Hey guys, I am seriously thinking about opening up my own card shop. I have been collecting for about 16 years now and I absolutely LOVE the hobby! Do you guys have any advice for me? Thanks, Chris!
Thinking about opening up a card shop
- Thread starter Copeskey45
- Start date
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i've often thought of doing the same chris. i've loved the hobby and enjoyed the trading aspect that the bench provides.
good luck to you if you follow thru with your dream!
paul
good luck to you if you follow thru with your dream!
paul
Thanks Paul! I am thinking that I might open one up in a few years. That way I can see how the hobby is doing at that time.
Aside from "don't"?
Find people who own shops, ask them.
If you're looking at an actual brick and mortar store, do you have low to mid 6 figures to start up? Look at commercial rents in your area, look at the market in your area. You'll need at least 6 months expenses, preferably a years worth, to devote to it before you even start. And by expenses I mean rent, utilities, security, insurance, equipment, (register, credit card terminal, computer, etc) display cases, racks, shelves, boxes, good lighting, and advertising -LOTS of advertising, newspaper ads, direct mail inserts, flyers around town, radio if possible...
What are you going to do to get people in the door? prizes, free packs, drawings for 'good' cards? Those all cost money
Then there is stocking. What do you have for singles? Not much worse than getting to go to a new store and finding out their 'vintage' cards are 1995-2000
How much new product do you bust for singles?
Sets? Are you going to sell them?
Packs, boxes? How much do you plan to stock, what products, can you find a wholesaler willing to get you what you need at a price you can work with? Are you going to have to buy 2 boxes of Opening Day for every box of Topps Jumbos you want?
What else are you going to sell? Cards are normally bought with discretionary income, when the economy is bad, that dries up FAST. You need something else to spread the risk out a bit.
Where are you at in life? Is this going to be a second, 'part time' job? Will you open the shop after your primary job or is this your full time job? The more inconvenient the hours for your customers, the more it impacts your sales. Are you married? Kids? If so, how will that affect the time you can devote to the store? If not, what if you meet someone? Hard to have a relationship when you work a primary job 8-10 hours, then go to the shop 4-6 hours, plus all the extra time running to pick up products, supplies, sorting cards, organizing, pricing. Is it just you? What happens if you get sick? trying to build up a customer base, it's very frustrating for customers to make a trip to your store only to find you closed because you have the flu. Are you going to have an online presence? How much time/effort will you have left to devote to that? Other employees? That's wages you need to have ready.
What area are you in? I'm all for supporting local business but when I can get a box online for $65 shipped and my local guy is asking 80 + tax, it's tough. You're going to have all the expenses listed above, but if you can't at least be in the realm of ebay prices, a lot of folks will simply shop ebay, or checkoutmycards, or dacardworld, or sportlots...
Try setting up at shows.......You'll get lots of experience! Best regards, David
Dont do what the LCS in town does...Keeping a Omar Jacobs Relic at $20 and a Kay Jay Harris Auto at $40
O
oldmarine0311
Guest
I would not tell anyone no on their dream.... But alot of good points are listed above. plus your location, between you and Jackson there are what 2 to 4 card/sports retailers already? that equals to market saturation and that is really bad for this hobby. i would also say it cant be done, but you have to know what the market consumer demands and how you can provide for that demand and make a profit. my suggestion added to the abovcce posts is to start small, in your area their has to be card shows, if not maybe you can start one. perhaps at a ball game, isnt their a minor league team or two in your area? specalize in thoes teams along with your local area colleges. and make that what your known for thats one idea i would work at. plus in these days and times you need a serious and i mean serious online presence, not just a whimpy blog page that alot of shops have but a web page that will allow other consumers to say hey he has better prices than charmcity.com but to do that you will be needing real depth in stock and i believe a sales contract with topps too. and anytime you want help seek out or local small business administration they can be a huge help plus they can help you get a business play started and that is what you really need to know if you can make this happen in any fashion.
good luck dave
good luck dave
Man this was DOUBLE WHAMMY!
Wow! Thanks for your input. I do have a g/f (which we are talking about marriage) and she supports me 110%. A friend of mine said that he is interested in going into partnership with me on the shop. That gives me someone there in case I can't be there. I understand what you are saying and I'm going to give it ALOT of thought before I invest money into this.
Are there any weekend flea markets in your area? That might be a starting point as well.
There aren't any flea markets around here. That's a huge downfall.
Like someone above mentioned try local card shows and if there aren't any try starting one. I set up at a monthly show locally to sell my doubles so I can buy PC and have made a lot of contacts that way. I have customers that come from across town just to see me.
I also have a friend who has a store for the last 20 years and if he didn't have Yu-gi-oh he probably wouldn't still be in business. I have worked the store for him before and some weekend days it is dead and some days it is hopping.
If you do have a store have table and chairs were people can sit and open boxes or trade with friends. People opening new stuff in a store and a nother customer comes in and sees what they get may just steer that customer to that product which they never intended to buy that day.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
I also have a friend who has a store for the last 20 years and if he didn't have Yu-gi-oh he probably wouldn't still be in business. I have worked the store for him before and some weekend days it is dead and some days it is hopping.
If you do have a store have table and chairs were people can sit and open boxes or trade with friends. People opening new stuff in a store and a nother customer comes in and sees what they get may just steer that customer to that product which they never intended to buy that day.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
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I am all for new shops opening, I just agree with oldmarine, contact your closest small business association and other shop owners to ask what the climate is like. I have seen too many businesses fold fast because the owners have no business plan or business experience beyond "I love cards/food/cars etc." You need to love what you do, but you also need to set yourself up to succeed. If you are serious about making a business out of your hobby, I would also suggest getting rid of your collection. It gets too difficult for a lot of people to separate one side from the other, especially if you are like me and don't have a strong theme for your collection beyond "It's a cool card". If someone walks in with a collection for sale and it's a bunch of stuff you'd put in your dollar boxes, a few bigger cards, and 1 or 2 key pieces, too many dealers buy the collection as a whole, keep the key pieces for their own collection, and are then left to try and make a profit with the remainder. When the bulk of the purchase price is tied up in one or two cards, and those cards go right to your own collection, you still need to cover the full $600 you spent and make a profit, not tell yourself "well, I really only spent $200 because the other 2 cards are worth $400 at least". Seems like a simple concept, but a LOT of people seem to think like that.
Other advice:
If you can make a good profit, sell NOW. Do not guess or gamble on what might happen. There was a shop by me in the late 80's, early 90's that had about 15 boxes left from a 1986 Donruss wax case. After Canseco's 40/40 season, the boxes were selling for $200+ in SCD, magazines, shows. The shop decided they were going to sit on the boxes for 20 years or so instead of selling now, since Canseco would be retired by then and people would want those boxes. They are now $35 boxes. Same thing with singles, I know former dealers with decent stacks of 1989 UD Griffeys and 90 Leaf Frank Thomas' they bought at $30-80 to put aside for the future. Sell what you can today, deal with tomorrow as it comes. If a card/product gets hot, sell it now, take the sure profit, don't sweat it if it goes up more later. You can always buy then and sell for a profit again.
Know YOUR market in addition to the market in general. One of the same guys who has a stack of 90 Leaf Thomas rookies had a small shop for 5 or 6 years. He did area shows and got together with other dealers. He was talking with the other dealers and just across the twin cities metro area he was surprised how different things could be. At his shop, he always said Baseball cards were his bread and butter, Hockey cards were his gravy, and football and basketball were liver and fruitcake. He paid his rent with baseball cards, made his profit with hockey, and had very little interest in basketball or football. Other dealers across the area couldn't keep basketball and football in stock, but couldn't give away hockey. He started trading with other dealers. Since they were all pretty much forced to buy things that didn't sell to get the hot products, he took their hockey cards and gave them his basketball/football. It worked out great. If you're in a very blue collar area, you probably don't want to tie much capital up in $100+ packs.
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I agree with David - either set up at a card show or start your own - maybe at a local hotel or a mall. This will get you started at a minimal cost and will allow you to increase your product knowledge, to see what other collectors really want, and determine if you really want to get into the business.
Duane
Duane
Solid advice. Don't stop chasing your dreams, but be realistic about your expectations and be aware of how difficult owning/running a successful "brick and mortar" card shop is in this day and age.
-Chad
O
oldmarine0311
Guest
A caveat here is this friend worth loosing? Either your shop will flourish and succeed or it will go down in flames along with the friendship. If you decide to partner up with your friend, make sure you have specific duties and responsibilities set up for each of you. And make sure to split the decisions and the BILLS/cost equitably.
Also remember the first 5 years of any marriage are the hardest. Might be best to really think over starting up any business in that time frame, it can be done and successfully, just be careful. I would like to see you succeed at this shop. Especially if you gave discounts to Bench Members lmao…..
Dave
I agree with Trish in that you ned to be flexible and you must have tables and chairs. I love going in with my list and pulling out a box of vintage to go shopping......One of 2 shops here now only does Yugio and magic...the other one has high end boxes becuase he does not want to compete with Wal-Mart Target on Blasters.... He has a monster inventory of vintage. Sells alot on ebay...he complains about product he must buy from Topps..to be an HTA store. I never see anyone else in there. A few years back he made the shop into a bowling supplies store, Shoes , Balls etc... It was the only way he could survive. The nearest card store to him is 90 miles away....Tough business he says.Maybe you could find a dual role for your retail space?
Guys I REALLY appreciate all the input! I was planning on selling "Magic: The Gathering" cards as well. They have a HUGE following here. I was thinking about having a "Trading Night" at least every 2 weeks. I want to put some tables and chairs and have some "Rip Partys". I'm also going to have a camera handy just in case someone pulls a really nice card they want to have posted up on the "Card of Fame Wall". I'm also thinking about having a website where people can purchase cards and supplies online as well. And of course I would give a discount to my fellow benchies!!!! 
Oh yea, and I will have a video camcorder to record some box breaks and post them on youtube and on here!
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