Locating a Retail Space for a Consignment Shop

The location of your store could be the single defining factor between your business's success and failure. A good location sets you up to win; a bad one puts you at a serious disadvantage from the start.

Because your consignment store's location is so critical, it is worth putting in double effort on this one area. In other words, you will do much better to spend an extra two weeks to find a great location for your store than you will to spend, say, an extra two weeks getting a website built, or even finding great items for your inventory. Finding the right location covers up a multitude of mistakes. And, of course, you have to find a place that meets your budget.

What Makes a Great Resale Store Location

So if its so important, what should you be looking for? In a word, foot traffic. You may at first think that means being on a corner of a busy street in the "cute" shopping district of your town. It could mean that, or it could mean being next to a drop off laundrymat, a popular coffee shop/sandwich place, or even next to a karate school. Restaurants, schools, gyms and even large employers are also good neighbors. Pool halls, bars and tax preparers are not such good neighbors. What makes a good neighbor is regular, steady traffic that sometimes has to wait around. Its even better if the kind of people going in and out are all your prospective clients. The laundrymat is especially good, and would be even better if it was a dry-cleaners, because then you have a perfect place to refer consignors to get their clothes store-ready.

Square Feet, Bathrooms and Window Space

Good windows will help you a lot. If you are going to sell clothes, having a place where you can hang clothes out (like flags) will get you more attention than even a great sign. Everybody's eyes will go to the sexy purple dress fluttering in the wind.

Having a bathroom for customers can be as much a blessing as a curse. It will get you incremental traffic in some cases, but it could definitely be more of a hassle than its worth. Letting streams of customers may also increase your likihood for theft, as it is so easy to grab a shirt on the way in, then stuff it in a purse or a bulky coat while the in the bathroom.

Now the big question: store size. Most successful stores need anywhere from 2500 to 3500 square feet. In some cases, depending on your resale niche, you might get away with less, especially if your merchandise turnover is good. Anything smaller than 1000 square feet is going to be extremely hard to do well with. That said, I have heard of a store that started with 450 square feet and just moved a couple years later after the business took off. Maybe they rented a storage space.

Immediately give a third of your square footage over to storage. Once you get relentless about not taking things that won't sell, you might get away with having 20% for storage, but do yourself a favor at the start and put aside 25%. You'll also need room for the checkout area. And, if you will be selling clothing, you'll need room for a dressing room.

Good Access is Essential

If you can't get actual foot-traffic, the next best thing is to at least be easy to find, visible, easy to access and have good parking. I have watched one consignment store pass through three different owners in the five years I've lived in my town. I know that at least part of the problem is access. The store is right off a very busy street in town, but you can only get to the parking lot if you are on the right side of the street -- turning around from the wrong direction is a nightmare. The traffic is also very fast, and the parking lot for this consignment store is a hard 90 degree turn that goes up a steep little hill. Its only a few feet, but it is absolutely not a turn you can make at 30 or even 20 miles an hour. People sometimes beep at you, even with a turn signal on. Getting out is not much better.

It seems like a small thing, and it is a small thing, but it is enough of a hassle that I have driven by this store hundreds of times, knowing I needed to go in to check on an item I had put up for sale, and I don't go in because its too much of a hassle to deal with the traffic. The owners may well be losing 40-50% of their customers simply because the access is so bad. There's not enough margin in a consignment store's profits to have to go buy those missing 40-50% of customers with advertising.

Continue to Negotiate A Retail Store Lease

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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