business idea? bad or good? please help input needed.

[misdee]

was chatting to my sister today and we commented on the lack of baby/child facilities in the area when it comes to shopping and also the lack of specialist baby shops (we have john lewis' and that it, mothercare closed it shop last year due to high rents in the shopping centre). I hate the way i have to order real nappies online as have been unable to find an actualy shop to buy them. sister wants to open a baby friendly cafe, with well thought out facilities and baby changing area, not just a unit screwed to the wall with nowhere to stand kinda thing. we are thinking (and its just in the thought stage atm) of trying to sort out a shop selling real nappies, other nappies, cd's, videos, maternity wear (which dont look like tents), getting people in to do talks, have maybe a small cafe area with bottle warming, play area, other small items which are hard to get in a general mothercare. maybe even 'upper' class buggies. is this a good idea? would it better to set out as an internet shop, maybe an indoor market stall, then branching out further. i have so many ideas running thro my head but wouldnt have a clue how to start. my sister knows a bit about VAT and accounts after running a breakfast club at the unit she worked in, and also insureneces and all that. just want to know if anyone would be interested in anything liek we're suggesting and any other ideas u may have.
we can take criticsim well also

How weird , i was talking to someone about this the other day , I think It is a fabulous idea. Would be like a boutique baby cafe. AMAZING I would love to do soemthing along the same lines. I was a buyer in previous life so I need to use grey cells again. Were are you thinking of doing it?? I now design furntiture and do interiors decor to , so any help I can give would be great.

Very USA concept.

My kids are older but I would have been interested in this when they were little. In fact my sis and I were saying only yesterday that there are no clothes shops locally (Solihull) that cater for pre-teens. Even Next stop at 9-10 and some of the teen clothes are too "grown up" for my tall and thin 11 year old daughter.
Go for it!! Have a look at commercial premises through estate agent obviously depending on where you live would determine the rent/rates. You could even specialise in baby/toddler only birthdays. Oooh do you want a business partner?

the rents outside the shopping centre and cheaper and its quite a busy town. the video idea is along the idea of babycare/parenting issues, not things like bob the builder, baby einstein maybe. i wouldnt dream of setting it up in my own town as its a ghost town but welwyn garden city is a good place and open and green. maybe i chuck my old sofa in for breastfeeding mums, its sooo comfty lol. just lots of ideas like i say, do u think we should get permission and stop all mums in the town to do surveys. (btw welwyn hatfields contribution to real nappy week is a display board and a few trial packs available.) would love to set up somewhere where parents can access the alturnative easily without having to resort to online purchases (like i do)

It is a great idea misdee and worth thinking about if you are both serious and have the time. Juggling your own business and small children is a nightmare - and that is coming from experience!! What seems like a great idea at the time can turn into a massive personal commitment - financial, time consuming, emotionally fraught, brain numbing exercise. i am not trying to put you off, just trying to say that if you are serious then brilliant but just take your time thinking it through before jumping in too far. A bank?s small business adviser should be able to help with how to go about making a business plan and what to think about, when etc.
For example, you need to think about premises - any old shop won?t do if you are thinking about food, it needs kitchen and appropriate floor space that meet health and food safety standards. You need to think about purchase of equpment for the area - tables, chairs, cutlery, plates etc, coffee makers, microwaves, cooking utensils, display cabinets, fridge freezers etc. etc. Next you need to think about other stock such as the actual clothes, toys, books etc. - who would be your stockists and on what terms would you aquire the stock? Sale or return? Buy outright etc., could be very costly and would need a loan for this as well. Once you have you stock and the cafe set up, you would need shelving and clothes rails, a ticket pricing machine, signs, logos, bags, a cash register (can hire these). Staff and staff wages. On top of all those expenses there is the business liability side of things - insurance is not cheap (eg. for health and safety of customers and staff, to pay wages in case of closure, fire, flood damage of stock etc. etc. - very pricey) Many compaines will need your cafe staff to have hygiene certificates. If there is any kind of creche staff will need health and police checks - time consuming and potentially expensive (#50-#100 for the health check per person alone...). Then there is the expense of the opening campaign - advertising is not cheap. I will stop there but that is just for starters to give you an idea of what you could be dealing with.
It is a wonderful idea and plenty of people open businesses all the time - but it is very hard work and very very stressful. Juggling the paperwork and phone calls with young children is very hard to do.
If I were you, I would make a big list of every aspect of the type of business you would like to run, think about cost and action implications for each item (eg. toilet facilities - need shop that has these already there, need supplies for cleaning and maintenance, hire a cleaner, ask cafe staff as part of job description or do it yourself?)...
If you are still undaunted by it all, go and get yourself a business adviser and get stuck in. Good Luck

Misdee, great idea - needs a business plan so you can see if it's viable.

You need to consider
Start-up costs (ie will you have to pay a premium to acquire a lease on the premises you need, how much will it cost to kit it out, buy initial stock, marketing, printing, buying/setting up the company etc) Do you have the capital/can you raise it?

Some kind of SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) -
eg Strengths - you have prior knowledge of the market and have done research due to having kids of your own

Weaknesses - we have little capital and are very vulnerable to fluctuations in levels of business activity. We are vulnerable to suffer if one partner is sick as have small number of staff.

Opportunities - No competition, new type of business for the area, filling a gap in the market.

Threats - What if Mothercare decided to re-open outside the shopping centre? Would this wipe out your business?

Finacial Data -

Costs - ie Overheads/Capital equipment (rent, rates, utilities, staffing costs, taxes, stationery, computers, maintenance etc)

Costs of sale - ie Cost of buying in your stock (this includes stuff for the cafe of course)

Projected sales - Will the profit made from these be enough to cover the overheads and ongoing stock purchase, plus leave enough to pay yourselves (presumably you would staff it yourselves)

There is so much to think about! Suggest if you do an initial analysis along the lines of what I have put above and then approach a small business advisor at a bank you should be able to see if it's viable fairly quickly.

If you have a local NCT, they might have useful info too and you could advertise in their newsletter.

Good luck, it sounds very cosy, a sort of respite from the outside world!

also got anadded advantage of my sister being a nursery nurse, i have worked in coffee shop but dont think i got my hygiene cert so can probably get that easily.

thanks for the ideas, what to do etc, will hopefully get past the talkinmg stage and actually get out there. (and also get me off benefits yippee!!!!!)

I think it's a great idea

I would love to run a baby clothes/pushchairs shop or a day nursery. Me and my mom are always saying that we would do it, when we win the lottery.

If you wanted to test out the nappy idea then you could get an agent from one of the nappy companies to come in on set days - maybe take a cut or something? Saves you having to buy stacks of stock.

If you're near me I'll do it.

Would LOVE a cafe with play pens or even better a childrens play area all fenced in (like in Moto service stations).

In principle it sounds like a good idea. However I think before you go to a bank you'd really need to decide what the focus and puropse of the business is. Is it a retail outlet, a child friendly meeting point with activities, exchange/second hand store ? With the cafe etc you'd need to be really careful to check out what the Health and Safety legislation would apply - sometimes you need kids-sized toilets and basins which are quite specialist or a minimum space for a play area with a limited number of kids permitted. Could you do the nappies as an agency within this same venue and minimise up front costs. Or perhaps a Maternity clothing agency where people can hire stuff for special occasions or buy second hand (it doesn't get a lot of wear after all) with the seller paying you commission.

tbh it might be better to start off on a small scale and really focussed on one aspect of it before diversifying but then you run the risk of needing larger premises when you do.

One thing Misdee, knowing Welyn GC a bit (I was brought up in Hatfield) the Howard centre is great if you have kids as parking etc is easier, if you have a shop/cafe outside of the main centre would it attract enough business?? I know we are all fans here - understandably - but I am thinking that you would have to be close to parking, in a main throughfare etc to make sure you get the buggies/babies in. Also the grannies need to be able to see it as they are often the ones who buy some of the more expensive stuff.

Good Luck, I think it's a great idea. I am out in Colchester now and there are loads if cafes, but not particularly baby friendly. I think by definition you need space between tables with buggies and this is too costly. To have the shop and cafe may be difficult in terms of space.

Sorry I sound negative I don't mean to

welwyn is great, but the howard centre, altho good for parking, doesnt provide much in the way of child friendly cafe. u have the nescafe stand at one end which is open and near the elevators and morellis at the other which is jammed packed of tables and chairs and cant really let the kids out of the buggy. i love the shop idea but after talking to my sister again we are thinking of starting with just an internet based business to see how things go. i have the lovely job now of looking into the costs of items whilst my sister is gonna deal with the web space etc. it limits our ideas a bit but feel its less risky this way. hopefully in a few years we might be able to set up the shop. (or if i win the lottery i'll do it anyway).

there is a designer kids clothes shop outside the howard centre which does quite well they also sell 2nd hand clothes at a lower price.

btw crucnhie, where in hatfield were u? i'm in birchwood. lovely area