New non retail store idea............

I'm toying with a small shop idea. Here's how it goes. Our local attic storage facilities have the usual inside the fence units but they also have outside the fence business units that have a 10x20 wharehouse with a rollup door facing the parking lot and it includes an attached 10x12 office bathroom and closet. All that space for $450 a month including utilities. I'm currently paying 89 a month for a small locker just for storage and anytime I have a yard sale which is once a month I have to bring the stuff home so here's my thought. Rent this space, drop the storage unit. Put display shelves along the wharehouse walls for general merchandise and in the office for 'better' stuff. Put larger pieces in the middle for display also. Hold yardsales inside and bring some stuff outside but do it twice a month as a minimum. This gives me storage and display space along with sorting and storeage thats not at my home. Also, when I advertise on CL I'd have a place to take someone that is not my home and while they are there they might browse the shop and buy other items. And it could be done rain or shine warm or cold. A space at a flea market is another obvious idea but that is not as flexible and more restrictive but then you do have the walk by traffic and have to do it every weekend. What does everyone think of that kind of an idea?

Sounds like a great idea. And that is something you can play with and develop further as well.
Many possibillities will open up for you if you do that.

Just make sure that the cost don't become a burden for you. But as long as the sales can defend the cost, go fo it. You never know before you try.

Sometimes you just need to take the risk and try new thngs, even if it have some cost to it. And give it at least 3-4 month to see how it goes.

That is very similar to how I do a lot of my stuff out of my warehouse, with the exception of having a lot of garage sales (although after this last one, I may try to do one a month through the summer).  I do meet up with most of my CL buyers there, and a lot of them end up buying more stuff when they see all the inventory I have. 

I think it's a good way for you to get started to see how you like it and see if you can make some money at it, but it would be hard for me to do it in that size of space.  Mine is 30' x 60', and it's too small most of the time!  I like to buy the 20' and 30' deep storage lockers, so if you were to go out and buy a couple of 10' x 30's, it would be hard to cram all that into a 10' x 20'! 

How tall are the ceilings in the unit you are talking about?  You could always throw some pallet racking in there and go up.  They charge you by the square foot, not the cubic foot, so if you can go up, it's no extra charge!  I have racks running down the side of my shop, but they are only 6' tall gorilla type racks. I currently am selling off a bunch of them and am going to get some 12'-14' pallet racks and a small walk behind forklift so I can get the stuff up and off the floor.  I figure any furniture I get, I'll put it on a pallet, take a picture of it for CL, and then throw it up on top.  Then if somebody comes in to buy it, I'll get it down.  In the meantime, it's out of my way!  I also plan on taking some pallets and building some 1'-2' sides on them.   Then, I'll stack totes or other stuff inside them, mark the front bottom edge of the pallet with what is in there, and put them up on the racks.  I've been planning this for a while, based on my reality and how I operate.  I do this on a fairly large scale, so this would not work for everyone.

Driving by storage units around here I see people doing that sometimes.   

There is three that comes to mind.  Two by a poular lake, Lake Fork, that do it just about every weekend, and I always see people stopping in there when I drive by.
 
One close to McKinney.  I think the one here has been doing it an extremely long time.  They have even changed the roll up door to put a blocked in wall with a regular walk-in door on the front of the unit.


I think it is a great idea.  Worst case scenario, you try it a couple of months, its not what you expect, you just move your stuff back into a regular unit.  It really will be great if it is a unit that does not expect a 3 month or more lease for it.  If you can pay by the month, you always have the option to stop and not loose money on breaking a lease.

I own KWS Outlet in Drexel Missouri. Since 2001 I have been in a storage building. I have a total of 6 units with a rent total of 350.00 per month. I also have to pay for electricity, but water is included for the bathroom. It has worked great for me. I tried a storefront for a while, but it didn't work out so I moved back to the storage units. That's just my two cents worth.

Alot of people do it that way.