Thrift Store Going Out Of Business

I don't own a store but I know people who do (or did).

This is about a fellow who DID.  He opened a store November, 2012 is closing it by the end of September, 2013.

His problems were multiple:

It was half a block off a busy street, but no way of directing people to it.
He had a parter...a cousin. Things went bad as sometimes happens with partners (more often than not IMO).

He was paying $750 plus a month for rent plus the usual other costs. He wasn't selling that much so guess what happens next.

On the other hand he has yard sales about once a month and does dynamite biz...or at least that's what he and a mutual friend tell me. Now he and the mutual friend are having a falling out because the friend wanted to bring tools to the sale and the sale "owner" saw that (rightly I think) as competition.

When you get right down to it, friendship, family and business are a possible toxic combination and that was certainly part of the problem here.

Knowing this guy, I predicted (only to myself and our one mutual friend) that I didn't think his store would succeed and I based that on what I had seen happen for 3 or 4 other people over the last 10 years. There are many factors in running a successful business and the "failure" rate is higher than the success rate as one might expect.

Still, if a business made it "x" years and provided a living for those involved it really can't be considered a failure. But, if the money goes out faster than it comes in and people are working for free for longer than say 6 months or so, it's time to move on to plan B, or to already have a plan B and C in place (like other income from self or spouse)...but that's just my opinion.

100% agree! I've owned businesses for a while now. I owned a cell phone store, the printing biz is still running and I have a thrift store. If I didn't have my print biz, I'd be out of biz with the thrift store. In fact, I wouldn't have even opened the store. I was doing fine with selling my auction stuff on the side, craigslist, flea market, etc. I opened the store, because it gives me a quiet environment to do business through my printing company, a 7 day a week chance to make a sale, and a public meeting place for my craigslist sales. My printing biz is paying the rent at home, the store does enough to hold itself up and refund my auction budget, but I'm not making money from it yet. Of course, I'd like to do that sooner than later, but I'm in a position where I don't have to worry about where my next rent check is coming from (yet).

I haven't had to ask family or friends for funds to open the store or keep it floating, but I work very hard at keeping a couple of people coming in a day and selling through craigslist, ebay, amazon, yadda yadda..