximising your cashflow by opening now. If you have a lot of extra cash you could just about manage it and open seriously from July/August.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

First have you made up a business plan for the next two years

Where is your shop and what is the footfall like

Most new companies do not make a profit in the first year and most new companies do not take a wage out in the first six months as sales will be very slow and if you put money into the company and then take it out in wages you are paying tax and NI twice as a employee and once more as an employer on the assumption you have already paid tax on the money you input into the company

A new lease will most likely be for 3, 5 or 10 years with possibly a break period, what this means is even if you go bust in the first 6 months you will be liable for rent and rates for the remaining period, also repairs and maintanance plus the costs of the landlord legal costs, hense the need to see a solicitor to check the lease first so you fully understand what you are getting into

Do not think people are going to rush in and buy unless you are on the centre of town with large footfall, normally the first few months the shop will be dead, a lot of new companies go bust in this time as they do not have the reserves to keep going and had unrealistic sales forcasts

If you do your plans well and have enough capital to keep going the rewards of being your own boss are great, but whatever you do do not rush into it, a month spent doing nothing but research would not be a waste of time and may could be a far better time to start than Feb

Research will of course tell you what months have the most new baby's born when soppy grandmothers and frends will buy for the new arrival, small things like this can only help

Good Luck

 

[gr9ce]

hi
have you thought through staffing arrangements?
shop fittings, insurance, health and safety, security, promotion costs, till and credit card systems/fees?
competition in the area? competition from the internet? competition from Chinese suppliers?
competition from local supermarkets (i saw some fantastic stuff in Asda that made me wish i had young kids!)
in this economy even those with cash are sitting on it and children grow fast so clothing is quickly no longer suitable...

Do not sign anything until you have checked if you can buy on the internet what you plan to sell and can compete with the price, make a profit to cover all your overheads and possibly even pay yourself something.....(we might draw a wage in hmmm 3 years......)

 

[iArtist]

The main mistake people of these 'small' baby and child wear shops make is that most mums of children in this age group tend to shop with a buggy or children in tow and the door and floor space often doesn't cater for either.

I have sadly seen a few such shops open and close and I am sure access has a lot to do with it. I certainly always had problems when mine were little and after one try didn't try again.

So my advice...don't go too small or too crowded and ensure there is an easy access doorway.

Good luck!!

 

[deniser]

Don't want to put you off but don't do this unless you are doing it as a hobby, don't expect it to make you money. Childrenswear shops have seen the biggest decline of any sector.

It is also largely incompatible with having children.

If you get the first season's stock wrong you will be stuffed so very important to do your research and not rush into it.

 

[gr9ce]

Was just thinking I used to get a lot of my kids clothing from Adams ....have just read the wiki......
Clothing can compete with the internet over touch/feel/try on. With baby/kids clothes trying for fit instore is less essential so mums would weigh up the accessibility/parking over the sofa and click experience.

This may sound all doom and gloom however existing retailers are finding it hard. If a supermarket can sell it or if it's easily purchased online then you need to think three times not just twice....

 

[bfme]

Hi

Congratulations for your courage and making it happen with your shop.

My first recommendation to you would be get clear on your vision for your vision. In the best case scenario, what would your shop be like, who will come there, what your customers will look like even. Take time to do that as this is what will be guiding you for the rest.

From that, then create different projects to create that ideal scenario for you.

Customers:
1. Profile of typical customer
2. Where to reach them

Competition
1. Who is offerting the similar type of service
2. Study their business model
3. Implement what you see

Product
1. Make a list of your products
2. Why would your clients like them
3. Will there be time period where you can expect more sales, or less sales


Financial Projection
1. Draft your first financial projections and find out what is your breakeven?
How many clothers do you need to sell to breakeven: annually, monthly, weekly

That will give a good idea of where to focus your energy in each field!

Hope this helped
BFME

 

[90DC]

Also consider stocking a range of 'nearly new' products.

I think it is ridiculous when these shops pop up, attempt to charge £7 for 5 babygrows and then close, with the owners probably wondering what they did so wrong.

If 'nearly new' clothes are of excellent quality and condition, people tend to forget the stigma. There are hundreds of opportunities to purchase used clothes, no matter where you are. Items can generally be purchased at around 30p piece when bought in bulk on and offline (eBay, Gumtree etc.) People buying second hand clothes love labels, Next is popular and there is a lot of it about.

Hope that helps as a consideration.

 

[gemd89]

Also consider stocking a range of 'nearly new' products.

I think it is ridiculous when these shops pop up, attempt to charge £7 for 5 babygrows and then close, with the owners probably wondering what they did so wrong.

If 'nearly new' clothes are of excellent quality and condition, people tend to forget the stigma. There are hundreds of opportunities to purchase used clothes, no matter where you are. Items can generally be purchased at around 30p piece when bought in bulk on and offline (eBay, Gumtree etc.) People buying second hand clothes love labels, Next is popular and there is a lot of it about.

Hope that helps as a consideration.

Sorry to pick up on your quote but i have 2 kids, a boy of , daughter of 2 and im due in 8 weeks. I went into a local charity shop on tuesday - i bought 4 dresses, 2 coats, 2 tshirts for baby all either john lewis/debenhams or next 3-6 month for 80p! I know full well the baby wont be in the items for long and as money is getting tighter it seems stupid to pay anymore. My daughter has vests and sleepsuits from primark/george £4 for 7 vests - at least if they make a mess on them they can just be thrown away and I wont care. Also ebay lots of 2nd hand items in fab condition. For babies i dont care about trying on and its a nightmare shopping with my 2 kids for clothes so ive started just getting stuff from the supermarket or online.

Good luck - I'd love to see you prove me wrong but I cant see this working out unless you have a really good USP

Gemma

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Quite honestly I don't believe you can mix new and secondhand in the same shop

It's like putting a rolls royce car for sale in a ford showroom, the potential customers are looking for Ford cars and have Ford prices in mind

If you mix the two in a childrens shop why would anyone pay the higher prices yet they are the items with a good profit per sale whilst selling secondhand you make large markups but litle profit, whilst sending the high value customers else where because they feel the shop does not really have the right image they are looking for

Horses for courses as they say

 

[kulture]

I will not comment on the business as it has been very well touched on here. What has been mentioned and then largely ignored is the lease. Have you used a solicitor? If you have not DO NOT SIGN anything. I am not talking about the solicitor used by the landlord to draw up the lease. I mean one paid by you to go through the lease taking out all the nasty clauses.
If you have not used a solicitor then you could be committing yourself to massive liabilities.

 

[Joanneclaire]

many thanks for all your comments, advice and input, all gratefully received.

I must admit I am really nervous about all this and indeed do sometimes think .. am I sure, but it is what I want and hope to grow a little business?

I know there are different kinds of people out there, some who want primark / tesco / etc they do have some lovely stuff, but if I were to try to compete with those I would never win, hence I want to be different from these, so people do come to me because I am different and offer that little bit of something special?

with regards to the lease, no I dont have a solicitor you are right, never thought about that one I must admit, I havent seen any paperwork as yet, but should I read through it and see anything that I dont like I wont be signing thats for sure, or if there is something im not sure on, then I will of course take it to a solicitor.

thank you all so much once again any information gratefully received
Joanne

 

[gemd89]

Primark/tesco etc are cheap and cheerful type clothes I guess. and yes it is a saturated market however vertbaudet.co.uk/ mothercare/john lewis/debenhams - dont they cater for the other end of the market?

Where will you be fitting in? Do you have stock in place now?

Gemma

 

[kulture]

many thanks for all your comments, advice and input, all gratefully received.


with regards to the lease, no I dont have a solicitor you are right, never thought about that one I must admit, I havent seen any paperwork as yet, but should I read through it and see anything that I dont like I wont be signing thats for sure, or if there is something im not sure on, then I will of course take it to a solicitor.

thank you all so much once again any information gratefully received
Joanne

I am sorry to bang on about this, but do not under any circumstances sign a lease without having first gone through it with a solicitor. Commercial leases are very very dangerous to the uninitiated. What may look reasonable to you or me could be a legal nightmare. For bedtime reading, look at this thread

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=198337

It has a happy ending, but only because a solicitor was used.

 

[TotallySport]

people won't just come through your door, unless you have some really amazing marketing, people will just pass by.

Plenty of similar business have opened up in our area within the last 18 months all have closed within 6 months, not one has done anything to get me through the door, yet I potential should have been interested in 80% of them.

Unless you have a marketing plan with a marketing budget, don't bother.

 

[deniser]

I am sorry to bang on about this, but do not under any circumstances sign a lease without having first gone through it with a solicitor. Commercial leases are very very dangerous to the uninitiated. What may look reasonable to you or me could be a legal nightmare. For bedtime reading, look at this thread

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=198337

It has a happy ending, but only because a solicitor was used.

Ditto. Unless you are a qualified property lawyer, you will not understand what is missing from a lease even if you can spot what is bad about it. You are just asking for a lot of trouble. Please read all the threads on here about negotiating a commercial lease!

 

[iArtist]

I am sorry to bang on about this, but do not under any circumstances sign a lease without having first gone through it with a solicitor. Commercial leases are very very dangerous to the uninitiated. What may look reasonable to you or me could be a legal nightmare. For bedtime reading, look at this thread

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=198337

It has a happy ending, but only because a solicitor was used.

The above is very true Joanne.

You won't be able to take a quick look through the lease, these things are 30+ pages long and full of technobabble and they do include clauses often that are not even legal. You need to familiarise yourself with shop lease law to protect yourself.

Meanwhile bear in mind everything that's been said by members here, it's being said because they KNOW for a novice entering business this is one the hardest niches to crack re highstreet shops. You are going right in at the deepend and for someone without any knowledge of how to run a shop..you should stop and makesure you know everything BEFORE you commit yourself to a lease not after.

This advice is for your benefit, please take it in the spirit intended.

 

[deniser]

People buying second hand clothes love labels, Next is popular and there is a lot of it about.

Only in countries such as Poland which don't have NEXT stores.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Almost one in four children in England and Wales now lives in a one-parent family, the latest data from the 2001 Census has revealed

So plenty of people to buy new clothes rather than secondhand

 

[Ihaveadream]

Hi Joanneclair
Just found your post whilst researching an idea I have for a second hand childrenswear boutique. How's it going? Have you contacted a solictor? Just wanted to say well done for being brave and following your dream through. I know times are hard, ecomomically at the moment and my dream is to run a shop much like the one you are opening. However I have decided to change it to deal with second hand clothes. Make the shop look great and very uch have the feel of a boutique just with cheaper secondhand clothes that are in very good condition. I would be aiming to stock aspirational brands like Boden, Joules, Catmini, etc. I haven't got very so far and very limited funds. I am going to start with my business plan soon though.
Hope things are going well for you. Please let us all know. x

 

[Bestkidclothing]

Hi Joanne,

We are Europe based company producing and making wholesale of kids apparel 6m- 8Y. Please check bestkidclothing.blog.com
We use exclusively high quality natural and organic fabrics such as linen, cotton, cotton batiste, satin cotton.
Our production is manufactured in Latvia (Europe), all the clothes from our collection are very high quality clothes. Please contact me and I will provide you with our catalog, price list and other details.

Anita