Glory holes.

All the good sex shops have them.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Not personally, but my friend owned a toy store which went under recently.

Few things I noticed. She said 80% of her sales were during the holiday season, that was way too stressful for her, make sure you have the capital to hold out during the slow months. Her location was meh, not great. I think location is key similar to a restaurant, I'm sure you know that. Finally, your fighting an uphill battle against any Walmart's, Target's, or other big chain stores. You'll need a niche.

I was a corporate controller for a retail and admission operation for 3.5 years and maintain a contract with that company to this day for advice. Here is what I would say.

1. Put in strong cash handling, inventory and purchasing controls if you are going to be hiring people to do this. That is where most easy cash finds its way out the door. Normally I get paid to consult on these things, but I can give you some specific tips offline. You want the controls to detect issues, and enforce accountability. They shouldn't only be designed to deter theft and then detect it, but also rule out errors which will account for 90% of suspected theft, maybe more. If your processes prove good behavior as well as detect bad, you will get employee buy in and compliance much easier.

2. Make sure you follow any local permitting rules, don't try to cut corners, no matter how trivial they seem. They always catch up to you.

3. Have a very well defined policy for addressing employment infractions and terminations.

4. Get a good POS system and practice with it before you install and implement. Then if you can, practice with it with real inventory and CC transactions. Make sure you properly apportion access to different levels of employees based on need. I can tell you about a couple offline.

5. Avoid dealing with unions whenever possible.

6. Retail locations in malls and special shopping centers often have lease covenants that dictate minimum and maximum hours of operation. Learn that.

7. Avoid operating leases if you do not have sufficient history to predict sales. Make sure the lease defines everything that may escalate over time. Leases like to use vague terms of what is maintained and then increase it significantly over time.

8. Learn signage rules.

9. Utilize at least two distributers for your merchandise. You can sometimes play them against eachother after you have established a history.

10. Outsource payroll. Even if it is just 3+ employees. The increasing compliance risks and time committed each pay cycle will more than make up for a <100 fee per pay period.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Don't do it. Instead, start online and grow your business organically. This will keep your costs down and allow you the luxury of running a business 24x7 365. You instantly get access to the world as a marketplace rather than just zip codes near your business. When you look at the numbers, and they don't lie, you'll see consumers are more likely to pre-shop online first:

"Pew Research Center reports that nearly 80% of Americans now make purchases online, vs 22% in 2000. For customers the digital-physical distinction is not so distinct these days, and there’s no denying technology is playing an increasingly important role in in-store purchases. Pre-purchase research is now likely to involve computers and smartphones, and 77% of mobile-reliant US shoppers have used their phone in-store to help them shop. Customers are increasingly using phones in stores to compare prices, access coupons and look up product information, and will spend more if they browse the web while there. Deloitte estimates that digital impacts up to 64% of every dollar spent in-store."


As a consumer I am loathe to shop retail in person for almost anything. I feel it's a waste of my time and energy. Over the last year 90%+ of all our purchases have been over the net. And if you need more incentive not to open up a brick and mortar store:


"E-commerce is slowly chipping away at in-store sales, according to Antony Karabus of HRC Advisory (HRC), a leading strategic retail advisory firm. The finding was revealed today as part of Karabus’ latest retail industry study, which found that operating earnings as a percent of sales has declined by up to 25% due to a shift from in-store to online sales..."

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

My wife had a bridal shop for several years.
The Internet killed her store and hundreds more.
Penneys, Macy's, Sears, Wet Seal are all shuttering stores.

A several year old shopping mall in Pittsburgh sold for $100 back to the lender because it was in default and had huge vacancies.

Not to throw cold water on your dream, but a retail store is a bad idea.

Unless you live in a tourist area which I think he does. Otherwise I have to agree. 90% of my last Christmas purchases were online.

Forge hit a lot of good points.

I'll emphasis, if you have employees, they will steal from you if there is any way possible.

I would suggest a couple of things on negotiating a lease, 1. look at what else is out there and go through the process, even if it's just for comparison and practice. 2. Find an attorney who specializes in in this area and have them look over the lease. If they say it''s a standard lease, run, find a new attorney.

Make sure you have a well thought out and easy to navigate web presence.

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#WeAreTheForge #BlackGunsMatter

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

Can I wear my "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" hat in this store?

Have a complete and clear partnership agreement drawn up on this before you start and while you are still friends.

Control, money, how to bring in more partners, what to do if someone wants to sell, what to do if someone dies, what to do if someone doesn't want to sell but doesn't want to work, what to do if you need more investment, ...

If there is anything bad you can dream up but don't address, that is the thing that will happen.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Store depending, be ready for a quick staff turnover. I worked in a sports store, all of us were there to get a big employee discount, especially around Christmas time. Then bug out. Quite a few of the staff were apathetic teenagers. We had a 2 weeks notice policy, nobody gave a rats ass about it. Some of them just told the manager that as of tomorrow they are quitting. What is he going to do? Fire them? If you have employee discount offer it as an incentive, maybe after working there for X months, at least Y hours a week.

Ad Muncher

Don't sell anything that can be purchased at Costco or Amazon.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Or anything from non-domestic sources. I have a bad feeling the retail environment is going to be hell for a while.

Oh wait, Canada? Forget everything I said. Open up a shop near the US border with lots of cheap stuff.

I worked at a number of bicycle shops. All of them have since gone out of business. I'm not saying that I caused them to go out of business; just that it is really hard to keep a small business afloat. Granted, some of the bike shops I worked at deserved to go out of business (sometimes you need a job and you have to take whatever job is available) but some of the other shops were great shops that put on rides for cyclists of all levels, sponsored a race team, supported local bike clubs and area cycling and employed a friendly and knowledgeable staff. It was really painful to see a shop that did everything right and deserved to succeed go out of business. I almost started a bicycle shops a few times but now I'm glad I didn't; no doubt it would have been a valuable life experience but the odds of success are depressingly low. Good luck on whatever you decide to do but I hope it isn't a bicycle shop!

Location, Location, Location. Pay for it if you have to.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Great location, good operating partner, up and coming franchise.... lost $200,000. it was not awesome.

Thanks for the reply. You have given me some valuable information. The store will be quite small. Initially it will just be myself and my partner so employee issues shouldn't be the trouble for the moment. I have lots of experience doing my own payroll and compliance problems aren't a concern.

And fuck yes, no unions!

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Kink.com, the only place for sex whatnots...

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Good points about the online vs. Brick and mortar. Fortunately the market we are considering entering is mostly older, less tech savvy folks. Also at least yalf the product we will sell really isn't something people buy online

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Would never buy a franchise. I like to work for myself.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)