Building and maintaining your inventory, while continuing to
rapidly turn that inventory over, can be handled in a number of
different ways. It's not a good idea for you to exchange two or
three of your customer's books for one of yours. There's always a
variance in price, plus you may not want the type of books your
customer is offering to trade.
The most feasible plan seems to be to give the customer a "credit
chit" for each book you buy from him. Simply
have a supply of business cards promoting your store, printed at
your local quick print shop. On the back of the card, have them
print something along these lines:
"The bearer of this card is entitled to _______________ cents
credit on 50% of the listed price of any book at Ye Olden Book
Store/s/ Your Signature."
Then when someone brings in a couple of books to sell, you pay
him in credit chits, marking in the amount and signing your name
on the card. An easier way might be to have your signature
printed on the cards when you order them you or your clerk would
simply fill in the credit amount, and emboss the card with a
notary-type embosser.
Usually, you allow 20 to 25 cents for mint condition paperbacks,
and about one quarter of your selling price for hardbacks. Always
make sure the customer understands that regardless of how many
'credit chits" he has, the credit chits can only pay for half the
purchase price. This of course, is to protect your cash-flow
problems, and your income of "hard money."
Many used book stores add to their income potential by adding
tape cassette lending libraries. These are a real money makers
with a kind of service tat lends out "books on tape" and special
learning programs where portions of the rental fee applies to the
purchase of the original tape cassette.
A great many used book stores add to their income by running mail
order book selling operations in addition to the retail business.
This is a natural, either for a retail operator wanting to expand
his market or a mail order operator wanting to increase his
income.
TYPICAL USED BOOK STORE START-UP COSTS....
1,000 TO 1,500 SQUARE FOOT STORE
RENT (1st and Last month's)..........$1,000 to $2,000
UTILITY & PHONE DEPOSITS.............$50 TO 300
INSURANCE (1st Quarter Payment).......$100 TO 200
LICENSES & PERMITS...................$50 to 250
INVENTORY............................$2,500 to 5,000
SHELVING & REMODELING................$2,000 TO 5,000
MISC (Decorating, checkout counter
cash register, supplies........$1,000 to 1,500
LEGAL & ACCOUNTING...................$600 TO 1,200
ADVERTISING & SIGNS...................$1,000 TO 3,500
__________________
TOTAL................................$8,250 TO 18,950
OPERATING CAPITAL....................$5,OOO TO 12,000
Entrepreneur should have enough operating capital in reserve to
not only keep the store operating for the first year, without
counting on anticipated profit, but also enough for unseen
emergencies without having to count upon income from the store to
see him through.
TYPICAL USED BOOK STORE MONTHLY OPERATING COSTS...
PAYROLL.............................$1,500 to $2,500
OWNER/OPERATOR SALARY...............$1,000 to $2,000
RENT/LEASE..........................$ 600 to $1,000
ADVERTISING........................$ 500 to $ 1,000
DEPRECIATION........................$ 100 to 150
UTILITIES & PHONE...................$ 150 to 300
PRINTING & STATIONERY................$ 100 to 200
SHIPPING COSTS......................$ 100 to 150
INSURANCE...........................$ 50 to 100
MAINTENANCE.........................$ 50 to 100
MISCELLANEOUS.......................& 100 to 150
____________________
TOTAL...............................$4,200 TO 7,650
OPERATING COSTS.....................$4,200 TO 7,650
ANTICIPATED SALES...................$5,000 TO 8,500
NET PROFIT BEFORE TAXES.............$ 800 TO 850
PRO FORMA ANNUAL INCOME (B/T).......$9,600 to 3,000
A word of caution: Though you must project an open, COMFORTABLE
invitation to browsers and would-be book buyers, you MUST also
inconspicuously guard against shoplifters and outright thieves.
The best is to place mirrors strategically throughout the store
so you can see your customers from the checkout desk at all
times. Your smaller and more expensive books should be kept up
front SO that you can see them and what your customers are doing
with them, without seeming to be guarding them. There are a
number of theft prevention gadgets and devices available, but
even more important is alert hired help that can keep an eye on
the customers without making them feel they're being watched.
The risks of starting a used book store are high for the dreamer
unaware that it's just another retail business and should be
handled as such. Well organized and intelligently-operated used
book stores are very stable, and they provide a very comfortable
income for the owner-operator willing to persist thru the
start-up period.
This can be the kind of business you've always dreamed of owning,
but you'll have to have the patience to let it grow and the
perseverance to see it thru to its ultimate success. With these
thoughts in mind, I say reach for the sky and may the angels of
paradise always be smiling upon you with endless good fortune!
article from Try Autoresponders
No comments:
Post a Comment