Thinking of opening a shop

[SD]

Shops that rent areas to trade/ battle are fairly successful in San Diego. My son participates in Magic, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh. You pay $5 to play.
Post covid, this shop is packed. Literally no sports cards whatsoever and they have lines to get in.
https://tcsrockets.com/

My favorite local sports card shop that's been there since the early 90s has basically transformed into a modern era refractor show room. One section of overpriced vintage. Everything else is shiny and colorful. They do card pack openings where you pay for a card slot. You literally pay to blindly get a card out of an unopened pack. If its a 10 card pack, they will sell 10 slots starting at .50-$5 a slot depending on the pack. I can't hate them for reinventing themselves to the modern market but it's not for me. Nothing like spending a $1 to get a 2021 Topps Wade LeBlanc.


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[Jobu]

There are also a lot of brick and mortar stores that spend their down time putting their listings on Ebay, so this is not a one or the other decision. You have the extra fees to account for on Ebay sales, but if you name your seller account the same thing as your store and put all of the store info very clearly into each listing, you get a lot of free advertising and will get people contacting you directly and stopping in.

One other question is whether there are any card shows still going in the area. Might help you gauge local demand and be a good place to set up to spread the word if you do start a store.

Good luck whatever you choose!

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Jobu

There are also a lot of brick and mortar stores that spend their down time putting their listings on Ebay, so this is not a one or the other decision. You have the extra fees to account for on Ebay sales, but if you name your seller account the same thing as your store and put all of the store info very clearly into each listing, you get a lot of free advertising and will get people contacting you directly and stopping in.

One other question is whether there are any card shows still going in the area. Might help you gauge local demand and be a good place to set up to spread the word if you do start a store.

Good luck whatever you choose!

That's what the local place near me does, lots of online selling. Even before ebay was big. One guy mostly runs the shop, while the other does the online.

They also moved to a bigger place where the kids that play magic and pokemon etc can hang out and play.
They also sell some toys, snacks and new memorabilia, although I don't think the memorabilia is a big part of it. They did comics on the old place.

[Directly]

Vintagetoppsguy, sounds like you have a thriving shop, where is your shop located?

Please keep in mind---nothing matters in the long scheme of things but maybe retirement income--many don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan--so use your brain, not your heart!

If you have other income coming in a shop can be fun--

[buymycards]

I think it can be done. However, you will need a strong presence on eBay and COMC and these 2 items will probably account for a large portion of your sales.
You should have your own website and online store.

The store owners that I know have told me that the thing that keeps them in business is the high number of people coming in the store trying to sell their collections. You have an opportunity to come across some great items from walk in customers, and even buying junk year collections can be profitable if you can get them for a low price.

One thing that I see with card shops and antique stores is that their hours are posted on the door or on their website, yet when I go to the store it will be closed. Make sure you are open when you are supposed to be open, and plan on a lot of 12 hour days and 7 day work weeks.

Good luck. The best advice when I opened a store back in the 90's (not a card shop) was the formula for the amount of money that you will need to open up. The formula is : Figure out how much money you think you will need, then double that amount, and you still won't have enough.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by Directly

Vintagetoppsguy, sounds like you have a thriving shop, where is your shop located?

Please keep in mind---nothing matters in the long scheme of things but maybe retirement income--many don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan--so use your brain, not your heart!

If you have other income coming in a shop can be fun--

Did he claim to OWN a shop at any point in his post??
You're able to read and understand... correct?

[forceplay sport]

I know one thing is that helps greatly, besides Ebay sales and gaming nights. Bringing in local sports figures for signing events, brings in cash and gets more eyes on your store.

[hcv123]

I also owned a business (food) for almost 30 years. It is a matter of planning carefully, executing your plan and having a plan B if plan A doesn't work!

1) The 3 most important decisions in opening a retail business - as David shared - location, location and location. I would get demographic information on the shop he offered as well as trying to track down other successful B&M stores and ask them as well. I know in the food business there were pretty specific demographic targets that we looked for. I'm not sure if that type of data is purchasable somewhere (it was for food), but that would be mission critical!! If the "right" clientele isn't within a certain radius of your shop, that would be a virtually insurmountable problem.
2) Read the book "E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Kaplan. It is about the business of business.
3) Go in with a plan, plan to work and work the plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
4) Create a pro forma operating income statement - include all the variable and fixed costs you can thnk of: Rent, property taxes, CAM (common area maintenance), Electric, Gas, Water, Liability and property insurance, marketing and advertising, costs of supplies, bags, if you are going to have employees (payroll and payroll taxes), etc. - When you are done listing everything you can think of with their approximate monthly amounts add 20% for anything you might have missed. Once you have that number - that is the amount of profit (NOT sales, but profit) you will have to make to breakeven - anything above that, then you start making $$. Then you can start calculating how much you need to do in sales to cover that nut and get to profitability. After all of that , then you can start thinking about your product mix and gross profit per item to get there. Be more cautious/pessimistic in your planning and estimating. If things turn out better than you planned, that's an "easy" problem compared to if they turn out worse.
5) Owning your own business can be a lot of fun (in addition to a lot of work). A good friend and fellow business owner jokes frequently - "yeah, it's great! You get to decide which 80 hours a week you are going to work!"
6) It is not a decision I would make quickly or lightly. Have a clear grasp on the undertaking and time and $$ investment. Do your due diligence, reach out to existing or former collectibles owners (around the country away from you) about their positive and negative experiences - let them know you are thinking about opening a shop near you.
7) If you choose to move forward decide what part of the plan, shows, Ebay, Facebook, Instagram, etc. will be.

Hope that helps and best of luck whatever you ultimately decide.

Howard

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Directly

Vintagetoppsguy, sounds like you have a thriving shop, where is your shop located?

I don't have a shop. I don't want a shop. I'm very happy in my current career.

Here's the point that I wanted the OP to take away. If you want to be successful in something, study what other successful people do in that same field. You don't ask people that have no experience.

Let me give you a good example. I was reading an article just this morning that said Ndamukong Suh wants to be an investor once he retires from football. So, what did he do? He shadowed Warren Buffett for several weeks in 2010 and looks at him as a mentor. He wanted to learn and he went to the best. He probably observed a lot and asked a lot of questions. He didn't go to Bernie Madoff for advice - a failed investor (and fraudster).

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...lessons-2021-7

If you were having marital problems and wanted solid advice, would you go to the guy that's been divorced three times or the one that's been married for 50 years?

Anyway, some will get my point, some won't. It is what it is.

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

I don't have a shop. I don't want a shop. I'm very happy in my current career.

Here's the point that I wanted the OP to take away. If you want to be successful in something, study what other successful people do in that same field. You don't ask people that have no experience.

Let me give you a good example. I was reading an article just this morning that said Ndamukong Suh wants to be an investor once he retires from football. So, what did he do? He shadowed Warren Buffett for several weeks in 2010 and looks at him as a mentor. He wanted to learn and he went to the best. He probably observed a lot and asked a lot of questions. He didn't go to Bernie Madoff for advice - a failed investor (and fraudster).

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...lessons-2021-7

If you were having marital problems and wanted solid advice, would you go to the guy that's been divorced three times or the one that's been married for 50 years?

Anyway, some will get my point, some won't. It is what it is.

Maybe he should open a card shop slash video store? You know he could rent video cassettes too and appeal to a wider audience. Just a thought...

[Directly]

Its all pretty simple really--Buy or rent a place, put a sign in the window and your in business.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Maybe he should open a card shop slash video store? You know he could rent video cassettes too and appeal to a wider audience. Just a thought...

Yeah, or maybe even like a Photohut / card store. People could drop of their 35mm or 110 film and browse cards while they're waiting on their pictures to be developed.