do you think there would be much mileage in opening a cloth nappy shop?

[NappiesGalore]

dp says he thinks not. that 'niche retail has in some ways been saved by the internet, but also killed by it'. that id be mad to take on a shop and premises and the hours / staff / stocktaking involved...

but i reckon it would be brilliant to have an emporium of cloth, where you could go and see and feel and touch and talk about and be advised on all the different types and sorts...

could also do all the outdoorsy stuff you only seem to be able to get online, like waterproof dungerees etc (i love all that stuff too)

and perhaps do second hand exchange sort of service on the nappies too...

what does everyone think?

would it only work in london, or not at all?

wellll...... if you research the uptake in your locality and its good then go for it - however, if its not then i wouldnt, i was offered a unit locally but uptake is so poor up north that i would never make money back. How about a market stall to start? (i considered this also but am scared of the cold lol!) . Also i find a brick and mortar shop would take a lot of commitment long term - ask yourself when the babes are out of nappies will the interest stillbe there.... maybe you should become a london agent first to see the uptake - come be a nappyzone agent , moneys crap but you get to test the market....

I think it would be great from a consumer's point of view but your dp is probably right unfortunately .

Maybe as part of a more general concen though and if you kept the Internet side up. You would need to look at the margin you get on the Internet side and work out if it would support the extra physical shop costs.

not wanting to put you off but margins are not super on the internet side so would be even less in a shop - if i was a millionaire though and did it just for fun then id happily open and run one for the fluffy loveliness and conversion of otheres right bang inthe middle of london - next to harrods - i couldnt earn a living doing it internet wise either but then maybe thats just me coz im crap at it lol!

Fab idea! Do it near me!! We have one shop but the service is crap and they sell second hand stuff too so makes the shop looks a bit like it doesn't know what kind of shop it is.

Hi

There is a lovely nappy shop in Holmes Chapel (a village about 25 miles outside of Manchester) called Peachy Cheeks. I had a chat with him last week when I went in for a nosey around - he says he does the majority of his business on-line but that he found people really wanted to be able to come and see/feel the different nappies and talk to someone in person.

The shop has been open for over a year now and seems to be doing well. It can work

not sure if totally cloth shop would keep itself going and make any money on top- i sell cloth as i have a captive market with low internet connection rates (welsh farmers in the hills!) but my cloth sales would never support say the rent let alone business rates (they're the killer- can double your rent!!!!!)

maybe a wider range- organic type stuff inc clothing, cleaning products, not nescesarily food but all the eco stuff that goes with (mooncups etc, ecover, organic lotions and potions)

it would be great to be able to go and feel the nappies, and get advice. Maybe you could do slings too, its hard to know which one is best, and online, you just dont get chance to try them on.

yes i agree with preggers again - when will yo reveal yourself by the way? anywy maybe you could have a shop selling a wider range of nursery equipment inc. cloth like a specialist pram shop - like mamas and papas or bugaboo etc.... or even mutsy mega bucks.... or maybe just designer baby wear to convert the yummy mummy brigade.....

oh i want a shop now [stamps feet in a tantrum!]

hmmmm...

hollygoheavily - thats v encouraging.

i would have thought teaming up with someone like bumfluff or nappyzone and keeping the internet side going - expanding it even (as all sellers seem to do different selections of stuff but no-one seems to do all, or most, of it...)

i thouhgt of bumfluff as they are in b'mouth which is relatively near me... and seriously doubt we could afford knightsbridge rates zone, you nutter!

so how would i check uptake zone? and i do seriously bear in mind the chance to be an agent, not least to get a feel for the business...

nab - so the shop you know of seems confusing? could you elaborate on that? i think i would want to diversify a bit... but not so much that consumers would be unsure of what we are.

preggers - hmmmm, i dont think id want to go down the everything green route - there just seems to be so much of that, with a bit of this and a bit of that... my vision is for one place to have ALL the cloth stuff, not a couple of different kinds (like greenbaby for eg)

agree bookthief, from consumer pov, would be brilliant.

oh i like the idea of slings in there too...

designer clothes etc? hmmm maybe... but you can get that sort of stuff all over, its the stuff you cant get other than online im interested in. nappies, slings, outdoor and summer gear...

go along to some baby clinics and stalk the health visitors for info.... - if your on friendly terms with them you could leave some surveys for them to hand out as to just record how many users or potential interest

• now now i did say if i was a millionaire! .

Where are you based - London area? I agree with the green thing - i think to run aside something with profits would help...

Nappies galore and lawnmowers.. - well maybe not lawnmowers but you see what i mean! - i have my silly head on today!

It already exists in London:

Green Baby.

I had several long chats with Jill Barker when she first opened the shop I was on baby no 2 in cloth, when washable nappies were still very much the preserve of the lentil-knitting fringe. I do remember her saying that, like you, she thought that customers would appreciate being able to handle the products and get information. But I think nowadays nappy sales through the shops are only a very small part of the overall business the shops also sell eg. lambskins, blankets, fairtrade clothes, organic baby products, blahdiblah, as well as the website which I suspect has much higher sales.

But her business is clearly working well, so it can be done. But she is (or was in a former life) a city business analyst or some such, so went into it with her eyes wide open.

what would be great is to have a shop that did this kind of thing (nappies, doidy cups etc) but was also a nice place to go to get out of the house.

• do internet connection
• have toys for babies
• have garden for toddlers to run around
• sell coffee and cakes and perhaps weaning food ** books/toy exchange would also be good

think not

think it depends massively where you are. I nearly did this last year but the sums didn't add up. probably in a very big town/city with good cheap shops and not much else baby related then yes. But where I looked it wouldn't have made sense. Just not the through flow of people.

am not in london anymore. hampshire. near to southampton, winchester and salisbury (and bournemouth and portsmouth)

frogs - no, i dont want to do what greenbaby do. they only sell about 4 different designs of nappy, all their own. i want to sell all of them. there are hundreds. (well, loads anyway). and i am not really interested in being just another eco green buzzword shop. i think greenbaby et al do a fine job of all that.

witchandchips - that does sound nice actually... if it were in the right location...

i would seriously consider widening the range of products- say with overheads of £600 a month rent (very cheap) and £275 month rates, plus leccy and water etc and general admin supplies roughly £100 per month you have overheads of £975 p/mo. That equates to a break even point per month of at least £2500, thats before you've paid yourself/ aquired staff etc. You would be working aprox 55 hours per week (open 6 days 9-5, plus admin and stress-tme) to pay yourself £5 p/h would then be £275, so taking your overheads up to £1250 meaning a trading monthly income of £3125 that is based on the very generous margin of 40% that so far i've only had from one nappy company. These figures are based on a store the size of a postage stamp- our rates on a two floor place are £1475 per month!!!

I never have a monthly nappy turnover of more than £900, that is based on actual nappy sales, wraps, accesories, liners etc- prob is once people have bought nappies, you're only making a couple of quid a month out of them if they use sposie liners, and often when you give people good advice it means that they will never have to come back and spend more money- ie btp nappies, fleece liners, washable wipes etc.

with a more comprehensive range you could give people good nappy advice but know that those people will return to buy other items because you have helped them- try not to focus on one-off buys, once people have bought a sling they won't need to come back for another one if you have given them good advice, but if you ran a range of products such as ecover, eco-green-clean, soap nuts etc- these customers will return time and time again- and spend money each time they come in- thats they key unfortunatly!

My dream is an eco shop

a friend of mine successfully runs an organic baby food shop in our local town, its tiny and the shop would not support itself without the internet sales, having the shop saves them having to get a storage unit though, but I think they have a massive throughput on the internet and obviously people come back every week for more food and regular orders.

Hve you looked in to doing this without an actual shop....

Hand out leaflets and M&B groups, maternity clinics etc etc do stands, info evenings and visit mums with samples and catalogues. Word of mouth can be a fabulous thing.

Saves on rent, rates stcok for display and all that and you can make it a much more personal service.

If you do mail order and have a good website you could reach a much wider clientele than a shop would.

hmmm.

ok, so it would never work.

dp's right; theres a reason there arent (m)any already !

oh well....

it would work but not just with nappies, you'd have to sacrifice the purity of a nappy shop and suppliment with something else! worth looking into though!!!

I didn't say it wouldn't work I was just suggesting alternative ways of doing this.

There is a shop newly opened in our town doing reconditioned baby items like prams and cots (in the shop I wanted ), but I don't know how well they will do. Haven't seen much in the way of advertising or press realeases (sp??), but then I am not moving in baby circles anymore.

Make us of the press and get them to do stories on you what ever route you decide to take, great free advertising and often you can get a big spread. Make use of special offers to get interest going too.

I had the oppertunity to open a shop when preg with DS2 but already having two kids and no business plan to support my lending as my current business was funded by my other work, I just couldn't get my paperwork together in time and some one else took the shop. The overheads would have been huge though, it was in a prime location in South Manchester with two huge display windows and would have been ideal Secretly I was kind of relieved that the decision was taken away from me, however I would go for it again. I have to say though I would not soley stock cloth, I intended to run a birth pool hire company, have a breastfeeding bra fitting service and sel/hirel breast pumps etc alongsside organic clothing etc.