just thought ide show you guys my new shop ...opening saturday !!

[giftsne]

oooooooh yesssss ! lol BUT...i opened on Monday and ive already turned over 400 quid so i think its the right decision ! we will see if i can pay the rent next month lmao

[Stitch Up]

just to let you guys know ive moved shop....yes i know..im a glutton for punishment lol. the last shop did so well in its first 2 months i decided to move to the main shopping street in the town where i live. Yes its more rent and its a bit of a risk but youve got to try these things.

That's great to hear some positive news in these difficult times - congratulations!

I'd be really interested to hear your experiences - what worked, what didn't & of course what you'd do different.

Good luck

[Kaz]

Well done, glad it's all working out for you

[giftsne]

That's great to hear some positive news in these difficult times - congratulations!

I'd be really interested to hear your experiences - what worked, what didn't & of course what you'd do different.

Good luck

its early days so im not even sure if it does work lol....but i think the key has been meticulous attention to detail in how the whole shop and business is presented. This has helped a lot...having a strong logo and a strong colour scheme and a sort of brand if you like. Also i think it really helps the sublimation side of the business that the photography side is there if you know what i mean. The workflow goes from the studio portrait photography and it carries well right through to the smallest most inexpensive keyring. This attracts many people to the subli stuff that come in for the photography and vice-versa.

Things that havnt worked mmm .....not much really as ive given every aspect a lot of thought, even though i move fast and dont hang about with any project ive undertaken.

ive had a few duds though. A large wood jigsaw that i found out didnt work in the 38cm press lol...just sold them the midi one instead. Oh and ive got 6 upside down mugs to date lol. Its so easy to subli those mugs with the print upside down lmao.

i had a zippo disaster as well.....wasted about 4 of the belt, trying to print on the box as well as the lighter.

Im just about set up to do the local large car boot fairs in my area. I got a 30 foot market stall and a lwb van wind in awning given for free. Ive bought a new 3kva generator and tested it with a heat press. Got an inverter for the lappy and ricoh gelsprinter. so Im hoping to develop the mobile personalised gifts arm of my business.

Im in the process of negotiating a deal with a local karting track to supply photo, canvas and personalised gifts to corporate parties that attend on team building/reward visits. Take the photos of them going around the track, then sell them prints and subli gear with themselves on it.

Ive got another 4 or 5 business directions i want to develop with the photography/ personalised gifts so its all go atm.

anyway sorry for boring you guys..im going on a bit

[Paul]

anyway sorry for boring you guys..im going on a bit

not boring at all! is good to hear good ideas.
can you tell me please. have you got loads of customers who want you take a picture of them? or more who already got some and want it printed???

[giftsne]

not boring at all! is good to hear good ideas.
can you tell me please. have you got loads of customers who want you take a picture of them? or more who already got some and want it printed???

its a mixture really....most of the subli stuff they usually have pics on mobiles and mem sticks (low res crappy pics lol). I get a lot of customers who bring 4 or 5 photos in with different family members on. I scan them, do a bit of photoshop magic and creat one montage of the whole family. Then youve got the customers who require canvas. I steer them towards a studio session. I make good profit on the photoshoot and i make great profit on the canvas. Then what happens is they come back for more stuff and i use the studio photos i took earlier to put on tees and subli stuff.

The key is that im not charging silly prices and i use a modular system rather than a package system for the studio work. I charge for the photoshoot then they just add on individual product they want from the whole range ie Framed,canvas,prints,subli stuff, tees, mugs. Thats what i meant by the workflow goes right through both aspects of the business...photography to the smallest keyring.

[Paul]

very interesting...

[giftsne]

tbh...im new to sublimation and im just keep trying to think outside the box for ways of cross promoting between the two side of the business. It might all fall down on its arse but you know something...i sold my house and have invested 15k into this venture. I work hard and i try hard so if it does fall down and fail then tbh i wont lose sleep coz i know i will have done everything i could possibly do to make it work. Its 15k i didnt have before i sold my house so its no biggy !!

[Fidget242]

Brilliant! Really pleased for you and hope everything goes well, how lucky you are!

Opening a shop is something we've been wanting to do for a few months now but our town hardly has any empty shops up for lease - only massive double-fronted things right on the high-street that cost 15K+ per annum. We did find one shop last week which would have been perfect, we had a viewing and the layout was fantastic, plenty of room for a shop \ studio, 2 more rooms for equipment, all mod-cons and even an open-plan office upstairs, the price was fantastic too for the large size of the shop and we could get a 3 year lease with the option to leave any time in the first 12 months... BUT, they wanted 3 months in advance AND a thousand quid deposit. It's been empty since January but they still wont budge on those terms?!

We just keep our fingers crossed something else will become available soon, or that somebody comes along and gives us the extra 3K we need lol. We're happy enough in our workshop I suppose but it would be great to have a shop front and a cleaner \ fresher place for customers to come and pick there orders up from instead of a freezing cold ancient warehouse on the outskirts of town, lol.

[giftsne]

Brilliant! Really pleased for you and hope everything goes well, how lucky you are!

Opening a shop is something we've been wanting to do for a few months now but our town hardly has any empty shops up for lease - only massive double-fronted things right on the high-street that cost 15K+ per annum. We did find one shop last week which would have been perfect, we had a viewing and the layout was fantastic, plenty of room for a shop \ studio, 2 more rooms for equipment, all mod-cons and even an open-plan office upstairs, the price was fantastic too for the large size of the shop and we could get a 3 year lease with the option to leave any time in the first 12 months... BUT, they wanted 3 months in advance AND a thousand quid deposit. It's been empty since January but they still wont budge on those terms?!

We just keep our fingers crossed something else will become available soon, or that somebody comes along and gives us the extra 3K we need lol. We're happy enough in our workshop I suppose but it would be great to have a shop front and a cleaner \ fresher place for customers to come and pick there orders up from instead of a freezing cold ancient warehouse on the outskirts of town, lol.

I wish you the best of luck finding a shop....Its not been easy for us and we are far from out of the woods. Ive effectively tripled our rent by moving the shop to the main shopping street. Its a huge gamble for us at this early stage in the business but i like a challenge. I will work as hard as i ever have and really thats all i can do. If it goes wrong well .....ill find something else to do. If you let fear grip you in business you will never progress and grow.