Opening a store?

Question

My mum and I are opening a vintage clothing store come next summer, and my mum has never run a buisness before, and I have no expirience, either. Can anyone give me any tips on helping to run a buisness? Any advice? Anything I should make sure to do?

Answer 1

A lot of people dream of owning their own clothing store. My recommendation is always to start by researching on the business and learning everything about it -- before starting (I made a mistake before in starting a business because I just wanted to, even though I knew nothing about the business). Clothing stores, especially, require lots of capital to start so you cannot afford to make a lot of mistakes

Here are some articles that provide information on how to start a clothing store:

How to Start a Clothing Store http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,287057,00.html
Starting a Specialized Clothing Retailing Business http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol89/specialized.htm
Starting a Retail Clothing Store http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1102419629706&pagename=CBSC_SK%2Fdisplay&lang=en&c=GuideHowto

One of the first steps is to prepare a business plan. Even though you may not apply for loans from financial institutions, the process of business planning can help you think through your business. It can help you decide on the type of store, determine the costs involved, how to get suppliers to sell to you, how to market the store, expected profitability, etc.

Here are sample business plans for a clothing store that you can check out:

Retail Clothing http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-01/Retail-Clothing.html
Men's Clothing Retailer http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-04/Men-s-Clothing-Retailer.html
Special Needs Clothing Store http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/business-plans/Business-Plans-Volume-07/Special-Needs-Clothing-Store.html

For detailed information, I suggest you check out the following books:

Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) (Paperback) by Entrepreneur Press
Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel
Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder

You may also want to check out the resources of the following associations:

Professional Apparel Association http://www.proapparel.com/
American Apparel Producer’s Network http://www.usawear.org/
Worldwide Responsible Apparel Manufacture http://www.wrapapparel.org/
American Apparel and Footwear Association http://www.americanapparel.org/
National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers http://www.nafad.com/
Fashion Group International http://www.fgi.org/
Apparel News http://www.apparelnews.net/

I recommend that you read Kathleen Fasanella's blog at http://fashion-incubator.com/ . She is the author of the book "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing" and her blog is full of answers to questions on how to start a clothing line

Answer 2

Go to a bookstore like Barnes and Noble and get a book on opening a retail store like this one:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780764553813&itm=1

Answer 3

In your case all you would need is a business license. I assume that you are leasing a space. The only other things you would need is shelving and clothing racks.