How to Open a Children's Clothing Consignment Store

Even if you are a notice entrepreneur and don't have retail experience, you can have a successful consignment store. With the right personality and other key factors, opening a consignment store for children's clothing can be a lucrative career. If you have great merchandise, the right location, and a good marketing strategy, your dream of opening a consignment store can become a reality.

Instructions

1. Find your location. Seek a location that is visible to the public, ideally located in an area that has other child-related services. Once you find your location, you will apply for your business license at your county tax office. In some cases, you may also be able to receive your business tax identification number (tax ID) there as well. You can also get your tax ID online through the Internal Revenue Service website.

2. Gather your own items to sell. When you open your store initially, you may not have consignors yet. Until you acquire some, you will need to have a good merchandise base to start the business. You can peruse yard sales, thrift stores, and online classifieds for items to stock up your store. You can also purchase some new items at wholesale prices once you have a business tax ID number.

3. Select a software program that is designed for use in consignment businesses. This tool will help you to keep track of your consignors, their items, and money. If you are not going to invest in a software package, create your own system to keep track of the items you consign as well as maintain information for consignors about your procedures and policies. Using color coded and numbered tags is a great way to keep track of items without using software.

4. Price your items well. A good rule of thumb for a used item is to price it at 30-40% of the full retail. This number can be adjusted based on the condition of the items and the available inventory. You may want to have a period of time that items will be offered at consignment before they are returned to the owner. This is a good way to keep items rotating in the store so that repeat customers can see that you have new merchandise when they visit.

5. Market to your ideal customers. For a children's consignment store, you should target your marketing to parents, grandparents, and other guardians of children. Join online parenting forums that are based in your area, attend playgroups and mommy groups, and attend children's events around the city. You can also put an advertisement in local parenting magazines and offer discounts and coupons to entice customers. You can even send press releases to your local newspapers before your grand opening day.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you price appropriately. Overpricing will lose sales; underpricing will displease your consignors and result in submission of lower quality items for you to sell.

• Even after you have consignors, you can still add your own merchandise to boost sales and your profit.

• Be prepared to put in long hours. Opening a business requires a strong commitment.

References

• How to Open a Consignment Shop Business
• The Association of Resale Professionals