Ray_li

was it a good move or wish you never opened one?

Is the licence hard to get?

What kind of trouble do you get?

Duck_Pond

Will you be calling yours "Ray Li Cheap Booze"

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

Im guessing that he wasn't, but possibly is now

Ray_li

I like that name

Daz34

speed demoness

I was planning on buying the store where I work as a deputy manager when it was put up for franchise at the start of the year, but have now decided against the idea. Only reason being was time and money at the end of the day as to why I didn't go for it.
I'd still love to have my own off licence/wine shop one day tho.
I've been in the trade for just short of 20 years on and off ( gawd, i feel old now!) and have loved every minute of it.. well apart from the 2 armed robberies i've gone through ( no injuries luckily... just the mental scars)

As for the licence... as of earlier this year, you now have to hold a personal licence... I think the approximate cost for getting through this is around £200 or so. The Thresher group ( who I work for) pay for the course which is studied for by reading the book, and then taking an exam based on the facts.It's pretty straight forward really if you know your stuff.

TROUBLE: I'm in a pretty quiet suburb of Durham, just outside the City centre. We've had a couple of shoplifters, but nothing much at all as far as aggressiveness is concerned.
We have the usual local kids coming in trying to buy cigs or booze, but we now operate an under 21 policy... where upon if you appear to look under the age of 21 ( obviously for purchasing alcohol) then we must ask for proof of age... if it can't be provided we refuse to serve the person... sometimes they can get stroppy, but i'd rather hear their choice words than get a massive fine slapped on me for serving booze to an underage chav !

good luck with your decision !

The Rani

At least they've got that bit right now. Several years ago some friends of mine owned a small chain of off-licences in the Brixton/Battersea areas and found out too late that the one who held the licences for all of them was not too fussy where he got some of the spirits from! Luckily the ones who ran each individual store were able to apply for and get licences pretty quickly, so the damage was not too great.

I worked in the Battersea one evenings and weekends (I had a full-time Monday-Friday office job at the same time). There was an armed robbery there, too, but luckily I was not there at the time.

Two of the off-licences (including the one where I was) were wholesale as well as retail and the deliveries were made at all sorts of times, which meant the days could be very long as these were usually made when the customers' properties were shut (3 o'clock in the morning was the latest one I did, to a club!).

It was very hard work as well as fun but, although I occasionally ran the place when the owner was away on holiday etc., I don't think I could have done it full-time.

Chip Sengravy

again!

speed demoness

as well as all bargain boozes being franchises( have worked for this company too)... Thresher have just put up a whole load of their shops for franchise too..... they were offered internally to the staff at first about 8 months or so ago, and around the end of june they were put on the open market for anyone to buy.
Most of the shops up for franchise are quite profitable stores. You will get all the promotions the group have on offer at the moment, including a fantastic offer that has been running for around 9 or 10 months now on all wines and champagnes...and is proving to be a very popular marketing tool.... buy 2 bottles get a 3rd free.

If you want any info ray-li , send me a pm and i'll try and fish out some info for you.

Chip Sengravy

good idea in principle, but the wine is overpriced in the first place.

Chip Sengravy

COSTCO is where it's at for BOOZE

200 quid trolley dash every few weeks, jobs a good un!

speed demoness

you're deffinately right there hun!
a lot of customers don't want 3 bottles of wine, so we have got a few wines we can discount by 25%, but only if you buy them as a single bottle!

i'd like to know where all this extra money is going.. coz it deffinately aint in my paypacket
their wages are really crap... not a good company to work for at all.
maybe it's time I shifted mi ar$e and got a better job !

Ray_li

I've changed my mind.

Dont like the working hours

Chip Sengravy

Ray's so thick, that if he opened an offie, he'd offer his regular customers a lock-in.

Chipti

The court jester breaks cover, King Bubba retired for the evening? He hasn't been along to guffaw at your hilarious offering.