Finally opened up my own case at a local antique mall!

[Joe777Cool]

Opened it up this past weekend, focusing on coins and jewelry with a sprinkling of antiques.

 

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[BigWaveDave]

congrats.. and good luck! I stare at those while my wife spends money.

 

[Joe777Cool]

So far so good too - since Saturday I have had over $300 in sales. Rent is $125 which is a bit high for the area, but this mall gets by far the most foot traffic of all the antique malls in the area. To get it up and going I spent about $150 in displays and other misc so anything I sell the rest of the month is where I will make my $.

 

[vpnavy]

 

[NHBandit]

We had a booth for the Winter one year but in the long run after deducting what we spent on inventory & gas to drive back & forth to maintain it we lost money. Is the $125 just for that little space that your display case occupies ? And on top of that you have to provide the case ? Seems high to me. Is that the only cost or do they take a commission as well ? I'm also not understanding your math unless you got all of your inventory for free.

 

[tamrock]

That's great. I've been considering doing the same thing along with one of my daughters. Keep us updated on how its all working out. I've spoke to many folks who do that as I'm hunting for finds. Some operate several spots at different locations.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I've had a display case for the last 3 years. Rent is $65/month. I used to do pretty well with it. Since the price of silver dropped demand has fallen off & I'm not making much profit. If I didn't need to go by the antique mall once a week to look for bargains I'd probably be considering closing it down. In that time I've seen a lot of other vendors come & go. Generally one of 2 things happen. Their items are overpriced & nothing sells....or they under price some things, sell those quickly & then wonder why sales have dropped off.

I've found that vendors that have been in business for a while try to price things at 3 times what they paid. The thought is 1/3 goes to rent, 1/3 pays for the item & 1/3 is profit. That general rule of thumb tends to let people stay in business. I've also seen that 50% or more of the vendors either break even or lose money. They are retired and/or have a real job & do it "because they love it" or "as a hobby". I don't understand those people but without them the store would have a lot of empty booths.

I sell coins, jewelry & smalls in my display case. In my neck of the woods it's almost impossible to find coins/jewelry for a low enough price to be able to triple the price. I sell those items on a lot lower margin. I make up for it with the sales of smalls. A display case is different from a booth where customers can pick up the item. Lots of people might be interested in an item but are reluctant to buy if they have to get a clerk to open the case. I have found that items displayed with prices lead to more sales. I've also found that if the item you are selling is available in a booth yours will not sell. Items locked in a case need to be either unusual/unavailable and cheaper than the same item in a regular booth.

 

[insontis]

When I enlarged the picture, I wanted nothing more than to peer through the glass and look for a bargain.

 

[Joe777Cool]

Some great info and comments so far. I pay $125 and the house takes 5%. This is the highest rent/commission around, but I decided to go with this mall over 2 others due to the fact that it is in between Providence and Boston and will attract more high end clientele and the fact that every time I have been in there on a weekend the place was mobbed. I have priced out other malls in the area and they are in the $75-100 range. The rent covers the entire case including the inside, top, and sides. This case is right by the entrance and registers so people almost HAVE to see my case. The way I looked at it I am usually spending $200-350 per month in Ebay fees. It's not apples to apples, and there will still be items I will need to sell on Ebay to maximize my profit, but in my mind I am already paying rent. Plus we all know that some items are hard to sell on ebay due to shipping costs. I didnt have to sign a lease, so I can pull out at any time if things arent working out.

As far as pricing and inventory, I have a lot of stuff that my parents left me as well as my wife's. I also have many thrift stores in my area that I have been pretty lucky at finding nicer vintage items for pennies on the dollar. I also have established relationships where I have been able to buy jewelry slightly over melt and coins at a very good price so I have plenty of items and decent room for profit.

The final thing working my favor is my competition. All the coin vendors are ridiculously overpriced. Common morgans for $35, a roll of 40's/50's wheats for $8, 1 oz bar of silver for $45; people see these prices and come to my case. I am at $24-28 on Morgans, $6 for 100 wheat cents, and all my higher priced coins are right at what they selling for on Ebay (I use ebay sold transactions to price my coins, not a publication).

Plus all of this is fun. I love finding bargains, I like the thrill of making a sale, and my wife and I both love going to thrift stores. Its win win!!!

 

[NHBandit]

Just for comparison the booth we had was at a popular antique mall in downtown Concord NH. 10x10 if I remember correctly and we could put anything we wanted in it including a small display case if we chose to. Rent was $100 a month with no commission. One of the long time sellers was a good friend of mine who had a retail coin store that took up a very large part of the second floor. He predicted that what would happen was that for the first couple of months we would do well mainly because people gravitate to the "new guy's booth" to see what they have and even other vendors will buy things they think I have priced too low. After that initial rush sales would drop off and eventually we would throw in the towel and give it up. Smart guy. He was exactly right. He eventually gave up his coin shop due to silly new laws passed by the state of NH. They decided that any coin dealer who advertised that they buy scrap Silver & Gold as a sideline needed to have a pawn shop license and report ALL purchases to the local police in case the goods were stolen. Then he had to hold those items for a set period of time before sending them off to the smelter or re-selling them. Well as most of us know the bullion market changes daily and the scrap buyers work on a small margin. They protect themselves by cashing in whatever they buy almost immediately so they don't get caught with their pants down if the price takes a dive.

 

[diggummup]

Just for comparison the booth we had was at a popular antique mall in downtown Concord NH. 10x10 if I remember correctly and we could put anything we wanted in it including a small display case if we chose to. Rent was $100 a month with no commission.

Wow, $100 a month for a 10x10 and no commission, that's cheaper than a storage locker down here, or about the same anyway.

 

[trdhrdr007]

In my area display cases come in 2 sizes & run $60 or $85, 5'x10' booth is $130 & a 10'x10' is $225. No commission or lease but you do have a 2 month minimum. I got my case so I could sell some bullion/coins/jewelry at retail...but mainly so I could put up "I buy old stuff" signs on the back wall of the case. I thought that might drum up some new inventory. I haven't got a single call from potential sellers.


Since sales of bullion/coins & jewelry have dropped off I'm considering getting a 5x10 booth. Over the last few years I have piled up a bunch of inventory that should sell fairly well IF people could pick it up without having to get a clerk. The antique mall I rent from also rents small plastic security containers. Those are the type you can see the item but it's sealed & has an electronic sensor to deter thieves. These rent individually for 10-50 cents & you keep them until the item is sold. A determined individual could break the case & get the item out if they didn't mind making a racket. Better than nothing for small mid-priced items.


New booths do get a lot of traffic. Some of it is from dealers looking for mispriced items. Part of the drop off in business mentioned above is due to the new wearing off. Most of it is due to the nature of the business. When someone new opens a booth/case they have a more varied inventory. The more popular items sell quickly leaving the less popular things you see in many booths. If you don't continually restock business drops. That's the main thing keeping me from getting a booth. I'm not sure I'm in that sweet spot where I have a large enough starting inventory AND enough sources of new stock to keep things going. Until I hit that point I don't want to give up my display case due to it's prime location.

 

[My Precious]

I am also looking into renting a space at a fairly new flea market. Booth prices are: xlarge 8 x 16 for $200, large is 8 x 12 for $150, medium is 8 x 8 for $100, and a small booth is 8 x 6 for $80. They also get 5% commision for everything sold out of the booth. You can set up & display the booth any way you want. They also have a big display area where someone can put larger antiques out and pay a flat 20% commision. I was thinking of making a wall display out of old wooden apple crates for my booth. Keep us posted on your success!!