Brick and morter store

[Bpardue]

I have seen and heard of several new businesses in NC opening up with storefronts for local artisans and crafters. One of these businesses opened recently here in Winston Salem and my wife & I went by to see what it was all about. My wife ended up winning a door prize and went back earlier this week to claim her prize. The owner asked her how she had heard of the shop & why she came by. She told her that we were looking for a possible outlet for my work. Make a long story short after the owner saw some photos of my work, they would like me in there. From what I'm being told there is a monthly booth fee (booth is roughly 4ft wide which would work) and the store gets a % of the sales. I would not have to be there other than to swing by and restock as needed. The store is open 5 day a week, Tuesday thru Saturday.

The day we went by the piece was packed with people and better than 1/2 were buying, the other day when by wife was there the traffic flow was steady and several were buying as well.

My question is has anyone done anything like this before and pros or cons.

I would have to up my prices to cover the costs related to being there.

 

[Scrappile]

I have never. do it, don't even know if there is currently that type of store in our area.  There were some in the past but they didn't last long.  Make me feel a lot of it is location.  My area just does not seem to send on craft stuff..  But, I think Denny has a store like that in Tennessee.  Maybe he will chime in.   Do you have to be locked in for more than a month at a time?  If it is not real expensive why not try.  May do well in your part of the country.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Scrappile

[ed martin]

I have done this for about a year, they sell everything in these booths. The place I at is not a high end store. Rent is cheep. The cons are things come up missing where there in another booth or they just walk away. Sometimes things are broke. These things do not happen all the time. It does keep you busy this time of year. I still like doing it.

[Denny Knappen]

We own ArtCrafters in Dayton, TN.  A brick and mortar store just as you described.  Our 4 foot x 4 foot booths rent for $25 per month and we get 10% commission on the sale.  Some artists and crafters are very successful, others not so.  One advantage, especially with wood items, people need to feel and touch the quality.  I find that the successful ones take time to be in the store and talk about their works of art.  

Edited November 17, 2017 by Denny Knappen

[kmmcrafts]

I done this at a local store like this a few years ago.. at the time I was really new to selling crafts.. I did well enough to cover most of the rent for the 6 month contract.. but never really made any profit.. The one I was in was in somewhat a tourist type area with many local shops down the main street strip.. I did have a few broken / stolen items too.. Would I do it again? probably not.. but I do think I could do better now that I have some selling miles under my belt.. LOL

 

[Bpardue]

On 11/17/2017 at 2:05 PM, Denny Knappen said:

We own ArtCrafters in Dayton, TN.  A brick and mortar store just as you described.  Our 4 foot x 4 foot booths rent for $25 per month and we get 10% commission on the sale.  Some artists and crafters are very successful, others not so.  One advantage, especially with wood items, people need to feel and touch the quality.  I find that the successful ones take time to be in the store and talk about their works of art.  

The Reason I'm in not rush to do this is because this is in a higher end location and if the booth & commission was that cheap than i would go for it, but the booth rental is $200 a month plus 13% commission.

 

[ike]

I did it a while back (10/15 years agiO) had 3 stores at a time, Broke even 2 2 and made money @one . one had a lot of stolen  items . I have a local one now but it doesn't do much , No rent and they keep 20% maybe it will pick up but I don't have much fathe in it.Not looking for anothe store. This is a hobbY. ike

[tomsteve]

On 11/20/2017 at 7:19 AM, Bpardue said:

The Reason I'm in not rush to do this is because this is in a higher end location and if the booth & commission was that cheap than i would go for it, but the booth rental is $200 a month plus 13% commission.

 

in that case, id say adjust your prices accordingly. booth rental and commission should be added to your prices.

[Lucky2]

At $200.00 per month and 13% commission, you would have to sell a lot of stock to make any money. If I were you, I would approach a mall manager and see about setting up a table in the mall corridor. I've done that before when I was selling things, it was better then selling at most other locations. A lot of people remarked about how well they liked seeing me there, they said it was better then at the Farmer's Market because there wasn't such a crowd. 

Len

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

These are consignment stores. About 10 years ago I got involved with a company that did consignment stores in malls. I wound up having 2 stores in 3 malls. All highend malls and lots of traffic. I was getting a discount on space because of the amount of places I took. I did great the first 3 years especially at Christmas time but other holidays were great too. Just have to change out the stock to keep in touch with the season. They had workers to mind the stores and security which helped. Then they got out of it and sold to others and that is when things went down hill fast. Stollen product, broken product and it was getting bad. They did not stand for the losses. Had one worker in the store and they had to man the register. Had to pull out. But things were going to go bad anyway because traffic at malls is and started to be an all time low. When I first did it my problem was supplying 6 outlets plus doing the craft show circuit. Talk about running saws full time. Need to know the people and watch your stock. Can be lucrative. Need to weigh the costs because you need to raise your prices some to cover the store charges in order to make any money. Good luck if you do it. 

[amazingkevin]

On 11/17/2017 at 7:22 AM, Bpardue said:

I have seen and heard of several new businesses in NC opening up with storefronts for local artisans and crafters. One of these businesses opened recently here in Winston Salem and my wife & I went by to see what it was all about. My wife ended up winning a door prize and went back earlier this week to claim her prize. The owner asked her how she had heard of the shop & why she came by. She told her that we were looking for a possible outlet for my work. Make a long story short after the owner saw some photos of my work, they would like me in there. From what I'm being told there is a monthly booth fee (booth is roughly 4ft wide which would work) and the store gets a % of the sales. I would not have to be there other than to swing by and restock as needed. The store is open 5 day a week, Tuesday thru Saturday.

The day we went by the piece was packed with people and better than 1/2 were buying, the other day when by wife was there the traffic flow was steady and several were buying as well.

My question is has anyone done anything like this before and pros or cons.

I would have to up my prices to cover the costs related to being there.

 

I've consigned 3 places and everything disappeared and nobody knows nothing.Guess that was a compliment that my work was good enough to steal?

[trailfndr]

I did this for a year with my Intarsia.  It was a nice store, in a tourist destination/park setting.  I paid a monthly rent that I could off-set by working a day or two a month in the store in order to give the owner a day off.  She charged 15% of sales, but also took care of all the sales tax issues, and other legalities.  For me,  it worked fairly well.  Some months I made very little, some I made out pretty good.  I would have stayed, but she lost her lease and had to close.  Would I do it again?  It would depend on the store, location, rent, and people involved.

[tgiro]

That seems like a good area for the purpose, with all the people in the store buying. But, you may want to spend some time in the store to see what they buy. I've seen those store that constantly have customer traffic, but the customers are passing by some booths to get to the product they want. It takes a little research.

I have displayed my intarsia and segmented bowls in the art galleries in the area and have sold maybe five pieces in the last five years. Amazingly enough, I display at the craft shows in those same towns and I usually sell quite a bit at each show. Of course I have more variety (and newer pieces) on display at the craft shows than sits in the galleries. I do swap pieces out in the galleries regularly, but things just don't sell from them.

 

[kmmcrafts]

14 hours ago, trailfndr said:

I did this for a year with my Intarsia.  It was a nice store, in a tourist destination/park setting.  I paid a monthly rent that I could off-set by working a day or two a month in the store in order to give the owner a day off.  She charged 15% of sales, but also took care of all the sales tax issues, and other legalities.  For me,  it worked fairly well.  Some months I made very little, some I made out pretty good.  I would have stayed, but she lost her lease and had to close.  Would I do it again?  It would depend on the store, location, rent, and people involved.

The lady that does one here used to do one over your way.. I'm betting it's the same lady.. I did a 6 month session / lease for a spot in the store.. I didn't do great but paid the monthly fee... 

The name of the one I was in was called The Calico Rabbit.. Don't think she did all that great because now she also does a bunch of yoga type nights and other activities to try to bring in traffic.. 

[WayneMahler]

We have a store like that locally. The Mrs. keeps telling me we need to try it. I keep wanting to go look but time is short. According to the wife, they charge 40 a month and take 11% off the top. A friends of mine that lives in the mid-west did this. Mark never said anything about how it worked out. He had an 8 x 8 area to work with.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

On 1/7/2018 at 11:44 PM, amazingkevin said:

I've consigned 3 places and everything disappeared and nobody knows nothing.Guess that was a compliment that my work was good enough to steal?

I do not think I have read about anyone in my life time who has worse luck than you. 10 Dewalt saws broke, stolen and broken product at shows and stores and to top it all off doctors that do not want to work on you. I sure hope things turn around for you this year. Good luck. I am afraid to open any of your postings any more. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by JTTHECLOCKMAN