Chapter One: What am I getting myself into?
Why should I open my own business? * But first, a warning: It’s
tougher to make a go of it now * Do I have what it takes to open a
consignment shop? * What do I want my business to do for me? * Should I have a partner? *
How about buying a business? A franchise? * What about competition? * Where will I get the
money? * How much will I need? * Let’s add it all up * Your "shopping" list of basic equipment
and supplies * Will I be able to make it? Figuring your Break-Even
Chapter Two: Where do I start?
What can I sell? * How can I choose? * Where’s my market? * What will make my shop
unique? * Where should my shop be? * What should I look for in a location? * Should I move
to the neighborhood where there’s a lot of resale shops already? * Understanding square-foot
quotes * How about the lease? * What hours of business will I have? * What will I call my
shop? * Some ideas for names * How will I know what to accept and how to price it? * Time to
get serious: Your business plan
Chapter Three How about Buying Outright?
Would it be wise of me to buy my merchandise outright? * Examining the Buy-outright Option *
The pluses and minuses of buying outright * How much should I pay? * Fine-tuning buying
outright * Figuring your Opening Open-to-Buy budget * The Fallacy of "No Bookkeeping" *
Examining your Ongoing OTB budget * Cost Codes, in any event * Legal concerns *
Markdowns * Why Consignment may be the way to go
Chapter Four Setting your consignment procedures
What does your potential consignor look for when deciding to
bring items in? * What else will my consignor be concerned with? *
The Ideal Consignment Shop agreement * Time for Questions and
Answers * Consignment fee? Or Preferred Consignor Club? *
Buyers’ Fees: To use them, or not to use them * Your
Consignment Info Line works non-stop, 24 hours a day * How do I
develop consignors? * Your How-to-Consign Handout * Some
notes on the consignor information handout * Building your
consignor base
Chapter Five Accepting Merchandise
How do I accept items? * Accepting, Step-by-Step * How should I describe it? * What price will
I put on it? * Pricing hard goods * How will I keep track of consignments? * How can I say no?
What is a "Drop & Run"? * How will I handle these groups of clothes? * The Drop-&-Run Flier
How do I keep consignment records? * What are the traits of a good control system? * The
simplest manual bookkeeping system * Wait a minute. . . Shouldn’t I use a computer for all
this?! * Accepting Procedure: * Tagging Procedure * Selling Procedure: * Posting Procedure *
Returning Unsold Items to Consignor: * Additional Consignments: * How do I do markdowns? *
Why should I mark consigned items down based only on how long it’s been here? * What
about missing items? * How do I pay by check? * What a lot of work! * Am I keeping my goals
in mind? * A Too Good to be Threw EXTRA: Tools of the Trade
Chapter Six: Am I ready to open?
What does my public want? * What should I fix up first? * Where will I put
my fixtures? * Some quick fixes for your interior before you decide on
fixtures: * Where will I put my fixtures? * Ten Questions to consider before
deciding on a retail layout * What do I need to get started? * What goes
where? * Some more tips on arranging your categories * Can I please have
a back room? * Hey, what about household goods? * Where will I get my
opening merchandise? * How will my customers pay me? * Will all sales be
final? * What about keeping track of sales? * Balancing the books * The
Daily Sales Summary * What if you don’t balance? * How will they know I’m
opening? * Your opening day checklist * Can I have a Grand Opening? * What do I do next?
Chapter Seven How do I sell this stuff?
What is marketing? * How can merchandising help me? * What are some proven
merchandising tips? * The Swing Shop * What’s the best way to do a window display? * What
tools are needed to create inexpensive, terrific window displays? * What can I feature in my
window? * What’s the second most important display area? * What am I selling? * How can I
still sell if I’m busy? * More ways to have happy customers: * What’s my magic selling tool? *
What if she doesn’t find anything today? * How do I sell the consignment/ buy-outright idea? *
Is my marketing paying off? * Some ideas to get you thinking
Chapter Eight Promotion, Advertising, and More
What will promotion do for me? * How much should I spend? * What can I
write an ad about? * How can I create an effective layout? * Why do I
need fliers? * Is direct mail good for my business? * How can I get free
publicity? * What are promotional activities all about? * How does my
business card sell? * What about the web? * What other ways can I
advertise? * How can I improve my ads? * Is advertising necessary?
Chapter Nine How am I doing?
How do I keep financial records? * How can I keep up with all my tasks? * Am I keeping my
goals in mind? * Keeping a Shop Journal * What will my monthly books show me? * Am I
controlling my costs? * What’s the best way to deal with slow seasons? * How can I find more
time— and room? * Speeding up Intake * One thing you should never do. Never ever. *
Switching seasons * What is my most impt job? * Are you the Ultimate Resale Shop?
Chapter Ten Staffers, Shoplifters, and Sale Mavens
What about employees? * How will I hire someone? * How about employee training? * How
can an employee manual help my shop? * Can I stop shoplifting? * What other problems will I
encounter? * Managing your Merchandise * The incredible importance of markdowns * How
can I sell it without a markdown? * When should bought-outright items be marked down? *
Should I have a sale?
Chapter Eleven Dealing with Challenges
What one thing will help my shop prosper? * What are pakaways? * I’m spending too much
time—and space!—on not-for-sale items * How many ways are there to increase my traffic? *
Why is my competition getting my customers? * How can I increase my profits? * Ringing up
those Sales * Gross profit doesn’t mean a dollar for you, a dollar for me * Cut those expenses
today! * See your net profit grow * Keep your profit for yourself * How can I keep my business
from getting in this fix? * Why isn’t my shop making a profit? * How can I raise cash quickly? *
Garage sales are killing me! * How can developing my creativity help me? * A Too Good to be
Threw EXTRA: 13 Days to a Better Shop
Chapter Twelve The Future and Beyond
How successful can I be? * How can I change my policies? * Let’s talk about selecting a
software program * Switching from manual bookkeeping to software * Should I buy items
outright? * Should I open a second shop? * How can I promote my shop by community
participation? * How about expanding my services? * Can I sell my shop? * I’m a success!