Operating from a Shop – is it a good move?

[john6512]

Hi

Have you looked at the other associated costs with setting up a shopfront – business rates in a high street location can be exreamly espesially in a city such as Bristol. Also check with your insurance about storefornts, etc.

On the face of it – this looks good, but we had problems in one location as most of our clients were businesses and wanted parking outside when picking things up – not very practical where we were – we have now moved to a business centre off a very busy roundabout and business has trebbled becuase of the parking issue – in fairness we do personalsied clothing and products so this might be more relevent.

We did find that it takes about 12 months for your customers to realise your move, etc before word of mouth starts to work.

In my opinion you’ve got the branding idea spot on – national franchises spend millions on marketing, brand awareness and corporate image – and most of those are clean – if you look in Bristol you also have printing.com which has 2 stores (a national franshise) with a very clean look.

Are the parking spaces exlusivly for you ?

If we were offered a shop for your sort of money – I think we would look seriously at it as a second unit for sales and marketing. Would you be running production from there ? If so, check with the planning permision as if its retial yu might need to change it if you use any solvents, etc. Local councils can be a pain in the neck on this sort of legislation.

Go for it!

[Kevin.Beck]

Joe.
We have a shop on a bussy main rd. I feel it`s worth its weight in gold. Not that much “passing” trade.

But the exposure you get, you stick in peoples mind. We have a double shop front. One window is full of all the goods we offer.(various signs, banners, wheel centres etc etc) The other is the office/counter side. Nearly 50% of phone calls, start with “I was passing your shop the other day, and saw that you did…”

But it does have it`s disadvantages.
Yesterday I was in the middle of a job, door bell rings( I always keep the door locked, as I might be on the third floor when someone comes in). Opens the door. Smiles and asked “How can I help you?”

“Can you tell me what time the busses run at the bus stop opposite?”

I nearly cried. You do get quite a few timewasters. But it does work to your advantage as well. On the whole well worth it in my opinion.

Check if you can operate from the shop, we had to get planning permission.

[Joe McNamara]

Thanks for the quick replies already,
To give you a little more info; the shop is about 4-500 yds from the end of a small-medium sized high street.
The last occupier was a canvas goods manufacturer, awnings, banners etc. so they were manufacturing as well from the location so planning won’t be a problem.
Had a look at the rates and I think it’s about 50ish pounds a week.
There are probably only 2 or 3 other sign shops of this type in Bristol, that are properly geared up and professional in their appearance (I think Martin in Bristol has one of them). 😉
I regularly see “sign shops” open and shut in the space of a couple of months and I think that’s bad for the industry in general but I’ll stay off my soapbox for now.
The developer I mentioned who owns the property (who we’ve done lots of signs for in the past) actually came to me and suggested the whole idea. My gut feeling is it could do well but I’m fishing for info 😆 .

Cheers
Signjoe

[signworks.se]

I recently moved from a unit on an industrial estate to sub-let the first floor section of a high street shop, the ground floor is a printers and stationery shop.
The fact that the business below has been established for many years and that printing and signs go hand in glove has proved invaluable.
I would agree with Becky that the exposure is more than worth the costs associated, and although the passing trade is not every five minutes it tends to come in just when you need it most.

Any way good luck, hope it works out.
Cheers
Danny

[Tim Painter]

Hey Becky just put up a sign saying what time the Busses go……after all your in the business you could do one cheap……… 😆

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Joe
I agree with all above when I made the move to a retail outlet the things I was looking for were as follows.

Volume of passing trade
Customer parking
Workshop space
Cost rent & rates ect
Location in regard to local business estates and commercial areas

I already had an existing customer base so I wasn’t starting out from scratch and I think that that you would need to market the shop in other ways if you were starting out from scratch. Its about awareness and getting your name about a combination of.

Yellow pages, Retail Shop, Mail shots, Leaflet Drops
Put your name on everything you do if its a sticker on an aboard or a key ring attached to the van drivers keys just get your name about.

this will generate a steady flow of work that will ultimately lead to a solid customer base that provides repeat business and regular referrals.

Also the appearance of your premises is important I see so many sign shops that have poor signage that looks like it was rushed and done on a budget invest in an upmarket professional sign it inspires confidence and if you look corporate it attracts business from all sectors.

keep things fresh I change my window displays and graphics on the facia every 2 years it gives you a chance to show new products and creates interest when people visit display samples and show pieces of work its normally not relevant to the customers needs but it inspires customers confidence in you.

Good luck with your project if you fancy a chat or are ever passing by feel free to call in.

Regards Neil

[Joe McNamara]

Thanks for all the help guys, exactly what I was hoping for, and even those of you I’ve met at signschool who are shop based answered my call!

Excellent info for me – it ‘s a real help to be able to call on people like yourselves for advice.

Cheers
Signjoe
🙂

[MARTY]

Hi Joe Martin here from Bristol.
If you want any advice feel free to ring me Iam sure you won’t be to much competion to us I’ve had about four others within five minutes of me and now they’ve all gone. If its the shop Iam thinking of then you’re quite a way from me anyway.
The biggest difference about working from a shop has been said and thats public awareness most people in Bristol looking for signs or number plates etc have heard of Vizual Impact Because of the main road position
(and obviously the superior standard of work).
But the biggest problem is that you move from dealing with just the trade as you probably do now, to dealing with the public and thats when you have your eyes opened. Theres some really nice people out there in this world and also some stupid horrible B*stards as well.
You have to bite your tongue sometimes and it does get stressfull as happens when you get five people turn up at the same time and think that because its a shop you can just walk in and buy it there and then. But the cash flow is better and theres probably more profit from
smaller quick turnaround jobs.
The biggest problem is parking, people are basicly lazy and won’t come in if they can’t park right outside the door.
Our parking is quite good but we have been looking for larger premises with more parking, but having a shop for so long we could’nt move to a trading estate as this would lose the public all together. so the ideal place is a commercial unit on a main road with a large car park (we have three cars before the customers even come in) but with a big shopfront.
Hope this helps.

[Kevin.Beck]

quite agree with the comments above, about joe public being a bit tick sometimes. Had someone come in today and said “what kind of shop is this?” Keep a cricket bat handy for wacking them over the head…

You do tend to get alot of smaller jobs from them, but they always pay upfront and most of the time pay cash….

the smaller jobs are good, but can be a pain sometimes, they seem to come in when you are in the middle of a larger project, and they always want them asap. Next week will never do.

I tend to keep these smaller type of jobs for tea breaks. You can easily cut a window sticker, or some other DIY fit graphics while the kettle boils. Many a morning I can make £50 while having the first cup of tea of the day..

If you have enough work space room, then go for the shop..

[Dave Bruce]

Hi Joe best of luck with the new shop.
I am in a similar position in that I have a choice of industrial unit out of town (about 1mile) and a town centre shop. Industial unit is very cheap rent/rates loads of parking but ofcourse out the way, town shop is much higher rent few parking spots outside and metered, and as someone said people are lazy, if they can’t park at the shop they will go to the other sign shop (well established)which has more parking. I am tearing my hair out trying to decide, some say in town is a must, some say out town is no problem if your work is good, and good price. I haven’t decided yet.
My last job we had alot of people coming in wasting time, but we had a chap to deal with all admin stuff, if we hadn’t, the work output would have been half. The unit was covered in different signs, panatrim, banners,A panel so the customer could see a range, and people still came in and said, wait for it……….”do you do sign here”. the company name even had the word Sign in it(don’t want to give them any advertising)

Dave

[john6512]

Ive got to agree with Marty – we have 3 companies – 2 of which deal only with trade and resellers, the 3rd is for the general public! I dont know about other people’s experience, but ours is terrible. The stories I can tell you about “so-called” clients would make you run a mile – but would I do it again – yes if I wasnt serving on the counter!

[Joe McNamara]

Thanks again for all the replies lads.
Marty – cheers for the offer of the chat etc. I pass your shop regularly but have never dropped in yet.
You don’t know how some people will react!!!! 😮
When I took my unit in kingswood I called in to Rod at Engravatech and the two lads at vinyl graphics – told them I wouldn’t get into a bidding war on any jobs or artwork being hawked around by price shoppers.
I think both companies appreciated it and I’ve had a few calls along the lines of “oh I just had a price of 300 quid from engravatech, can you do better”. I explained that I don’t get involved in competetive tendering, and got an almost amazed silence from the other end of the phone line…
I’ve sent a couple of small jobs your way Marty at times when I’ve been too busy and I don’t know whether they actually came to you or not, just passed your details on.
I don’t thing a signshop on the other side of town would affect you at all mate ( and neither will the joker who set up next to the Bath road BMW motorcycle dealer !) – have you seen his “signs”…. 😆 😆