VINTAGE SOCIAL NETWORKING

How do I start this? 

 I began my little 110 sq ft vintage stall at a store called Chesterdales in Naples, FL last January 15th 2016.

CHESTERDALES HOME AND GARDEN

 Knowing nothing on how to do this  (but I do have an extensive background and career in retail - see here) - I took a chance because I had so much 'stuff' in my own home I needed to clear before the arrival of a 40 foot container from Hong Kong.  I also inherited many of my Mom's items after she passed away.
  

SETTING UP:

I was lucky enough to find a house sale near me as I was driving to the grocery store and made a sharp right to find it.  What great items to open up my little business. I spent a lot of time up front getting things ready and prepped for my move-in. 

It is an awkward space that measures 5 ft x 21 ft. And a Little extra on the end. But it's part of the hallway - so people have to pass by it. 

For the first month or so, I took care of it like a baby, stopping by several times a week to check on things.

I’ve heard that it’s important to change up the look of your booth on a semi-regular basis so that it always looks fresh and new to regular customers. I don’t know that I’ve necessarily seen a huge difference in sales after I’ve changed things up, but I do notice items sell after they are placed in a more strategic location. I do go and move the larger pieces from wall to wall every month or so. So, I’d say that the overall time commitment for me is maybe one good “fluffing session” per month and just quick stops in and out a few other times during the week. I watch the sales figures on line and determine what needs to be filled in and/or moved around. 

Make the customer stop and meander for awhile by making their eye move upward and around.  I layered on top of tables and then layered on that if I could. I also used the floor. 

Also group like things together to tell a story.  It could even be just the same color grouping to make a stronger impact together vs being spread out. 

WHAT'S SELLING

I wasn’t sure how much furniture I would really need in the space, but it seems that the smaller, accessory items go more quickly. Lamps are slower, but mirrors, artwork, and bowls all seem to do well. This means that I’m usually better off shopping for smaller items than painting furniture in my garage—which is okay with me! I think most people that come through the mall are usually there to browse instead of on a mission for a specific item. So, the smaller, more inexpensive items are easy to pick up. I also found if I painted it - it had a better chance of selling. 

But to make the monthly sales figures - and average dollar piece sold - you need to sell a large piece during the month.  Just realize you are probably marking it down 1 or 2 times to get it out of there.  Keep any piece under $300 and you have a chance. Keep it under $200 and you have a customer. 

Chair's sell - also small accent tables.  Coffee tables are slower.  Lamps seem to move under $50 but how do you find a lamp where you can make a profit selling at that price? 

Let's talk expenses for this shop:

I'm paying $500 a month rent and 15% commission.  

I have about 110 sq ft.  That makes it $4.54 a sq ft. monthly. Real Estate is high in Naples - I figure this is about more than double the owners rent - covering all his 10,000 showroom rent and overhead expenses.  

In an informal poll on a particular site they have examples of what you can expect to pay all over the nation! So you can see we are high!

$2.25/Sq. Ft –  Napa, CA

$4.00 per sq ft –  McKinney, TX.

$2.00 per sq ft. –  Lafayette, CO

$1.50 per ft. – Texarkana, Texas

$3.75/sq. ft. – Arlington, Texas

$1.50 per sq. ft. –  Benson, NC

$3.25 per sq. ft. – Raleigh. NC

$1.50 –  Denison, TX

5.00 per sq ft – Oklahoma City

$6 per sq ft – Livonia, MI

$2.25 per sq ft – Phoenix, AZ

$2.25 per sq ft in Bethany,OK

$1.50 sq ft Northwest Indiana

$2.95 sq ft – In Colleyville, Texas

The national average for commission is 5-12% and we pay 15%.  I personally feel that a commission is an incentive for the store to stay busy, advertise, and drum up business. Hopefully they are doing it correctly.

But if their advertising and way to 'drum up' the business is not working during the slower months - I researched a way to create more traffic for myself and hopefully others around me. 

In Naples we have a snowbird season from January through April.  It consists of the tourist escaping the North snows, Europeans doing the same, and second home residences. 

There were good sales during these months, however we had an early slow down the second half of April  - the average price sold also went down. In May there were 5-10 days I call 'dry days' of no sales.  When things were so good early on - I worried about these slower months.  

I was told 'get use to it'. 

I was also worried that other booths around me were not making rent. 

That was not the case for me:

Jan. 5 times

Feb. 5 times

March 5 times

April 4 times

May 3 times

June 2 times

July 3 times. 

OK, that got me thinking - there has to be a way to generate the locals to show up. This town is no longer deserted during the summer months - there is a younger generation living here full time and we need to get them into the store. 

At first I wrote a PINTEREST page for the store.  This was meant as a gift for the other 40 vendors - not necessarily for the store owners.  They used their personal photos on much of the advertising rather than showing the merchandise and type of business it was. We needed 'google' searches to find us and the images shown to be updated and accurate. 

Chesterdales on Pinterest

The PINTEREST page I wrote - not Chesterdales - To help on social networking, but no one kept it up. 

Note who's photos are on the top of the page. This took several nights for me to write and then organize alphabetically. I was hoping that all the vendors would load there own pages with merchandise and sale prices - but that didn't happen.  I was then hoping the employee that sits idly by the cash register all day would be directed to do it for each vendors.  Every item sold was a commission to the owner. That didn't happen either.

Then I wrote a blog for the store.

Chesterdales BLOG  

The BLOG I WROTE - not Chesterdales - I freely wrote this for them to further photos on the Internet.

For 2 months I wrote entries to create interest on our unique marketplace in Naples - about Blue and White, candles, lamps, French Country, etc.  Whenever I found the time I wrote - this is a type of business that does have followers if you create the social media. I also went around the store to take the photos that I loaded on the blog.  Several items were sold immediately from it. I also made sure that I took photos from every booth and presented each vendor equally.  

But I found the owners never kept their FB updated - so this was another fruitless attempt. And they were never going to take over the project of the blog. There was so much potential long term but trying to create an image this way was just dead in the water unless I did all the work myself.   

So here we are in the slow months. I had many large pieces that were sitting in the booth the last 4-6 months and unless I gave them away - they weren't going anywhere.  I needed a fresh look and my garage was getting full of items in waiting.  I decided to try again on the social media - but to target my own items and lead the customer to the store.  

1. CRAIGS LIST FT MYERS

If you do a search of Chesterdales - you find my items. This is a free site. 

2. OFFER UP NOW .com

Offer Up Now is another free site. So all the same items were listed here.   But they have to be done from the Ipad - not your computer - which makes it slow and difficult to type when doing so many items.  From a broken wrist 3 years ago I developed nerve damage in my right hand - so this small tedious task is very painful for me. 

Note the address leads to Chesterdales

3. FB PAGE

Next I developed my own FB page for my name. And please note the name of the address for the blog:
https://www.facebook.com/vintagesailsatchesterdales/?fref=ts

Vintage Sails FB page

Note the address leads to Chesterdales. 

4. My own PINTEREST PAGE

Vintage Sails on Pinterest

5. Next I wrote my own Blog

VINTAGE SAILS BLOG PAGE

Be aware that multiple templates are supplied to you by 'Google' on Blogspot - but it takes hours to do the artwork on Photoshop and then rework their templates to fashion your unique site and create the look you're after. Hours can turn into days as you tweak your site. I have now created 2 sites for this business. 

6. FB GROUPS

Then you can advertise, again for free, on FB pages within your community.  The great thing is when you load one photo - you can then tell FB to load it to all your groups.  This way you only do it once. But you have to join each group first. 

Groups and membership count:

*Country Chic on Line Sale  1082 members
*Collier County on Line 12,973
*The Thrift Shop Junkie 4,344
*Sell SWFL  950
*Naples Sell/Buy/Trade 30,353
*Naples High End Resale 1309
*Collier & Lee County No Rules Classified 1152

I would think that many people are members of multiple groups above - because I am - so let's say the average number of people you're reaching is about 7500!  

My proof.

I sold in the month of June:
$1021 - 28 pieces - avg. $36.46

July 1st I had a confrontation with the owner so I ran ads everywhere above that I was closing my store from July 5th - 10th . The day after 4th of July holiday. That's 5 days vs 30 days. 

My sales:

$1400 - 34 pieces - avg. $51.89


It worked!

Analyze the 6 outlets above for free advertising on social media - how many countless hours do you think that took me to promote my business and theirs? 

Problem with social media - you need to create an image for yourself - so design your best professional representation for a better return on hits and raising your price point.  It is a lot of work and for my small space a little over kill - but you will be rewarded.  During the better months I can slow up - but don't give up - don't stop.  

I was working on the social media before I had the confrontation.  I ran ads the week before and generated another $1000 from my home. Some of the items were purchased for the store - others were personal items I wanted to clear out.  

My favorite item was my TV cabinet from Asia.  It was one of my first purchases in 2009 from the Antique Chinese factories and had it converted to work with my TV equipment. It's a style of cabinet you can no longer find in the factories - so it's very unique.

My items that were at Chesterdales Home and Garden

I moved it from Hong Kong to Naples last March but I had to refinish it to sell it which took several days - I stripped the top myself and repainted the body.  It's worth about $1800, but I was asking only $650.  I got a hit from Offer Up for $550. It's actually a piece I was hoping to hand down to my son but I can't get it to him.  Needless to say, I have a very personal connection to this piece and that clouded my actions. 

  Unfortunately, the customer met me at the store - handed me cash and together we hauled it out to the car ourselves. It was suppose to be hauled out of the store by my husband earlier that day for the transaction, but he was on the golf course.  This obviously did not go as planed or smoothly and I created a awkward circumstance for me and the store. If someone had been at the register - it probably would never had happened. 

Ok - so I was asked to leave the store in a very unprofessional way - and quietly I did hurt and confused.  My sale ran for the 5 days hopefully recouping my costs and to reduce my inventory - I plan to end this business - and create some last minute sales for everyone. It gave me a chance to see if my social networking was still working.  I then hired a moving crew to pick up the items without any supervision - and we were done. 

So I thought.


I have not been paid for my sales for June or July. 

So I contributed $1000 to their store plus my $500 deposit vs their loss of $82 on this item.  They didn't comprehend what the full impact of all my efforts might have contributed long term to the store.  
Frankly, if a vendor does extensive advertising on their own - you should be discounting their rent or commission.  Their own advertising will draw for everyone.  I was doing a different type of advertising they were not.  My sale was made elsewhere and the customer was just picking up her merchandise. I was trying to compensate myself for all the work I had done knowing they would not!
They thought the advertising was to my garage and not the shop and were afraid that other vendors would do the same - they wouldn't take the time to research what I did.  I was hoping a few others would be able to take on the same task. But instead I was treated like a virus and was told to leave.  They thought I was about to move any decent sale out of the store to make a better profit - which is nothing further from the truth. I'm a 64 year old woman scheduled to travel the next 3 months - so I was getting potential sales ready for my departure.  Yes, I did say:  "I pay you rent for housing my merchandise and if the store makes the sale - you get the commission."  That's the truth and the true nature of their business. 
But there was no pause by them to rethink all the work and support that I had given to them without any asking of compensation. The hours that I had contributed to further their image without involving them personally - trying to get people in the store. Advertising in the local Magazine for North Naples was bring in customers over 60 and tourist that could walk out with a souvenir of the day.  We needed some big ticket buyers and more of them during the slow months.  I was even going to ask for more space. They have to remember they have 40 vendors supporting their profits. but my inventory is my investment and I choose how to sell it to make the best profit. It was always intended to be at the shop.  

DID I MAKE MONEY:

The truth is, I had higher hopes for the booth and the antique mall as a whole, but it just doesn’t seem like the right fit for me. I opened it, considering it an extension of my blog and as a fun hobby on the side, but my enthusiasm has fizzled—for several reasons.

You can't make money on a small space.  The overhead is too high.  I was targeted on a year ending sales figure of about $24,000 on 110 sq ft.   That's $218 a sq. foot.  That to me is a great above average figure especially for the first 6 months in business. The store would get $6,000 in rent and $3600 in commission = $9,600.  After I back out my Cost of Goods Sold, rent and commission - my profit would be about $4800 (20%).  I averaged about a 2.5 mark up or 60% margins.  

Again, good and above average. 

But $4800 is only $400 a month.  For all the work of searching for the merchandise - cleaning it up and/or painting it - tagging it - inventorying it - transporting and displaying it - it's probably less than $5 an hour wage.  The hobby had to stop. Or it had to expand.  But then I'm no longer retired.  

Some people have several booths in different malls, or interior decorators use it as an office to meet clients - that makes it work.  But unless you have more space where you can create a larger figure - it's a hobby that will engross you. 

I was a customer for several years before becoming a vendor.  Customers come not only to find a bargain, but as I often hear they want to come to their “happy place.” That's how I felt - sometimes just to get out of the house - a place to refuel. Here are some of the items I purchased from the store - about $3200 value.  

I also brought a friend who was furnishing a rental - she purchased about $2000.

The next year I consigned with them about $4900 worth from a home I had sold. 

Items I consigned to Chesterdales Home and Garden

I'll continue with my blog with projects I have to tackle around the house and that have been put off far too long because of the shop.  

TIME FOR A GARAGE SALE and TRAVEL!