Selling at a swap meet

[GentleBrew]

There is a swap meet here in town where I am considering renting a booth to sell various brands of packaged gourmet coffee and teas. Has any one ever tried this? I was also considering a cart at the mall. My main concern is the cost of rent. The swap meet is $600 a month for 3 days a week & the mall is $3000 a month. Do you think it's possible make a good profit with these rents? Anyone sell in a market or mall?

 

[True Sipping]

Swap Meet, etc.

The ONLY key is the monthly rent . . .versus the traffic history. Off hand, $600 seems a little high . . . unless it's lockable, you have access during the week, no other competitive dealer is in the area, and there's a bunch of traffic.

Never mind the 'demographics', the game is totally a numbers game. The more people, the more sales. Keep the same location every week, and work the crowd. i.e. pitch what you have and give out samples.

Yes, it will work. Just keep it real simple. em me for more details.

 

[Coffee Guy]

This sounds like two different set ups. The first is a swap meet, the second is a mall/cart set up. I agree with T.S. in saying that this is a numbers game. Assuming this set up is at the swap meet; $600 per month for 3 days a week is only $50 per day for rent. However, you must conside other costs involved, i.e. permits, etc. Be creative in your set ups. As for the mall, you'll have to do a bit more homework and a little more investment, but $3,000 per month is out ragious for rent :evil:

 

[True Sipping]

'Jesse James' - Rides The Mall!

$3K rent? CG was understating when he said 'outrageous'.

A little math . . . take $3,ooo/month rent and divide it by your expected profit margin i.e. 50%. That equals 6,000. You MUST do $6,000 in business @ 50% margin. Divide the 6K by the average sell price - $2.50 -and you have 2,400 items to sell per month JUST To Pay The Rent. Can the mall deliver enough folks to buy 2400 items in a month? Every month? The swap meet needs 240 items sold . . .

No need to go much further. You get the idea. Yes, there is risk in every biz venture so be aware of the basic numbers. Do your homework.

However. . . ('However & What If' are the magic words that virtually every biz is based on. So open your eyes, take a deep breath, and take your shot! Doing the homework is what reverses the normal, Ready-Fire-Aim flow of so many failing ventures to the Ready-Aim-Fire procedure of most successful ventures.)