where to find inventory for new furniture store

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and somewhat new to the furniture game. I am planning on opening a retail furniture store soon in coastal South Carolina and I would like to be pointed in the right direction on finding suppliers. I have received quotes from a couple of different manufacturers, but the prices they are charging seem ridiculous and I don't have a clue how I am even supposed to make money selling it. At this point, the only somewhat reasonable source of inventory I can see is liquidation truckloads, which seem fine for the most part, but I understand they are NOT a reliable nor steady stream of inventory. And even if I get a portion of my rolling inventory through liq. truckloads, I should still mix in some normal factory direct retail items as well, right?

I appreciate any and all insight, and I would be more than happy to pay a veteran in the game to zoom call or google meet me to teach me how to get into the business the RIGHT way.

Interesting post. I don't know if this is serious or a troll setting up to spam the forum. I suspect the latter.

I've owned a furniture store since 1986 and certainly would not open doing what you propose, you will last 6 to 12 months then be gone. Liquidation furniture is exactly that, cheap crap that no one wants, which is why its being liquidated. Once you get a reputation for selling garbage, no one will patronize your store.

You make money by setting margins and sticking to them first of all, then secondly by controlling costs. You get loyal customers by being honest and not selling them poor-quality consumer goods. You cannot sell both cheap and quality goods, you decide a niche and stay in that lane. Costco owns the cheap furniture market along with Ashley, hard to go against them.

The High Point Furniture Market starts end of next week. If this is a serious post, then get yourself to High Point next weekend and go see the supplier showrooms. Listen and learn.

Okay, thank you I appreciate it. I am definitely not a spammer or a scammer just a guy that is looking for info :D. I live in South Carolina and I am a pilot so I can probably fly into High Point for the day. That said, I am worried that a quality retail store is not what my area needs. The median income where I am in Myrtle Beach is only 26k per year, which is way less than half the average of 56-62k in mount vernon/alexandria Virginia where you all have your main store setup. I am just worried that there is a very small market for high-quality furniture here, most of the people here love and buy the cheaper items because that is what they can afford. There are other retail stores in the area near me and the successful ones are certainly on the cheaper side retail-wise. There are also REALLY successful stores that do precisely my idea of liquidation + used furniture and scratch and dent appliance. I don't doubt that one day I'll open a nice quality retail store in a higher income area in SC like perhaps Mount Pleasant, but in the meantime, do you think I could get by from keeping overhead low and selling overstock/return couches and appliances?

To perhaps give a better idea of retailer's prices in my area. We see reclining couches and loveseat sets for sale anywhere from $1100-$1500 sectionals from $699-$1499 and normal sofas from $400 to $700. Entire queen/king bedroom sets with dressers and nightstands and whatnot sell for less than a grand retail. I don't have a clue where these competitors are getting their inventory and I have absolutely zero idea how they are making money. I have done a bit of "looking around" by walking into their showrooms and looking up the brands and trying to contact them for wholesale dealer pricing, but it is so darn high I do not have a clue where there is any money to be made in the transaction.

Myrtle Beach has a mix of incomes of course, I've been there many times.

There are a few things to note when selling cheap furniture, consider these points when deciding to set up your store.

1) Don't be a follower, be a leader. If you are following everyone else in the Market, you are just one more small fish in a big pond. Be the Big Fish in smaller pond. What is the unserved market you can tap into?

2) How well do you do with people screaming at you over the phone? This is going to happen - a lot - when you sell that class of furniture. Some people do better than others at that, I do not like it and it upsets me, other people just blow it off. But when you do blow it off, then come the credit card chargebacks and small claims court. And it will happen, trust me. Better made pieces you will not have that issue because you have a 99% satisfied client base.

3) A 300 lb dual recliner that you sell for $ 999 costs just as much to land at your store, handle in your warehouse, and unpack and deliver to the customer as the 300 lb dual recliner the you sell for $ 5,999. The difference is you are making $ 250 profit on the $ 999 unit and $ 2,500 profit on the $ 5,999 unit. Same amount of work why would you want to see the cheapies? You. have to handle ten cheapies to make the same money as one quality unit. Ten units handling also means you must have a larger warehouse, more trucks, more employees and higher operating costs (Workers Comp, Your contribution to FICA and Medicare, State Unemployment taxes). It's a loser....sorry

4) Think outside the box. Don't limit yourself to a couple of zip codes. Sell Nationally. My sales are 70% out of area, 30% local. I have more customers in California and Texas than I do in Virginia and Maryland. A lot of my clients don't have a quality retailer within 200 miles of where they live, they shop The Keeping Room because of this forum and reputation.

5) if you are determined to sell cheap furniture, you will be doing 100% imports and buying by the Container from Pacific Rim countries. China/Vietnam/Phillipines/India/Thailand. You will need a broker because you cannot speak Chinese or Vietnamese most likely. That broker makes all your deals for you and most of those brokers are located on the West Coast. You would want to go to the Las Vegas Furniture Market to meet and make those contacts. When you buy from them, you must pay them before the boat leaves their country, that means your cash flow is easily tied up 6 to 8 weeks from the time you pay for the goods while it makes its way to the USA and then to your warehouse. You will need deep pockets to buy cheap furniture and you buy it months out. Also, when. you have a problem with a load (lets say for example mildew or then frames separated in transit), the broker will not be able to get you reimbursed. They don't do refunds and again, you don't speak the language - you can get stuck with a bad load. You will also have to make a few trips over there to visit the factories with your broker and decide whom you are going to buy from. You MUST buy direct if you are going to make any money.

I'm retiring. You can buy my store and have a running, successful business that has had 37 good years, it's turnkey. You will have to relocate to Northern Virginia, however.

I will take your previous advice and fly into high point in a few days. Do you have any advice for a first-timer navigating the scene there?

Yes, you have to Register, which requires proof of a business license and/or tax exempt certificate. You will have to get your pass on-site, it’s too late to pre-register and they charge $30. Without a Registration to scan, you cannot get into the buildings.

https://www.highpointmarket.org/Register3

There are no hotel rooms available within 20 miles of Market, if staying overnight you will have to get a room near the Airport in Greensboro.

There are two main buildings at High Point Market that have about 300 exhibitors, you can start there. Then there are another 1,000 or so in smaller buildings around downtown. There are free shuttles everywhere. There is virtually no free parking anywhere close to the main center. I park across the street from the 200 Steele Street building on the other side of Martin Luther King Blvd. Those are free street parking spots, though some say the neighborhood is too sketchy there - doesn't bother me. Most my suppliers are are in 200 Steele St, so that's where I spend most my time. In fact, I plan to be there on Sunday / Monday.

Have a plan of whom you want to go see. https://www.highpointmarket.org/ExhibitorDirectory

Sounds great, thank you

We are finally getting operations up and running. Would you be interested in being an absentee mentor of sorts? As in every once in a while I could pop in and ask a question or two? If so that would be awesome, if not, I wont bother you any longer ��.

Feel free to ask questions here on the forum from time to time.

Hey, its been a few months. Business is going well so far, I have a very steady stream of inventory coming out of NC. Im looking to make the jump from warehouse to retail any day soon. I know it varies market to market but what price range for a lease would you suggest I stay in? Im hoping for anywhere from 8-15k square feet. I don't want to start too small and I want to make a good investment into a building to actually build our brand and start eating up some market share, but I also don't want to go signing a lease for 20 grand a month for a humongous building. It seems like a lot of the decent buildings around here float around 10-15k a month (triple net of course, but it is what it is). Im comfortable around 10, but I'm smart enough to know that after hiring a couple floor salesman, my overhead is going to jump to 20k a month, maybe more. Do those numbers sound right? I know there are so many variables and so many differences depending on the market, I'm just doing my best to get everything modeled out before making the jump, cause its a pretty massive jump.

Good for you.

I learned the furniture business from one of the greats, the founder of Hancock & Moore, Jack Glasheen (since retired). Jack would always tell me "The key as a retailer is to control your debt service. Stay small enough so you can keep your arms around the business. Own the property, don't lease it. Pay cash for everything and pay your bills on time. Eliminate unnecessary expenses. Take Care of your Customers." Jack followed that advice himself to a "t", The main Hancock and Moore Plant 1 was a converted chicken farm. The entire time Jack owned that business (with Jimmy Moore) there was never a sign on the building that said "Hancock & Moore". Truth. I asked jack about that and he said "Signs cost money, Duane".

So I have never leased a property other than my small storage warehouse. I have owned the building I am in since 1987 (5,000 s.f) and that has saved me millions of dollars in 37 years vs leasing. And now, at the end of my run and retiring, I have sold that building and that money from the sale funds my retirement nicely. When you own your commercial property, you are not subject to the whims of a Landlord in raising your rent, or worse yet - not renewing your lease and you have to move. It also lets you have an asset that you can sell at some future time. If you own your building, then when tough times arrive (and they will) you can survive them. The 2007/2008 Recession wiped out at least 50% of all retail furniture stores, they could not service their debt obligations and went bankrupt.

A mistake I see new dealers make is they get their buildings (lease or buy) based on projected trends and anticipated income. They plan based on trends and the sinks most all of them because trends don't last, but fixed expenses do. When 09/11 happened in 2001, my business was sailing along until those planes flew into the towers. Then it absolutely died off for almost 1 year. You can't plan on that happening, it just does. Had I had a high debt load then, I would have gone under.

I am very conservative. When I need a new delivery truck for the business I pay cash for it (school of Jack Glasheen) or do without it. I have never had many employees, they are costly. I unload the frieght trucks and clean the bathrooms in the store. Not saying that is the only way to go, but for me, it worked. You won't grow as big and fast with no debt and paying cash, but you will be strong when you do. Good luck on whatever you decide.