Has anyone here taken the plunge and started their own shop?

I've seen so many empty shops in mk and often wonder what would work in them. I think mk needs another motorcycle shop as it used to have one that I believe did well.

So did you start one? How does it work? Do the banks freely give you x amount to start up or do you need to put some funds down first?

 

""Used to have one that I Believe did well ""
Is the key words
Why did it close ?
Why did he not sell it to someone else ?
Therefore the Buisness was worth nothing ??

Shops are a waste of time in the uk now
Tesco can sell things cheaper
eBay and amazon is the way to go as you don't have hire a premises and all the massive costs that go with it and employing staff can be a nightmare too

Keep the money in the bank and go and work for someone else is my advice if you want to have your own shop
Flame suit on

 

I quite like this

The answer is no and yes btw

 

Coffee shop , nothing else sells

 

Totally agree and fast food as well
Margins are good
Not too many staff required
Small shops
Low rent /rates etc

We have five coffee shops in my small town
All make a good living along with 3 takeaways
One takes 2k per day

Yet you can't buy a pair of socks apart from at the charity shops which do well too

 

If t'inernet went down over night the streets would be alive with slightly scruffy saucer eyed zombies.

Well, more than usual anyway

 

Retailing in the UK is bonkers now.
Offer people something useful & durable like a pair of socks (as said) or a TV, and they want it for nothing.
Charge them £3.50 for a poxy cup of coffee and they queue up round the block

And business rates are a joke. We paid a shade over £8k a year to our wonderful local council for the priviledge of running our business. And what did we get for that?
Nothing.
We couldn't get a visit from the police when the frontage was vandalised (quote) "unless blood has been spilt".
Not even a bin emptied.
They even refused to reinstate the street lamp outside the premises when it was turned off to save money.

Don't bother with a shop Robsy, save your money and work for somebody else.

 

The only shops which seem to be opening are charity shops around here.

 

£1 Shops are thriving as well.

 

Not in Rawtenstall.... it closed down That's how **** it is as a town and with a borugh council to match!

 

You can't build significant income working for someone else. After you've been taxed on your income and then taxed on your purchases, there's pretty much just about enough left to live on, unless you are prepared to work daft hours and never see your family, but get to the top of the employment ladder in a larger company. You will still be a well paid drone though that they can discard at the first sign of danger.

The real ways to make money are to either run your own business or better still own your own business that you work on part time. Then you only get taxed on the profits which you can then invest in income generating assets.

I think it's great that you are thinking of doing something for yourself. Even if it doesn't go to plan you will learn things along the way and if it goes well, then awesome.

 

Do you need a shop for what you intend selling?

I thought I did, but ended up telling myself I'd rather have more stock...will open shop when I'm established enough that I'll have enough punters coming through the doors!

 

Agreed, but sadly I doubt a shop is the way to go.

Factor in rent, rates (legalised extortion IMO), services, insurance, staff costs (if you get big enough), breakages, shoplifiting, vandalism and competition from bigger outfits/online retailers and you're unlikely to make much more than working for someone else with a lot more of a risk factor involved and plenty more hours.

 

Why the heck are the rates so high anyway.??

 

Where I live there are loads of barbers/hair dressers and charity shops. Somehow they seem strive in our small town.
If your serious about starting up a shop you really need to do a lot of research in to what you want to do. Yes you do have to inject your own funds and normally they expect at least 50% as a commitment from yourself. Even if you have someone that will lend you the money, they see it as its still not your money and your commitment may not be the 100% they will want

I started my own business last August and it was slow to start with (as expected) but has come on quite nicely in the last 4 months (which wasn't expected). But apparently insurance is going to be a big killer for me this year if I can find someone who will quote me

Find out why there is a gap in the market where you live. maybe its just something that people haven't thought about

 

I might argue that a motorcycle shop makes a lot more sense than many other types of retailer when you consider the online competition. Yes, there are items that you can buy from a description alone - things like service parts and tuning accessories - but there's a lot that still really benefits from the 'hands on' approach.

For example, people need to try on helmets, leathers and gloves to make sure they fit. It's much easier to try out touring accessories like bags and panniers if you can see them up close and actually check that they'll fit your bike before you buy.

If there's room on the site, open a small bar serving coffee and bacon sarnies, and bikers will congregate there just for a brew and a chat - and, of course, be tempted to pick up a shiny accessory or even just a can of chain lube while they're there.

Don't forget, though, that the bike industry is struggling. The new riding test introduced a few years ago has put a lot of new riders off - IIRC test passes are down by a half or thereabouts. It's a really big deal and the effects are only just starting to be felt.

 

Council mentatlity... they try to make up the shortfall on the empty shops by increasing the rates of the ones occupied.

They seem unable to grasp the fact that the logical conclusion of that is all the shops will be empty.

Instead they should cut the rates in an attempt to lure businesses back to the shops that are empty and thereby collect more overall revenue!

Down the road from me is a brand new retail centre that has been sitting there unoccupied since it was built in 2008..... numerous people like Homebase have suggested they take it on, but the council wants to charge them a fortuine in rates for an untried location so they have told them to take a running jump and it has now been empty for 6 years. Great business that

 

I've always wanted to open a knocking shop. You can be as hands on as you like and even taking work home with you could be fun

 

Job for life desk jockeys ,

That'll be changing shortly with this government anyway

No experience with business or care even

 

Someone has to pay for all the wallies who couldn't get a job in the real world to retire at 55 on a massive pension.

 

I went to Seychelles once and it was full of Rastas using broken down guitars and no where to buy guitars or accessories. I thought hard about opening a guitar shop as it would have been easy to import goods, plenty of cheap labour to help and a super climate.

Waste of time in UK aside from tea or coffee shop as margins very good. Most medium size towns are dead for reasons stated and greedy, stupid, councils killing any prospect of parking outside a shop for 30 minutes.

dl

 

Maybe there's vested interests involved, such as one of the councillors owning a shop in the same market as Homebase - this happened in my home town and as a result the place has died, but at least the shop-owning councillors have no competition, wonderful eh!

 

Rents are high too. I don't think it's just rates?

 

Yeah I wondered about that too .... quite possible like you say!

 

Just spent a month in France and Spain; the retail industry here is simply a waste of time compared to over there.

Parking everywhere, easily accessible independent shops, supermarkets that are huge but seem to compliment high street shops rather than close them down.

In fact France got so many things right, we are putting a little research into moving there.

Health service; 60% insurance so people don't drain the system with pointless appointments, crushingly superior road network, a work ethic that allows for family, good food, the list goes on.

 

I've just closed my retail shop.
I also sell on the internet and thought that having a retail shop would be a bonus.
It turned out to be a money pit.
Rent, rates, water, electric, advertising and finally..insurance, those costs killed the business.
I will stick to selling on the internet with my stock stored in the local self-storage place.
All of my storage and insurance costs now amount to less than half of my ex-shop rent.
I also have 4 eBay sites selling diverse stock, I pay 10p - 40p to advertise an item that can be viewed practically worldwide. Try doing a small block ad in a national paper for that.

The shop next door also closed, he sold motorbike parts and accessories.
There is one local shop that is doing very well indeed, a cycle shop with repair facilities. Halfords have the same facility in the town, but they just outprice themselves in that market.

 

Thought you inbreds traded with pigs and goats not pounds

 

Connells was a motorbike shop that was around for years I don't know the ins and outs but someone set fire to it and all the bikes burned. I don't know if it was an insurance job or a hae crime but a large bike shop has never returned. I genuinely think a motorbike shop next to halfords in rooksley could work. But I don't have £100k for the bikes. The tats and belly to look like a biker or the knowledge to sell them.

My other idea is a restaurant with a twist. It would be called just deserts. Obvious reasons!

 

Selling fried camel with a Cacti side?