Fashion Jewelry Wholesale Dallas Texas
Q: So in order to make room for "new" old glass, I packed up two boxes of "old"
old glass and took them around to local dealers, selling a piece here, a
piece there.
My last stop of the day was an antique mall. While selling a few pieces to
the residents, the manager and I struck up a little conversation. He asked
me how many pieces I had, and was surprised when I told him I often have as
many as 50 at any one time, plus a few hundred pieces of vintage costume
jewelry that I sell on ebay. He then recommended that instead of driving
all over town every time I want to sell a few pieces, I rent a case in his
store.
Well, I don't think of myself as a dealer, just a rabid collector who trades
to help support her collection. But I have to say the idea of not driving
all over town to haggle over wholesale prices to dealers is appealing.
The case costs $125 a month, which I might be willing to try. However,
there is a three month minimum, which makes the investment not
insignificant.
The store (in Pasadena) is large and nicely stocked. The people seem
friendly. There were a few customers, but the place wasn't exactly
bustling.
I'd love to get the prices dealers in these kinds of stores charge.
However, I recognize that the higher the price, the slower merchandise
moves -- although I sell to these dealers for a fraction of their asking
price, I move my stuff quickly and don't have much overhead.
So, for those of you experienced, should I think further about getting a
booth? Any major pros or cons?
A:Pick a place with traffic, traffic, traffic, in a good location. If you can
hang around, try to speak
with dealers who have similar merchandise and find out does it _really_ sell
there. I once set up
in a shop that was supposed to be good for books "they sell fast here said the
proprietor". He
was trying to sell a spot in the place - I bit, moved in, and didn't make rent
in any one month I
was there. On the other hand, I found another place where I've more than
tripled rent - they
have traffic, advertise, and have a good clientele. They encouraged me to hang
around on a
Saturday and see the traffic, etc. Great place!
If you do chose to do it, do the math ahead of time - will the additional prices
you might get offset
the cost of rent, plus the cost of your time to mark the merchandise, and return
to stock the booth
regularly or at least move things around? This merchandising is important to
keep your booth looking
fresh and updated - which will encourage regular visits by your newly forming
clientele. At least do
this weekly - much less than once every 2 weeks and your stuff will look stale,
and sales will drop
off.
Make sure also that your stuff is securely displayed - I sell scientific
instruments, and can't put
them in an open booth, I have to lock them up - people will steal the button off
the equipment for
goodness sake - if I ever catch them I'll cut their fingers off (just kidding).
But an important
consideration for jewelry I'd imagine
I have a couple of booths in an antique mall, and I see a problem with
this scenario. First, In the two malls I have been in, locked display
cases are the slowest sposts to sell from and are generally only used
for merchandise that is expensive enough and enough of a theft risk to
justify the much slower sales caused by locking it up. (Large expensive
pieces are hard to shoplift, so they aren't as suitable for display
cases in my opinion.) Most people just don't like to ask for a
salesperson to unlock a case, they want to browse. If your merchandise
isn't expensive enough to justify the reduction in sales you'll see from
having them locked up in a case, I wouldn't rent one. A booth with your
own open display space might be more practical, but it would be a lot
more expensive, and would require more inventory. eBay for the glass as
well as the jewelry is also an option. Another option would be to see
if they take consignments. In my area (north Texas), many shops will
take consigned merchandise for a three month period for around 30% of
the sales price. You don't get much say in where or how it's displayed,
and the mall will get to