Opening a shop...any tips??

[HappyNewt]

So, an opportunity has come up for a shop local to me.
I have been considering this for a while.

If you have done this already, tried, succeeded, failed, what would your advice be to someone starting out?
What do you wish you had known?

Focus of the shop would be 'Garden & Home' including locally produced products as well as locally grown flowers (fresh cut, arranged and dried) & a few plants too.
It is possible to do coffee etc, but not wanting it to be a cafe.
I intend to offer workshops - floristry, gardening and handmade items for the home.

Scared to take the leap....worried about covering costs in the set up stages...(I can cover costs, but obviously the business needs to make a healthy profit!!!).

This option has come up about a year before I'm ready fully testing everything in a more risk free way through hiring venues for workshops, and selling through pop ups etc....eeek!

Many thanks!!!

A garden and home type shop opened near us about 4 years ago, and has done really well, but they are different to what you're describing. They took over an old iron mongers and have continued with ironmongery - Neil's, screw, jubilee clips, chain by the meter, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies etc, key cutting. DIY stuff - paint, wallpaper, paint mixing, brushes and all the accessories. Big kitchen bit - cricket, cutlery (paper, plastic and china), kettles, mugs, some really good bakeware, lunch boxes and water bottles; cleaning stuff; laundry stuff.

Big gardening area
Domestic electricals - kettles, irons etc

Christmas decs at Christmas
BbQs and garden furniture in the summer
A good line of woolly hats, gloves and wellies.

School stationery (we have 3 schools in the village!) positioned next to bags of sweets.

I joke that they sell all the bits I used to get from Amazon!

They cut timber and glass to size too.

We are 9 miles from the nearest town, so it is really handy to be able to bob in for these types of things rather than having to go out to B&Q . They've also tapped into the local building market and open at 7.30 am. They are also open on Sundays which is helpful for home DIYers.

They have a very useful board of local tradespeople's cards and a display are for local crafts people to sell their stuff - there some beautiful wood turning products.

They do on line videos of "How to hang wallpaper" and similar, and have had a few community events..

How exciting.

Have you managed a shop before? Got merchandising experience? Buying experience? Staff management experience? Sales experience? If not, then I wouldn't recommend it. It really isn't easy to get right and you need the basics down before you leap.

Just seen this so hope you are doing well. I've been running a small gallery for a year

I have managed a store (albeit not my money in it) however, did the P&L and bought in stock etc so did understand the pitfalls of day to day etc and long term good/bad.
Anything fresh as you know has a short shelf life. I sold flowers however the mark up wasn’t that great tbh. You need a supplier that would offer replacement for what doesn’t sell so you don’t lose money here.
Wastage can soon take away from profit margins and that would be my biggest concern in any new business.
Think about ‘bread & butter’ lines - what items are going to keep you ticking over as a shop - staples that customers know are readily available at your store and they can rely on you.
Look for products with good mark ups - Cards used to have a really good mark up (60% if I recall correctly). Perhaps suppliers of more niche products could have space in your store for their stock and you take a % for each sale (another way that the value of the stock is not on you as the shop owner if the products don’t sell you just advise the supplier and they remove their stock and you try something different)
As I’m sure you know it’s all about price point as well, if you’re competitive, you have a bit of a niche market as an example your unique selling point could be you can purchase gifts/cards/nice homewares then it makes people want to come in.
Coffee shop could be a lovely addition however it’s the staff that would be my concern here - Staff take a huge outlay especially if they are not reliable, getting good staff can be a nightmare, sometimes so worked form 7am until 10pm as a staff member didn’t show, big outlay in catering/health & safety etc etc.
Start simple is what I would say. All the best with your venture.