Store are like a painting; the eyes of the customer follow a path that is built in design. Changing place give them a new path to follow..and maybe fin something that wasn't on their's.
Great advice! Here's my tip to add to the mix: Know what you're selling and understand its current value. I walked into a decent looking booth a couple of years ago and the first thing I noticed was that the seller had misidentified around half of the items in his/her booth. Most notably, a set of painted Queen Anne style dining chairs from the mid 80's that was labeled "French Provincial." That told me that he had no idea what he was selling and that I couldn't trust his pricing as a result. It's 2021! You can literally find anything on the internet, so spend a few minutes (or even a few hours if need be) to get your items identified and priced correctly.
With us it was: 1) sell what the public likes, not necessarily what you like. Research! 2) Variety. Don't have all of one thing. Have a LOT of variety. 3) with display cases do not pile stuff on top of your case if it has a glass top. People need to see inside. Likewise, do not pile too many items on top of each other. Sometimes it gets to the point that only an archaeologist can make sense out of it. 4)Let people see your price tags. Some dealers hide their tags. They think that will force you to hold the item and maybe bond with it. That doesn't work. It's annoying not to be able to see the tags. 5) no empty space. Fill everything with merchandise. 6:Rotate your merchandise.
I have a quarter 50 % off sale. When I do it allows me to get rid of stale merchandise and really boost my sales. It allows me to make room for new. It seems to really work for me.
We just went to a Vintage store they had 90 % off for one week , and my gosh i wanted to buy stuff but I held myself back because I don't have the room to store :)
Everything you said is "spot on" very good advice, will apply it to my new adventure of a reseller. I have 3 booths 30 mins away from each other and have a little bit of Everything, now I just have to move things around. "Exactly what my husband told me to do" he's been a great help with my new work as a reseller, we are having fun. Thanks for this video, Good Job 👍
I retired 3 years ago and after being a collector/junker most of my life I rented a space at one of the antique malls in my city. I'm selling off some of my personal surplus collection plus it gives me incentive to continue going out looking for other items to resell. All of your advice is sound. I am striving to add new items weekly, keep the space neat & uncluttered, have a spring & fall sale and I do move things around per advice given me by long time vendors when I first began.. Because I have extra free time I am able to work at the store enough to pay my booth rental., I'm sure I won't ever get rich but I'm having so much fun. I enjoy meeting so many like minded people and keeping in tune with what folks are looking for these days.. Its one of my retirement hobbies and the monthly proceeds from my sales is my "mad money"
The best money is renting out booths. I struggled for years in my own shop but things turned around when I starting renting out booths, built in money. But I was very chosey in venders had to be good merchandise.
Excellent and sound advice, your really into this, and it shows in your videos. You do a great job explaining things, which makes me belive you know what your saying, not just reading a script. I used to travel quite a bit, hunting and buying unusual items not generally found in my area. I'm amazed how many things seem to be regional, but of course some things can be found everywhere. I'm always up to buying cast iron cookware these days, and even though everyone cooks, in the old days not all the brands were available in every town. Some of the best things come from specific areas, so sometimes you need to travel to find it in it's original locale. Great job again, hopefully I'll get to your shop and do a little pickin!
I set up tables at major fea markets in the 70s and 80s, most times you rarely made a little more than the rental fee, however I always made connections with various dealers and would set up deals with various clients and share info on who was looking for certain items. Once I established a good number of associate dealers I would buy collections in bulk. I then took large collections to my garage sale set up and then move larger volumes of goods, that's where the profits came in to play. It's also a good strategy to set up your own shows, many of my friends made large fortunes by rental space sales to various dealers. You also have to diversify and keep up with current markets and expertise in more than one area of collectors interests. Stay away from fads they turn sour quickly.
I just opened a display case one month ago. Your advice is just wonderful and so important to people like me. Thank you so much and I look forward to anything else you have to offer. Great advice.
Did you do two vids in one day? People were giving you a raft in the other, about your mirror-effect video. Here you are, reverse licens plates & all!🤗
No in the start of making these videos I was unaware the way I was recording resulted in it showing in reverse that Is why I say fixed in future videos
I use all these tools in my booth (opened in this past pandemic Oct) and while I understood lockdown would affect sales, I am surprised the most cluttered and dirty booths sell the best. I think buyers associate dirt and clutter with older and therefore more desirable. Some vendors also sell crap but if it's less than $10 people buy it. I'm learning about pricing though; even if I price below Ebay sold and people save on shipping costs, they want items as close to free as possible and assume vendors get their stock free and have no expenses.
We had a large antique mall for 20 years and didn't allow sales except for specific events. We encouraged our vendors to mark items reasonable from the beginning. We did not give "dealer discounts" to any and everyone. That way our vendors knew that they could mark things less and not need to mark with all kinds of discounts in mind. We would call for discount on items over a certain amount only. Our customers knew this and appreciated that everyone was treated the same. When we went out, we went out on a high. Booth sales here there and everywhere can hurt other vendors in the mall.
Your a great antique store I think with computers and and cameras you can bring your store to a lot more people in state or out . I liked it wene you did the first floor tour we all got a look around nice . I live in N.H. but I can see me visiting your store.thank you.
Ideally if you price 3 times what you paid. 1/3rd is the cost of the item to replace the amount of what you spent, 1/3 your expenses, 1/3 your profit. Usually I double the cost of the item. There are times that you can charge much more an item. And at times I will price high in order to compensate for a 25% sale. Depends on the item. I currently am a vendor.
I see it in the antique malls I hit here in Denver. some stalls are smart and bright, others are piles of leftovers unkempt and unshoppable. I know shoppable, 20 years in retail visual merchandising lets me see success and not so much success in the mall stalls. I have to resist merchandising as I walk through, I could charge for the service. but I"m RETIRED. LOL
Great advice. I visit the both a couple times a week, adding new and moving things around. People will visit your booth and leave a mess. If you wait a month to go in and check it you could lose sales because your booth is a disaster!
As a customer that goes into these types of shops quite often I'd like to make a suggestion. It is frustrating that when you cannot directly speak to the individuals who has the merch in the booths. If you have questions about the item itself or even if they would accept a bit less for the item (especially when you might be wanting to buy 2 or 3 of their items) would they offer a discount on amounts. Say for every $100.00 or more spent, get an additional discount on total.
Totally agree with this comment. Many shoppers are traveling, and if the vender can't be contacted right away that potential sale will be lost. We have passed on items because the front desk could not reach the vender.
Try explaining to them what you got and your seriousness of wanting to do this as a hobby. Most should be excited to add someone motivated to run a successful booth
Do you feel it's better to get a booth or try to find collectors? I have been ripped off bad by a couple collectors and I am leary as to how to sell to the right person I can trust.
We have 24 Cameras and are extra friendly when we walk the shop ( always chatting with customers, asking if they need help, carrying items to the front of the shop) hope that helps
