where to find inventory for new furniture store

[drcollie]

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.

[BrayB]

Followed your advice to the tee and wholeheartedly agree with it. I found a nice 5000 square foot building that used to be a cabinet store and we are closing in two weeks. Going to have to do a tiny bit of renovations to build it out into a furniture store but it was a good deal overall. I'm starting to move closer and closer to the medium end market ($1500-$3500 pieces) and it is drastically reducing workload, stress, and hassle. Whole different caliber of customers that are much more enjoyable to work with. Since that store is smaller, I'm also hoping to run pretty lean staff-wise. Maybe one hybrid salesman/furniture assembler and then one other part time furniture salesman and that should carry us for quite some time, all of our deliveries are outsourced at the moment. Every day the vision gets a bit clearer and clearer, the growth will just be a product of time. You have definitely helped us every major step of the way despite me just being a random name on the internet and I can't tell you how appreciative I am.