Antique Busniness can Change you life

The vision of owning an antique shop is forever one that scores quite high on the list of dream businesses to run. However, it's not just a query of having a good eye for leftovers. Competition is tough, and the current financial climate has meant the clients with cash to spend are thin on the ground. According to the British Antique Dealers Association there are about twenty thousands antique dealers in the UK, and period is hard.

Antiques are becoming more and more difficult to find, and prices are getting superior, so this is an expensive and time overwhelming business to set up. In the old-fashioned trade involves a lot of detective work. You also need a hard to believe amount of expert knowledge and must be ready for a lot of waiting around. The Antiques Road show may paint a rosy image but if you're expecting to find sufficient items in your loft to set up a shop then you've already fallen at the first difficulty. It has been recommended that one quarter of the overall inhabitants collects something.

An antique shop

As people become more educated and gain greater dispensable profits, they tend to look at the buy of antiques and figurines for investment, safety, and for aesthetic appeal. Of these types of people, it's predictable that one third invest in antiques and figurines. But owning an antique shop is not a short-term profit-making business enterprise.

Antiques can every so often sell well, if they're at a good value, or they can sit for months, if not years, with few paying attention clients, therefore some owners create their old-fashioned shop only a sideline to their usual profession, starting from home or specializing in antique fairs. According to Fiona Ford special projects director at LAPADA (The Association of Art and Antique Dealers) now is 'one of the hardest times of all to set up an antique shop' particularly when starting from scratch.

People read the headlines about objects going for lot of money, but don't realize that it's not a simple business. People go into it for the reason that they love it. Most new antique businesses not succeed in the first two years. The major cause for nearly all failures is the lack of a business preparation. New dealers have the faith that it is easy to make cash in the antique trade. They operate under the supposition that all they need to do is buy an item and sell that item for more cash then they paid.

Nothing could be further from the realism of the old-fashioned trade. To do well as an antique dealer, one needs a business plan before he or she spends one cent acquiring goods. There are close to sixty questions that must be answered, and many decisions that must be made before a person decides whether or not to begin a little business. I will, however, catalog some of the most significant points and spend some time discussing a few points in feature. A person considering starting a little business buy a book on business policy, available from any of the big booksellers, or download sample business plans accessible on the Internet.

A few belongings that a person starting a little business must consider comprise: purpose of the business, a start-up strategy, start up cash, start up time schedule, type of manufactured goods, a review of competitors who carry the same products, high end and low end price, availability of the product, a second and third line of products, market analysis, market segmentation, the availability of reference and research material, your marketing strategy, your purchasing strategy, your promotion strategy, your selling strategy, selling locations. A business plan must consider the cost of buying and the cost of selling.

We can decorate our residence by Antique furniture

A break-even analysis, projected profit, and projected cash flow should also be considered. Eighty thousand dollars is more than enough start up cash for a small business dealing in many types of antiques and collectibles traded in the antique marketplace. A dealer could start a business buying and selling early porcelain, decorated stoneware, early glassware, country furniture, painted country accessories, and many of today's most popular collectibles. The business of the antique trade takes place in a tiered marketplace consisting of 10 levels.  The difference between levels is SELLING PRICE. Generally, lower price items with a value of less than $50 are sold by level one dealer.  The most expensive items are sold by level ten dealers. Dealers at any level can find a sleeper, which they sell, usually at auction, for many times the value of the items they usually sell.

However, this is the exception, not the rule. The amount of money one can make buying and selling antiques has no relationship to the various levels. A dealer specializing in collectibles that sell for less than $50 each can literally become rich.  In fact, it is the dealers of collectibles, not the dealers of antiques who tend to make the most money. There are many differences between a low-level, mid-level, and high-level business. The knowledge required is a different, operating expense is different, and selling and buying methods are different.

Before I get into the specific differences between levels, I would like to make a few statements that are for the most part true and tend to be consistent through all levels of the trade. It is less expensive to operate a successful lower level business. The cost of doing business increases with the level of operations. The amount of knowledge required to run a profitable antique business is greater at levels two and three and again at levels seven and eight. Very little knowledge is required to run a level five business. The same statement is true for levels four and six. Most full time dealers operate at levels three, seven, nine, and ten. Antique shops, shows, group shops, antique trade papers and auction services fall within the same 10 levels.

The majority dealers have little problem distinguishing the differences between a level one and a level ten business.  Many dealers have problems distinguishing the subtle differences between levels four, five, and six. The biggest mistake made by dealers in every level is buying outside their chosen level of operation. Usually, dealers replace items they sell with higher quality and higher priced merchandise. Such dealers literally price themselves out of their level and into a higher level.  If they do not adjust their selling methods to those of a higher level, their sales will fall.

Bouncing back and forth between several closely related levels is a bad business practice that usually results in a low volume of sales. Your customers include the millions of collectors around the world that have collections in thousands of categories - from the multimillionaires that collect impressionist paintings to the average person, who might collect anything you can imagine. Many average folks will buy antiques or collectibles simply because they liked the item, or have started collecting that particular item.

Collectors have been known to fill their residence to overflowing with thousands of related items, sometimes even to the point of financial ruin. What do you think is the single most important thing you can do to attract attention to your booth? Add more lighting to your booth. Unfortunately, in this tough economy, some malls are limiting the amount of lamps you can have, even giving total watts per booth. But with the low wattage, long life new bulbs, you can make it go farther. But the more lamps and chandeliers you have, the more shoppers will be drawn to your booth.

Some malls have track lighting and this helps also. But the soft indirect light of lamps works best. So always be on the lookout for good lighting to resell. Be original and look at things that can be made into lamps. Different architectural elements make excellent and unusual lamps. Check me out on this. Just walk around a few malls and see if the booths with the most lighting don’t draw your attention. A store down the street from ours became know for their lamps and they started at about $395. But they were all custom made and most were unique and had very nice shades.

Have someone look at you stall space and create recommendations. Say to them to be cruelly honest. The manager of the mall would be a good human being. Some antique dealers complain about their sales and all you have to do is look at their booth. I constantly ask the manager what is selling. We always told our dealers what was selling and what people wanted because we wanted them to be successful. You have to be ready to change with the times. Because dark Victorian antique furniture sold two years ago doesn’t mean it will sell now, even if you still love it. Keep up with new trends by going to markets and reading the trade magazines.

Attend antique shows and see what booths are full of shoppers and which ones are drawing little or no interest. If you want to sell only what you want to sell, make it a hobby. If you want to be a successful antique dealer, treat it like a business. Pricing your items is one of the most difficult decisions to make. When we semi retired and sold much of our inventory to move to a different part of the country, we had a dealer only sale for 50% off. It was amazing how much we sold in four hours, and we still had so much left, you really couldn’t tell we sold that much. Most malls will have at least a couple of sales a year.

Antique goods in an antique mall

It is significant to turn your record and get new things. And buying and shopping for antiques is what we enjoy the most. So getting rid of old inventory, even at cost and investing in new inventory will keep your booths looking fresh with new inventory. I have had many discussions with friends about how to price things, and there does not seem to be a “right” way. I will just say, you have to sell in order to stay in business. We will be discussing other ways to sell antiques successfully besides a mall, but pricing is important where ever you sell. If I need to give a rule of thumb, price the more unusual things higher and the more usual things very competitively. Nearly 50% of our sales were to the antiques trade, designers and other antique dealers.

This can be a large source for sales, but you have to have what they are seeking and at the right price. It sometimes helps to have a space in more than one mall. One mall might have your better things. The other one might have things that are not quite as nice and where you want to mark things down to move them. It also allows you to trade merchandise out between the two booths. Even two booths in the same mall can accomplish the same results. Sometimes it is just not a good fit, between you and that particular antique mall. Or it might start out a good fit, but is no longer that. It is a pain to move, but you need to be able to admit when it is not working. The antiques business can be a fun and rewarding one. Some of my best friends have come from people I have met in the antique business.