Should I or should'nt I ?

[Luc]

Here is the situation. THe ONLY OTHER flower shop in ELliot Lake is up for sale. Wants $20,000.00 for it. I am thinking to buy it, use it for LOCAL ORDERS ONLY, NO incoming NO outgoing NOTHING so ALL ORDERS HAVE TO PASS THROUGH ME, NO AND IF OR BUTS.
So If I do this what do you think will happen to all of those order Gatherers now. Flowers by Sears, FTD, Teleflora, 1-800, ETC ETC

This good be something really worth considering....
They could be hit by a mack truck on the side of the head when they realize what happen.

Dreams do come true Luc

Luc

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

ask yourself THIS.....

do you "NEED TO" buy this place, and literally "OWN" the filling "rights" for a HUNDRED SQUARE KILOMETRES??

 

[Luc]

The answer is Maybe , BUT

It gives me the privilidge of saying NO to many more order gatherer.

The rumour in the town at this moment is a lady who owns a store already in this mall is looking at getting it. I Know for a fact that her Credit or even her husband credit is Nil. I know for a fact that she has no clue about fresh flowers. So she dabs in wedding work in the summer in artificial but that is as far as she goes and does not do the arr. herself. I know that many suppliers will get screwed with her. And I know that I can gain new customers if this all happens. I will wait patiently in the background because it will happen one day that I WILL BE IN CONTROL OF ORDERS IN ELLIOT LAKE.
THEN WHAM THANK YOU MAM!!!
At this point Mikey, I will let you come to Elliot Lake and take your turn on the phone ans saying No and to anybody on this board who would like to tryit, but are scare doing it. This feeling is as good as winning the lottery.


Membership to get orders filled in Elliot Lake will be very costly.
Luc

 

[theRKF]

Luc,

I don't see how there is any longterm value in this. Before you've paid off the $20k, someone else will open a shop. Exclusivity is a rare opportunity and has a very short life span in this industry. Most towns, as we all know, have 3x as many shops as they need. I'm afraid the benefits of this deal may be too short term and not worth the $20k. You'd have to make $20k profit before someone else opens a new shop just to break even and get the perceived value.

Ryan

 

[sunny]

Luc what happens if nobody comes along with the 20k , is she closing up anyway or will she struggle on through. As much as I hate og orders , I wouldn't pay more money just for the joy of telling them where to stick their orders. I get enough of that now. If she's closin up anyway , keep your money in your pocket , buy her phone# , you'll still get the joy of POing the OG's . Ask Hugh , he's bought, several phone lines belonging to failed competition, like getting the milk without having to buy the cow.

 

[George Simon]

Is this 20,000 Canadian?
It does not sound like a lot of money to pay for an established shop.
Just keep the same name, that way no one will think there is only one shop in town and try to open another one.
You will at least gain to customers they already have. How many is that? How much would you have to spend in promotions and advertisements to gain that number of customers?
Don't do it just to piss off the OG because if they can't fill orders in your area they might just come in an open up a shop to do just that. I don't think is a good idea to force their hand. They might buy you out.

 

[steve]

My guess is if they are only asking $20,000.00 for it then its probably not makeing any money!!!. What is the value of the inventory that is non parishable. And is it useable inventory or just old junk? Whats the lease situation can you walk away from it? If you can then maybe an offer based on useable inventory/ fixtures and the phone number would be good but not $20,000.00.

 

[Audra]

I would say 'don't do it', Luc. You have your store, the new store and you're devoting yourself to both those businesses. Is her customer base really worth the $20K you'll be paying for it? You and I both know there's no quality product there - why waste money on an inventory you don't want and likely won't use.

Spend your time and money on your current endeavors, she likely will close up because I can't see the store selling or lasting long if it does.
Audra

 

[Rock]

Luc,
After careful thought, I thought I'd give you my 2 cents worth!
I don't know much about Elliot Lake (expect for a few ads on a cable channel that promoted it as a retirement community) so it's difficult to give a informed opinion BUT it seems that it's a similar community to Bay Roberts so here goes anyway.

The store is either going to close or sell to someone who doesn't have a clue. This same thing has happened to us several times in the past 20 years and we've weathered it and are the only one here in Bay Roberts now. When Growers Direct opened here in 1994 we saw some customers go there because their roses were 12.99 Dz and ours were just a tad more (probably 49.95). We cut our prices on roses, carnations, funeral arrs etc etc to "compete" ! Well, that was several years before Brian started his original florist board and we really didn't have access to all the knowledge and experience the early members there provided us. We QUICKLY learned how life threatening that was to our business - and lost money that following year. The second year they were open we went back to normal prices and things came around because their quality was not there and they closed after being in business just 2 years.

Over the 20 years we've been here we've seen 10 other shops open and close and we now just ignore them, for the most part.
IMHO, I'd let the other shop close or sell to some clueless person; if they close you might pick up the stock cheap and the phone line (have to wait a year here and it really isn't worth very much UNLESS they were a popular, good quality shop!) and if they sell to the missus who has no credit and no clue then she'll cut every corner including sell old flowers. A new owner doing this will only move you higher in the publics eyes and before you know it they're gone.

Luc, I don't see any upside to buying the shop, just lots of downside - a second shop to run, more rent, more wages; in general more expense in time and money and the market isn't going to get any larger since it's in your own town.

Rock on Buddy!!

 

[Pam]

Should I or shouldn't I

We are in a small town ..... next shop is 30 miles away. We have been here for 127 years and have built up a quality name ... plus anyone who grew up here and moved away ... they remember our name so we get the calls. We have had 3 other shops (some experienced and some newbies) open up in competition over the last 15 years. One stayed in business (2 owners) for 4 years ... the other two were gone in 2 to 3 years. I now look at someone opening up in competition as an excuse to clean up the shop. We have built the tradition of service and quality and value and have been able to make it unsurvivable for someone new.

My opinion which shouldn't mean too much as I don't know your area is that to make your shop the place to go and let someone else try the other shop and go out of business in a couple of years. $20,000 doesn't sound as if it is a great investment and if they do go out of business then you inheiret (sp?) the other shops customers anyway. It would be interesting to see if she is retiring because of age or health or if she just doesn't have the business needed to keep going and wants to pawn it off on someone else.

 

[Floralye]

We did it!

A number of years ago the owners of a competing shop approached us about
buying their shop. They just wanted out of the floral business. Business was
down, but the cash flow was excellent. We bought it for 10,000.00 less than
the asking price. Had a 15 year loan, paid it off in less than 5 years. Our biggest problem was staffing. We eventually consolidated both shops in one larger location and kept the telephone number for the second shop and it has worked very well for us. You really need to have a positive cash flow for this to work.
Genevieve