Preparing For Your Consignment Store Grand Opening

The grand opening for a consignment shop is like a house warming party for your new house. It is an opportunity to bring people to your store and show them what you have to offer. It is also the perfect opportunity to bring customers to your consignment store and help make them regular customers.

When you can have a great grand opening, you will find that the first few months of your new consignment shop are much easier to handle. Customers will be coming in and the profit will be flowing. All it takes is understanding how to put the 'grand' in grand opening.

Grand Openings Are Not Official Openings

Many new business owners assume that a grand opening means that they are held on the day that the business opens officially. However, if that day is a Wednesday, you aren't going to get a lot of walk-in traffic. Grand openings are generally held on Saturdays because that is the day most people do their shopping. Typically, a grand opening will come about a week after the soft opening, which is when the doors actually opened on the business. You don't have a house warming party on the day you move in and you don't have a grand opening on the first day of business. You need to work out any problems that may arise before hand. Your grand opening must go on without a hitch and that is why it comes a week or so after your soft opening.

Advertise!

You need to advertise your grand opening heavily. You want people to come out to your consignment store opening and the best way to do that is with newspaper advertising, radio spots and television commercials. You should also give out flyers to people and play them on windshields. The day of the grand opening, make sure you have signs pointing the way to the grand opening. You want to bring in as many people as possible. Even if they don't buy from you, you want them to be aware of you.

Entice People to Come Out

Even if you advertise your grand opening, you need a reason for people to come by. While some will come by to check out the shop and what you have, others want to have a reason to come out. There are several ways to do this, including:

1. Sales: Have a big sale on your grand opening. Offer 25 percent off to all customers who buy something and you will have a lot of people coming out to take advantage of the deal.

2. Offer Food: People like to eat and if you are having a barbecue, then just the smell of the food can be enough to bring people out to your business on the grand opening day. If you have the barbecue, think about having people pay by donation and then donate the earnings to a charity. People want to feel good and donating to a charity can do that. It also makes your consignment store look good in the community.

3. Celebrities: While you may not get George Clooney opening up your store by cutting a red ribbon, unless his career takes a real nose dive, you will be able to get a local celebrity. Perhaps a local sports star, a television anchor, or a politician, can be found who will come out and offer their celebrity to help bring people in. You would be surprised how many people come to your consignment store grand opening if you have a baseball star offering autographs. Be advised that for bigger celebrities, you may have to pay an appearance fee to have them come out.

Grand openings are the way you meet your future customers and kick-off the start to your consignment store. You want customers to come out and see what you have to offer, and you want to talk to your customers to find out what they want and expect from your shop. It is a perfect time to get your consignment shop off to the right start.

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Buying an Established Consignment Store

Best Days for Consignment Sales

Specializing Your Consignment Shop

Layaway Consignment Policies

Choosing Store Management Software

Resale, Consignment, Thrift and Second-Hand Stores

Locating a Retail Space and Negotiating the Lease

How Much Money Can You Make At Consignment?

A Sample Consignment Agreement

Setting up Your Consignment Shop

Consignment Agreement Policies

Preparing For Your Consignment Store Grand Opening

Creating an Unsold Items Policy

How To Start A Consignment Store

How to Properly Advertise Your Consignment Shop

How Much Money Do You Need To Start A Consignment Store?

Determining Hours of Operation For Your Consignment Store