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 accept or reject what you wish to put out, but it is a cheap way to get your feet wet. One word of warning, any mall that doesn't want to inspect your merchandise and approve any consignments before they accept them should be avoided. If they are that hungry, they aren't worth being in. You want your merchandise to be in a mall that you have to work to get your stuff into. You also want to visit a variety of malls, as a customer, browse, see how you are treated, see what traffic they have, and see what people are actually buying. Spend a few weekends doing this. Don't tell them you want to place merchandise there until you have done this at least a couple of times.

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