How do I go about opening my own scrapbooking store?

Question

I am looking into opening a scrapbooking/paperie in my home town. I think that we could really beneift from a place to buy scrap supplies and we don't have anything like a paperie here. I am stuck, however, where do I start? How do I start? Any suggestions, websites, books...I should look into? Thanks

Answer 1

Before you do anything else, write out a business plan. Include where you will get your supplies, how much you will charge, how much your supplies will cost, what you store will look like, what it will be called, what the label design will be, and so on. Then you have to find a location. This is really the hardest part. You need to find one where lots of potential customers will go, and you won't lose any due to not being in a convinent place. Choose a place in a shopping center with lots of stores that people go to (ie, a grocery store) that way you'll have more customers and make a higher profit. Once you have a place figured out, you need to set your plan into action. Fix up your store and order your supplies. Then advertise- put up flyers everywhere you can think of and put coupons in the paper for 20% off your first purchase! You will start to get tons of customers and your store will spread by word of mouth. Try this link to find some books for entreperneurs and small business owners:

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Entrepreneurship-Investing-Books/b/ref=sr_no__47?ie=UTF8&node=2741

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

NOt sure where you live but do a fesibility study of your area and make sure that they can support a store such as this.
I love scrapbooking but lets face it,
it is a white middleclass (one income family) hobby.
Any lower and they cant afford it, any higher and they will not have the time, desire to do it.
If both parents work, not much time to scrapbook
(seriously, think about it)
futhermore,
If you are competing with a micheals or even walmart you are going to have to offer something unique as they are going to be able to undercut your prices on the basic things.

My personal experience with scrapbooking appears to be pretty typical (at least with my circle of friends).
I made a modest outlay of money to get the basic scrapbooking room together.....might have spent $600 tops for the sizzix and dies, paper rack markers pens paper etc. after that I did not need much more stuff so I only had to go to get a few jolees things or a specific type of paper etc.
after my initial year, I might have spent $100 each year afterward. Sure that $100 would be alot of money if 1k's were doing it but of that $100 how much of that would really be profit once you factor in the cost of being competitive, the store rent, etc. I dont know how much an inventory of paper would cost but I doubt that all of it would ever be sold.

(How many scrapbooks and sheets of paper did I really need)?
I dont want to kill your dreams but I just dont want to see you ruin your life savings because of a thought with your heart and not your head.
4 stores (that I know of) went belly up in Louisville kentucky.

They just could not compete with the things from walmart and micheals.
I like that new cricuit thing but wont spend $250 for it.