Setting up a new vintage clothing retail store or business..
If you're looking to set up a new vintage clothing store whether that be online or a bricks and mortar store there are a few simple tips to follow:
Decide your own mini niche. Vintage is already a niche market but narrow it down even more than that initially. Are you going to sell men's vintage sportswear? Women's high end 50's dresses or vintage Levi's denim? This should help deciding what your initial stock purchase would be.
Source, source, source and source again. Always shop around for the best prices you can find and have more than one wholesaler on hand to make life easier. The prices you pay for your products to sell ultimately determines your profit which in turn determines your success. This simple fact could be the difference between the success or failure of your new retail enterprise.
Keep your starting costs low. Don't take on a lot of unnecessary costs initially in terms of labour, premises and loan repayments. If you overestimate your sales then you will struggle to keep up with repayments and this may even lead to the failure of your business.
Building on the last point. Start with small wholesale orders and test your market or new product before making large orders. If you dive in head first and buy too much of one particular item you are going to struggle if that item proves to be unpopular no matter how cheap you bought it.
Make sure you employ a good accountant. This point will probably end up saving you a lot more money in the long run than it will cost in the short term and will definitely save you a lot of stress.