buying shop assests

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coastieflowers

coastieflowers

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Apr 5, 2008
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Seaside
www.seasidenaturalnook.com
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oregon
I am not sure if this is the right way to start a new thread, but I need some advise. I have been approached by a liquidator to buy the shop name and customer list and contents of a shop thats out of business. Lots of supplies, lots of vases and the contents of the store,Cash register, cooler etc. I am in a town 15 miles away. We deliver to this area every day anyway. Some one wants to buy some of the stuff too. Is this ever a good idea?:hammer:
 
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An absolutely utterly excellent idea - tho be careful not to pay too much and be sure to get the phone number (the most valuable part)

Like Dorothy said tho on the contents - fire sale pennies on the dollar prices or let someone else have them - the real value is in the phone number & customers.

Call me tomorrow and I'll talk you thru how we did it.
 
Also, we had another florist take over a closing shop's phone number in our valley. In the wire directories the old flower shop was listed and we only found out - at Christmastime! - that only the phone numbers were purchased. The new flower shop charged an enormous delivery fee without informing sending florists of the situation. Bad business. Never used that flowershop again.
 
Yes, this is a very good way to get a lot of inventory really cheap.

If the liquidator has it priced, offer half of his price. This assumes that his prices are already below the cost of the item.

I once bought out a shop and came with just a ridiculous amount of vases, containers etc for a few hundred dollars.

joe
 
I recently also had the oppurtunity to buy out some items from another shop. What savings to be had especially on glassware, when you consider the recent increases in prices. I would agree the most important part is the phone number and customers. It was unfortunate for me that this particular shop was just a fulfillment facility for 1-800. But definately GREAT deals to be had. Good luck with your purchases.

Jody
 
Awesome idea...we've done it a couple times. It can be a great "shot in the arm" for your business!
 
Twila said:
Awesome idea...we've done it a couple times. It can be a great "shot in the arm" for your business!
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AND - we plan on doing it several more times as well!:yourock:
 
Like Bloomz said, i would try and get the phonenumber. Also maybe see if they had a list of customers they would like to sell??
 
Palms said:
Also maybe see if they had a list of customers they would like to sell??
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IMO... the "customer list" is of little value generally because you have no idea who's still alive and who's dead, or dead beats...

The phone number is a key element. You would have them calling you, and convert the ones you can to new accounts for you and with a credit card only. No house accounts which those on their customer list might be used to.
 
BOSS said:
IMO... the "customer list" is of little value generally because you have no idea who's still alive and who's dead, or dead beats...

The phone number is a key element. You would have them calling you, and convert the ones you can to new accounts for you and with a credit card only. No house accounts which those on their customer list might be used to.
Click to expand...

When we purchased a customer list once, we found that a large number of the "customers" had only purchased once, several years ago, or similar situations.

Also, we tried to take of the phone# of my sister's shop when she closed, and the phone co. told us that we would have to pay for her ad in the phone book, 1/2 page. We told them, no thanks because we could not afford it. Additionally we knew that she had had to pay for the remainder of the year already, several thousand $$. We pointed out to the phone co. (Bell South at the time) that we knew that she had already paid for the ad. Made no difference to them. They still wanted us to pay.
 
I agree with Connie. You need to be careful about what exactly you are purchasing.

The merchandise and supplies would be great but I would be really careful with the whole buying the name and phone number. You could end up "buying" more than you think, depending on your local laws.
 
The phone number can be awesome for you - if they get a decent number of calls (make them prove it). Also, any payment for the number itself must be contingent on successful transfer. With some phone companies, it can take months. So make sure everything is in writing and don't pay everything up front. The customer list is probably worthless since the active customers will reach you anyway with the phone number.

Ken
 
BOSS said:
IMO... the "customer list" is of little value generally because you have no idea who's still alive and who's dead, or dead beats...

The phone number is a key element. You would have them calling you, and convert the ones you can to new accounts for you and with a credit card only. No house accounts which those on their customer list might be used to.
Click to expand...

Even tho we do open house accounts for the clients of the shops we got phone numbers for...ocasionally we do say sorry, credit card only.

Funny thing was once when someone said "well she used to bill us"

And I sais "and she went out of business"

Funnier yet thing was when I found out she never sent out bills, just expected people to send in payments.

And, she had an entire back room full of about 4-5 years of unopened cases of every TF container you could buy.

I was told once by a consultant in these matters that the only customers worth courting are ones who have purchased in the last year. We dumped everyone who was over 18 months since their last purchase from another one we aquired.
 
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