[Sickie Ickie]

Well, my buddy and I have decided to try and start a store specializing in candy, haunt supplies, and magic mainly. We're trying hard to make our store a reality soon. We located a location that may be good, but we still have much work ahead of us. In the beginning moola will be tight, but we already have a mask maunfacturer that has agreed to let us carry his masks on consignment! YAY!

Ideas on what to carry for haunt supplies or otherwise andone? Any other advice? :-D

 

[Front Yard Fright]

All that I would have to advise you on is that you should be sure to make it so that your business is in no way connected to your home, car, or personal items.
There's a term for this I'm sure, but I can't think of it.
My family and I own the local Domino's Pizza place here in town and we have it set up so that if the buisness fails, we wont lose our belongings...
Other than that I don't know what else to tell you!
Best of luck and I hope everything works out!
Good luck!
.

 

[playfx]

I hope things work out for you, parnership buisness is VERY HARD to make work as someone always thinks they do more than the other or deserve more for some odd reason, I've seen the best of friend become mortal enemys over it. I've done it and won't do it ever again!!
But on a second note, having a buisness can be the best feeling in the world. Just make sure you have everything in order and set down and talk with a buisness lawyer about it first and have everything on paper.
Good luck with it!

 

[Zombie-F]

All that I would have to advise you on is that you should be sure to make it so that your business is in no way connected to your home, car, or personal items.
There's a term for this I'm sure, but I can't think of it.
My family and I own the local Domino's Pizza place here in town and we have it set up so that if the buisness fails, we wont lose our belongings...
Other than that I don't know what else to tell you!
Best of luck and I hope everything works out!
Good luck!
.

I believe what you're referring to is an LLC (Limited Liablilty Company). Forming your business as one of those makes it so if you are not successful and wind up in debt when the business closes, you won't lose any personal belongings (car, house, boats, etc) to the bank or creditors you owe money to. It's definitely something for you to look into.

When you say "Haunt supplies" exactly what part of that market are you looking to target? Haunt supplies is a very broad statement that can cover a large amount of different items.

I'd say for certain you need to carry haunt music, miscellaneous pieces of set dressing (lanterns, web shooters, misc fabrics, etc).

Best of luck with it!

 

[krypt]

When you say "Haunt supplies" exactly what part of that market are you looking to target? Haunt supplies is a very broad statement that can cover a large amount of different items.

I'd say for certain you need to carry haunt music, miscellaneous pieces of set dressing (lanterns, web shooters, misc fabrics, etc).

Best of luck with it!

Maybe even LED's and wiring,all lighting- floods, colored flouresants (sp) blacklights etc ,air compressors air line's, switch mats,sensors,controllers also .....and PVC and 2x4's!

 

[Sickie Ickie]

Krypt, there's more than enough local hardware stores here that carry pvc, airline, compressors, wood etc. However blacklights and some LED w/wiring isn't a bad idea at all! Thanks for that.

Zombie, thanks for the technical name for the LLC. I will definately look into that FYF and playFX. Mostly we are going to carry props in the beginning- latex masks, latex body parts and foam prosthetics as well as AAC stuff. We are hoping someone will come forward at somepoint and offer their prosthetics on consignment as well.

 

[Lilly]

Yup LLC is right and the way to go ..
hey just a suggestion Sickie..
maybe you could give a few make-up/prop classes thru your store, if maybe you have extra room for that.
cheesecloth a must ....sometimes that is hard to find from what i've read here?
maybe some of that errosion control stuff people always looking for..?
paint brushes?
glass paint ,latex paint. sealers ?
sculpting clay of some kind..?
skellys of course
maybe that rit whitener
make-up for your masks
I'm sure there is a ton of stuff you can get depending on how big you store is for storage.

 

[slimy]

The 'haunt' portion of your store is mainly going to be seasonal. I would build the 'magic' side of things. Or go in to costume renting. Easter bunnies, Uncle Sam's, and of course Santa Suits can all be good sources of revenue.

If you do magic, consider running workshops or regular classes where you teach the stuff. Say you can have a summer six week course in levitation: you have people signed up, they have to buy the 'workshop materials' from you and you have a contract that says X number of people will pay X dollars for six monday nights in a row. This will bring the captial that you want in the off season, and you will still be able to do the haunt thing heavy during Sept and Oct.

Or do makeup seminars. Teach people to use your stuff, and you have built in clients.

Woops, I got wordy. And I haven't even started drinking yet. Good luck.

 

[turtle2778]

Hey thats a good idea slimy. Dave the deads uncle does a lot of stuff like that in his bookstore. You could definately teach a makeup class. Hell you could do MNT's right in the store. Im trying to open a gift shop that sells various items, but a good variety of halloween things. Why not make money doing something you love. I took a small business class and definately do the LLC. My biggest concern was my husband losing all the money that he had saved out of his job with the army. He was there 10 years before he met me, he shouldnt lose all that because of me and my dreams. After meeting at Daves uncles bookstore, i am going to look for a place big enough to hold events in that wont disrupt the store flow. Since i do villages, i plan to hold some how to's say once every 3 months for customers that have purchased village items. Im going to ask for info to send them stuff as well as be able to keep a record of what they purchased in case they need to know if they already have it or not. Believe me there are times when i wish i had a detailed list of all the halloween stuff i have. Well good luck...hey do you have your business plan done yet? I couldnt even get a bank to meet with me until i had one. I still dont have it done yet. Keep us up to date on how it goes.

 

[Sickie Ickie]

turtle, no biz plan yet- still in the planning stages. Thanks for all the great ideas! magic shoppe classes and make-up classes are a wonderful idea, and my partner and I both agree that it would be a neat idea to have guest teachers in.

Keep the ideas flowin' folks!