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Q: retail stores ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars

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Subject: retail stores
Category: Business and Money > Consulting
Asked by: artcher-ga
List Price: $50.00

Posted: 19 Feb 2003 06:53 PST
Expires: 21 Mar 2003 06:53 PST
Question ID: 163410

How do you develop a plan to open a retail store?

Answer

Subject: Re: retail stores
Answered By: hummer-ga on 19 Feb 2003 09:54 PST
Rated: 5 out of 5 stars

Dear artcher, Give yourself plenty of time - you should allow yourself a minimum of six months to develope a good plan. Unfortunately, there are no easy shortcuts to developing a good business plan, but the good news is there are many guides out there to help you. The sites I've listed below should help you get a good start on beginning your journey. In addition, visit your local library, or if you prefer, your local bookstore. Plan on spending alot of time reading! There are many books available, it is a matter of finding a few good ones that suit you and the type of business you are interested in. "A business plan is an outline of the basic idea and direction of a business...It is a process of evaluating a potential business opportunity, and then outlining how that opportunity will be pursued. A business plan brings together all of the different elements of a business (marketing, operations, human resources, accounting, etc.) under a single roof so that all elements can work as a single unit. A normal full-fledged business plan that you'd be presenting to investors would be between 30-100 pages long." MyBusinessKit.com: Free Resource Center: What business plans are: © Copyright 2002 #1 Business Kit. http://www.mybusinesskit.com/free/busplan.htm TOOLS & GUIDES: 1. American Express Small Business Resource: Creating an Effective Business Plan: http://home3.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/tool/biz_plan/index.asp An excellent site - includes a "Try It Yourself section...you have an opportunity to test your skills on a fictional business plan and be rated on how prepared you are to create your own." 2. AllBusiness.com: Starting a Business Center: http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/SAB_articles.asp (U.S. Small Business Administration): 3. SBA - Starting Your Business: THE BUSINESS PLAN - ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS A Tutorial and Self-paced Activity: http://www.sba.gov/starting/indexbusplans.html 4. SBA - Starting Your Business: Startup Kit http://www.sba.gov/starting/indexstartup.html 5. SBA - Online Library: http://www.sba.gov/library/ 6. BizPlanBuilder: Business Plan Workshop: http://www.jian.com/workshop/index.htm BOOKS 1. How to Write a Business Plan by Mike McKeever ISBN: 0873375440 Nolo © 1999, 220 pages (viewable online) http://palm.books24x7.com/library.asp?ct=toc.asp&bkid=576 2. The Business Planning Guide. By David H. Bangs "Named 'favorite small business book' by Forbes Magazine, this best-seller is a hands-on guide for putting together a winning business plan. Improve your business planning savvy with this book's jargon-free explanations, sample forms, and a slew of useful tips. Designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs, this helpful guide also contains sample business plans, a marketing section with tips on web marketing, and an up-to-date resource guide." 216 pages \| Item #: 081 \| Member Price: $25 http://www.mainst.org/Bookstore/catalog/business.htm 3. Retail in Detail - How to Start and Manage a Small Retail Business. By Ronald Bond Published by Oasis Press / PSI Research, 1996 "This book covers the steps of planning, opening, and managing a retail store of your own, beginning with assessment of whether you are suited to run a business. Practical information is also provided on planning a store opening, form selecting a product line, hiring employees, buying initial inventory to obtaining the required permits, licenses, and tax numbers." Paperback \| 184 Pages \| ISBN 1555713718 \| Price: $24.75 http://www.retailcouncil.org/education/retailbooks_srb.asp 4. How to Start and Run Your Own Retail Business: Expert Advice from a Leading Business Consultant and Entrepreneur. by Irving Burstiner Publisher: Citadel Pr; ; Revised edition (May 1998) ASIN: 0806519886 \| 304 pages \| Paperback \| Used copies available http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806519886/102-2682523-5676156?vi=glance#product-details For more titles, browse Amazon's category: Books > Subjects > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > New Business Enterprises: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/2751/ref=br_bx_c_2_4/102-2682523-5676156 Some used book search sites: Abebooks: http://www.abebooks.com Abebooks UK: http://www.abebooks.co.uk TomFolio: http://www.tomfolio.com http://tinyurl.com/2l5z Business category at Tom for browsing. Bookfinder: http://www.bookfinder.com AddAll: http://used.addall.com/ Amazon zShops: http://www.zshops.com Bibliophile: http://www.bibliophile.net BookAvenue: http://www.bookavenue.com SOFTWARE 1. Business Plan Pro 2003: US Edition: http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bp/s/features.cfm Canadian Edition: http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bc/ UK Edition: http://www.paloalto.co.uk/ 2. Planigent Business Plan Template: http://www.planigent.com/html/template.html 3. SmallBizBooks.com: Step-by-Step Guides: http://www.smallbizbooks.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/smallbiz/startupguides.d2w/report 4. Business Plan Software: http://www.mybusinesskit.com/kit/busplan/overview.htm SAMPLE BUSINESS PLAN - Word Document: http://www.pumapublishing.com/download/IBPOutline.doc. Visit your local Chamber of Commerce. State and local grants and professional services are available in most localities, but you have to ask - they won't find you! For example, here is what can be found in Wisconsin. "Entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout Wisconsin can access early planning grants to assist them in obtaining the professional services necessary to evaluate the feasibility of a proposed start-up or expansion project. Specific allocations have been set aside for dairy farmers, rural businesses, recycling firms, and enterprises owned by people with disabilities or members of minority groups. Entrepreneurs who wish to receive the training necessary to prepare their own business plans can also access this program. For further information about this program, contact Roger Nacker, COMMERCE, at 608/266-9884." http://www.commerce.state.wi.us/MT/MT-PR00-0086.html SBA links pages: http://www.sba.gov/hotlist/busstart.html http://www.sba.gov/hotlist/businessplans.html I hope this helps you get off on the right foot with your new business. If you have any questions or if this doesn't satisfy your request, please post a clarification before rating my answer - I will happily try to help. Thank you - and with a heartfelt "Good Luck", hummer Search Strategy: ://www.google.ca/search?q=opening+a+retail+store+%22business+plan%22&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&start=100&sa=N Terms Used: opening a retail store "business plan"
Request for Answer Clarification by artcher-ga on 19 Feb 2003 19:26 PST Hi Hummer - thanks for the input on business plans. Your response is helpful but focuses a bit to much on the business plan aspect and not enough on the physical aspects of planning a store. Can you help me with things like planning a store site, planograms, the customer experience, or anything else tat has to do with the physical plant? Cheryl
Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 20 Feb 2003 05:43 PST Hi Cheryl, Your words "focuses a bit to much on the business plan aspect" is an understatement to be sure! My answer focused entirely on a "business plan". I'm sorry I misunderstood your question - when I read it my brain locked in "business plan" and I never even considered that you meant "physical plan". I will work on a new answer for you today and get back to you as soon as possible - I'm sorry for the delay and inconvenience my short-sightedness has caused you. Sincerely, hummer
Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 20 Feb 2003 07:36 PST Cheryl, it would be helpful to learn what kind of a shop you are planning to open and where. Thanks, hummer
Request for Answer Clarification by artcher-ga on 20 Feb 2003 10:43 PST What I have in mind is a specialty furniture store. Chairs, couches, loveseat, hassocks and some accessory items like end tables and such. Not much ore than that. Also, I'm looking at a small footprint - maybe 3000 sf. Hope this helps.
Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 20 Feb 2003 13:05 PST Hi Cheryl, Your 3000 sq ft. speciality furniture store sounds nice and cozy - your goal and challenge will be to maintain that cozy feeling forever without it becoming too crowded and "busy" with time. I think CAD software would be an especially good investment for your shop. CAD is a software program that will let you move all those heavy pieces of furniture around on your computer screen with ease. This is something that you will find useful for the entire life of the shop and I believe would pay for itself many times over. CAD: The Mouse That Moves Furniture: http://www.furninfo.com/operations/leecad1001.html Hummer's short tips: 1. Theme. Whatever your choice for furniture is, carry out that theme throughout the entire store. For example, if you have in mind antiques, buy an old box of sheet music at a garage sale and frame the pretty ones to hang on the wall. 2. Colors - use neutral colours for the background, bolder but soft colours as accents. 3. Signs. Clearly mark the price on everything. Occasional brief descriptions designed to educate is welcome if not overdone. 4. Lighting. Helps to set the mood and accent products. Indirect is good, fluorescent bad. Light those lamps that you have sitting around on all the end table. 5. Traffic. Group your furniture in smaller clusters in order to allow movement through the store but at the same time trying to encourage lingering and browsing. 6. Hot spots. Observe where people tend to congregate and place your featured items there. 7. Children. Devote a small corner to children where they we will happy to stay and play while Mom and Dad browse. Kids' size furniture, some toys and lots of books should keep them happy and Mom and Dad will be most appreciative. Use little bookcases to "fence them in" without being obvious about it. 8. Check-out. Don't cramp it with more stuff for sale. Check-out is there for a particular function, it is not there to try and sell more merchandise - you have the whole rest of the store for that. Rather, put some well-chosen and well-placed conversation pieces at eye level (old sheet music would be ideal) - learn all you can about the items and be ready to field questions. AFSD Editorial Library: Good Retail By Design ... By: Sarah Cumberland: http://www.afsd.com.au/article/dsbm/dsbm8a.htm LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION Home-Based Business Fact Sheet: Estimating Retail Market Potential http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/HBBseries/3012.htm Location is Everything: http://www.afsd.com.au/article/dsbm/dsbm32a.htm CUSTOMERS Why Customers Buy: Guidebook #46: http://smbtn.com/books/gb46.pdf Developing a Customer Service Plan: Guidebook #51: http://smbtn.com/books/gb51.pdf Retail Customers For Life (At Least) ... By: John Stanley: http://www.afsd.com.au/article/dsbm/dsbm21a.htm Cultivating Customer Loyalty ... By: Sarah Cumberland: http://www.afsd.com.au/article/dsbm/dsbm6a.htm Home-Based Business Fact Sheet: So You're in Sales: http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/HBBseries/3013.htm THE SHOP: Merchandising Tips: http://www.newunfinishedfurniturestore.com/merchandising.htm Designing a Floorplan: Guidebook #17 http://smbtn.com/books/gb17.pdf A Short Guide to Help Planning Your Store's Design...By Jeff Grant: http://www.triodisplay.com/resource/article1.pdf PUBLIC RELATIONS: RetailAdvisors.net: Getting the Attention you Deserve! http://www.retailadvisors.net/Articles/attention.htm Promotion Plan: Guidebook # 54 http://smbtn.com/books/gb54.pdf The Complete Manager's Guide To Promotional Merchandise: http://209.68.1.37/web/claymarketing/tcmgtpm.html Marketing Ideas: http://www.newunfinishedfurniturestore.com/marketing.htm BOOKS Specialty Shop Retailing Carol L. Schroeder "An excellent resource for anyone who's thinking about opening a store, Specialty Shop Retailing offers sound advice in simple, easy-to-understand terms. Covering business plans, inventory purchasing, financing, payment policies, and staffing, it takes you through all the details of running a retail business. Ideal as a refresher to sharpen retail practices, this book can benefit current as well as future owners of any type of retail enterprise. 352 pages" Item #: 086 Member Price: $39.95 Non-member Price: $39.95 http://www.mainst.org/Bookstore/catalog/business.htm RetailAdvisors.net Bookstore: http://www.retailadvz.com/BookStore/startbiz.htm The Entrepreneur's Guidebook Series: http://smbtn.com/businessplanguides/ The Market Planning Guidebooks http://smbtn.com/businessplanguides/bplan3_marketing.shtml The Budget Guide to Retail Store Planning Jeff Grant "How do you plan and design a new store? This book explores a long-neglected aspect of main street retailing: the physical design of the entire store, from interior "floor planning" to merchandise fixtures." 88 pages Item #: 083 Member Price: $25 Non-member Price: $25 http://www.mainst.org/Bookstore/catalog/business.htm Visual Merchandising and Store Design Workbook Greg M. Gorman "Successful designs for retail stores blend three important elements: visual merchandising, fixtures, and lighting. This book shows you how to start with basic ideas about in- store design and create a dynamic presentation. Excellent illustrations give scores of examples of floor layouts, lighting arrangements, fixture studies, and finished store plans. Use this guide to bring visual excitement to any retail store." 112 pages Item #: 082 Member Price: $25 Non-member Price: $25 http://www.mainst.org/Bookstore/catalog/business.htm Additional Links: BizStats.com: Furniture Stores: http://www.bizstats.com/furniture.htm VistaPrint Free Business Cards: http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/bcfree.asp Counselor's to America's Small Business: http://www.score.org/ U.S. Small Business Administration: http://www.sba.gov/ Business Planning Pitfalls: http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/content/25327.asp Top 10 Reason Why Businesses Fail: http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/content/10207.asp Entrepreneur's Start-up Guides: http://www.smallbizbooks.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/smallbiz/startupguides.d2w/report Great Customer Service is About Small Details: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/grcustsvc.htm I hope this is what you had in mind but please get back in touch if I haven't yet satisfied your request. Sincerely, hummer

artcher-ga rated this answer: 5 out of 5 stars

and gave an additional tip of: $10.00

Hummer did a great job even though I was less than clear in asking my
question. I appreciate his/her willingness to probe for more
information without making me feel like a total idiot.

Comments

Subject: Re: retail stores
From: hummer-ga on 20 Feb 2003 16:59 PST

Dear Cheryl,

Thank you so much for your kind words and unexpected tip - I
appreciate them both. I wish you well in your new venture, and if you
use at least one of my tips, perhaps you'll be reminded now and again
of our short time together - when "Cheryl's Place" was still just a
twinkle in your eye, hoping to be born.

Best of luck,
hummer (a she/her)

Subject: Re: retail stores
From: hummer-ga on 20 Feb 2003 17:01 PST

Whoops - and thank you for the five stars too.

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