Any other boutique owners on NT?

[courtsidesnkrs]

Just curious. I'm almost 1 year in to my one person shop. Looking to open up some lines to others in the business.

 

[ham city]

Can you post more information about your shop like the products you sell, location, operating expenses?

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

I sell Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Puma, Converse, The Hundreds, Diamond Supply Co, Mitchell & Ness, New Era, etc.

Not really going to get into my expenses.

Are you a shop owner?

 

[the hater boxden]

What was the start up cost? Why do boutique owners only hire lazy friends that provide crappy customer service most of the time? Are you wealthy? Do you keep all the limited stuff for yourself and VIPs? How long until your shop started turning profit?

 

[azndood21]

I sell Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Puma, Converse, The Hundreds, Diamond Supply Co, Mitchell & Ness, New Era, etc.
Not really going to get into my expenses.
Are you a shop owner?

Kinda sounds like Livestock!

 

[lazyj10]

You don't have to give dude exact figures, but giving someone an idea as to what overhead runs, G&A, etc would be beneficial. Hell, give it as a percent of sales if you want to be private.

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

What was the start up cost? Why do boutique owners only hire lazy friends that provide crappy customer service most of the time? Are you wealthy? Do you keep all the limited stuff for yourself and VIPs? How long until your shop started turning profit?

I'll just say more than 50k and less than 100k start up cost.
I would have to think most shop owners hire their friends (lazy or not) because they trust them not to steal product/money.  I would think most of us start out as 1 or 2 person operations, you get to a point where you need to get some help even if it's 1 day a week to give yourself a breather.  If you have someone trustworthy to help you out, great, if they are even remotely decent in-store, even better.  But sometimes it's enough just to hold the place down and make sure people aren't stealing from you.

I'm definitely NOT wealthy.  I was 24 when I opened, student loan debt, fresh (small) mortgage debt, i took advantage of government programs for youth entrepreneur loans and other program offered in my province.  There was no way in hell I would have been approved for loans without those programs.

I've copped a couple pairs of bball sneakers and 1 retro J so far.  But not until after launch day.  I'd like to have more, but when you see the debt you've racked up in starting the business, you realize you can't afford to be not only paying for a pair of shoes, but also losing out on the income that shoe can generate.  Double hit.

I treat all my releases as first come first serve.  No holds.  Helps shop rep, and builds excitement around releases (GMP TOMORROW!)

The shop would be turning a profit right now IF i had a better handle on my orders.  I over ordered a lot of ****, and bad sizes, etc, in the first year, still recovering from that.  Year 2 will be a definite profit.

Toughest thing starting out is booking your order 4-6 months in advance before ever knowing what will fly in your market, and the requirements of that market (sizes, etc).  My 4th season is coming up (holiday 2012) and I'm a lot more confident with that batch of orders.

 

[ballahb]

^very insightful

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

You don't have to give dude exact figures, but giving someone an idea as to what overhead runs, G&A, etc would be beneficial. Hell, give it as a percent of sales if you want to be private.

Every place would be different.  Where I'm at, you can expect to pay $20 per sq/ft for a retail space.  My first location was only around 650 sq/ft, i've since moved into an 850 sq/ft space.  I don't expect I'll need anything bigger for at least the next 3 years. 
 

One thing I'll say about these shops, for me at least, there's been no need for radio or paper advertisement.  Handing out flyers to the local schools has been big.  Having facebook contests and stuff like that was huge.  With social media the advertising budget is pretty small.  I sponsor some HS ball tournaments and stuff like that, community stuff.  WAY cheaper than doing a radio campaign.

Big expenses obviously are rent, and business loan repayment. utilities and stuff are pretty minor, those are your big 2.  Plus owner salary if you plan on paying yourself from the start. Business loan repayment can be anywhere from 800-1600 per month for a small shop over 5 years.  As much or more than you might be paying for rent.

 

[toppshotta]

Is this a humble brag thread in datguise?


jk. thanks for sharing the knowledge

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

Also, my shop is a bit of a hybrid.  I sell all the retro J's and Nikes and stuff, but i also have a pretty big focus on premium bball sneakers too.

Where im from, we had NO sneaker spot catered to BBALL.  We have a bad SportChek, no footlocker.  And our sportchek never carried anything more than a hyperfuse.  So I was confident going in i could make a solid attempt at it from a bball standpoint.  The retro's and everything just sort of blended in nicely and opened the shop up for more than just the ball player.

So no local competition, which i would think is pretty rare in the industry.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

how difficult was it to get your shoe contracts?

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

Is this a humble brag thread in datguise?
jk. thanks for sharing the knowledge

haha, not in the slightest.  I was hoping there were other shop owners on here I might be able to learn from.  I think if there's a hidden agenda at all here it would be to find a shop owner who might be willing to sell me some Foams since they can't be ordered in Canada, lol.

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

how difficult was it to get your shoe contracts?

If you give the rep a good first impression, present them with your vision for your store, and if you're in a market that currently doesn't have representation of the brands you want, it's pretty pain-free.

Nike/Jordan was the first brand I locked down.  They had been looking to get the product in my market for a while, and they thought I was a good person to do that, so it was pretty smooth. 

I started out emailing companies directly, then started asking around some other shops for reps names, luckily i had good relationships with some people who owned stores in other markets (primarily golf and soccer).  A lot of the time the reps are the same, that connected me with the Nike rep, and he passed me along to the Jordan rep after meeting me.  All it takes is one rep to kickstart things for you, so like i said, make a good first impression... and don't write an email like a dumbass.  The first thing the rep said to me was "we get hundreds of emails a month on people wanting to open up shops, but yours was one of the only ones that sounded intelligent" haha.

 

[bearclawd]

Very insightful OP. Lookin' to do somethin' like this in the future.

 

[the hater boxden]

Thank you for all the honest information, very insightful. I've always thought about opening a sneaker boutique since this side of the DFW gets nothing good.

What did you receive your degree in?
How hard is it to get limited drops such as the galaxy drops, yeezys and now the golden moments package?
Any other companies you're looking to get product from? Has any company turned you down?

any plans on launching an online shop that ships to the usa?
btw congratulations on the store, you must be proud

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

Thank you for all the honest information, very insightful. I've always thought about opening a sneaker boutique since this side of the DFW gets nothing good.
What did you receive your degree in?
How hard is it to get limited drops such as the galaxy drops, yeezys and now the golden moments package?
Any other companies you're looking to get product from? Has any company turned you down?
any plans on launching an online shop that ships to the usa?
btw congratulations on the store, you must be proud

Canada in general only got 30 pairs of Yeezy's, and realistically, I don't think I can expect to see those in my store unless over the years it really takes off and turns into a $1M store for Nike sales. And in Canada we don't get the galaxy releases or many of the super limited stuff, but store owners are pushing for a change there.

Golden Moment Pack is open to anyone with a Jordan account, don't let sellers on eBay fool you into the 'super limited' bs talk. They'll be like any other retro J release.

I didn't finish school, I was taking business but once the material started feeling repetitive I left, knowing ultimately I'd be working for myself in some form. But I had years of retail experience with different professional training.

New Era turned me down until I got Mitchell and ness. They were getting heat from another local sport retailer that had a new era account. Ultimately they let me have it, knowing I was an ideal store for the brand.

I'm always looking at new brands. I'd like to get old school reebok, but don't have the money to expand my lines yet.

Online shop launches in 2 weeks. That was my primary plan for yr 2 in my business plan to grow sales.

 

[sex panther]

http://www.facebook.com/courtsidesneakers

 

[peabrain]

What Province you in OP?

 

[courtsidesnkrs]

What Province you in OP?

PEI.

 

[zyr12]

Good stuff OP, keep up the good work.

 

[choppin3k]

I hate that I missed this conversation when it was hot. I was an owner of 5 sneaker/streetwear stores for 4 years. I have a lot of experience when it comes to managing lines and cashflow. I too was fresh out of college when I started my first store and went through a period of rapid expansion during my 2nd year which eventually made me burned out of the retail business by the 4th year. Anyone who has questions about this business, message me. I know quite a bit and spreading knowledge to anyone who makes the jump to owning.

 

[girlslovewaffles]

$20 a square ft? Please tell me that is annual.

 

[choppin3k]

It's annual. If it's $20SF total, that's a real good rate in semi busy area.

 

[djsphinx]

I'm in the process of launching an online store but focused on European customers, I live in NY and my partner lives in Europe.  We are currently in the very early stages and building out the website at the moment.  We plan on focusing on the streetwear brands primarily.  Diamond Supply, The Hundreds etc.  

What advice do you have on contacting those brands and  becoming a retailer of their gear? Any other methods you used outside of emails, and what was necessary to qualify as a good retailer for those brands?

Also you mentioned troubles with over ordering and ordering bad sizes, any advice on how to avoid those mistakes, and getting a better understanding of customer demands?