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About this blog

General info on owning and operating a retail store, pro's and con's, life issues, observations, or whatever random things I feel compelled to write about. 

 

Entries in this blog

When life throws you a real curveball

I've been in business for myself for almost 20 years.  I started at age 18, as an antique dealer. My store has always been fluid, changing with the times and the economy.  When I started 18 years ago, my store was situated in a neighborhood that you would call "seedy", to be generous.  It was the perfect location for a used retail store. I've always managed to thrive, even though the "Great Recession ".  At this point in my life, I'm mostly an appliance dealer. I make a good living at my shop, a
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

12
When You Damage A Customer's Home

What To Do When You Break/ Damage The Customer's Property

Inevitably you will at some point in your career damage a customer's stuff.  Most common is usually the appliance you are working on, or the floor.  The big stuff is flooding a customer's house, fire, smoke, etc.     Let's talk about the small stuff first.   Scratched/ damaged appliance:  Just understand that your maximum liability on this is the value of the appliance.  Not the cost to replace.  The value of a 10 year old used appliance.  If you did the damage the first thing you
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Lorainfurniture in When You Damage A Customer's Home

13

Warranty, returns, and replacements.

Warranty: Do whatever you want with this one, but think about this:  I can go buy a new washer with a 1 year warranty for $400.   Why would I pay $200 for a 20 year old washer with a 30 day warranty? My recommendation is a minimum of 90 days, with a maximum of 1 year.  I currently sell all of my pre-owned appliances with a 6 month warranty.  I also have a "refurbished appliance" section which is the same exact merchandise, tested in the same manner as my pre owned stuff, just they are alway
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

6

The eBay store, is it worth it?

This could be quite possibly the most boring entry I ever write.   The exciting world of the eBay store.      So, you have a shit-ton of appliance parts, you want to turn that in to cash. How?  Sell it on eBay!  So lets start with the very basics.  You need the following: 1.internet 2. computer with printer 3. a "smart" device i.e.. tablet, iPhone, etc 4. shipping supplies, tape, boxes  5. shipping scale 6. shelving.  7. a fancy table with good lighti
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

17

Stuff, Hoarders, Parts hoarding. Parts hoarders. The sad tale of the ever broke repairman

This little tidbit applies to basically every facet of your life.   What do you really need?  Of course, the answer is very simple.  Food, water, and shelter.  These are the 3 very basic things a person needs to survive.  When I say survive, I mean literally not dying.  This is not living, its just not dying.   The key to "living" is the first 3 a written above, and add two more: companionship and MONEY.   Money can provide you with all the material things that you need to survive, and companion
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

7

Servicing vs. Appliance sales. I may have found an answer.

Gross appliance repair YTD $12k profit = ? Store gross YTD roughly $86k. =22.5 profit So I think I have come to a conclusion.   I really, really love doing COD service work.  Its not very intense, And average profit per call is around $200.  If I could do 4-5 of those a day, Im making some serious money.   The problem is: not enough lucrative COD work.  My observations while reading this site is the fact that most of you would like to increase your COD workload, as in you are not worki
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

3

Servicing vs. Appliance sales. My worthless opinions and random rants.

This part is a little bit more "food for thought" than sound advice.    I have been a shop owner for 15 years, and for the first 13ish years the only type of "service calls" I would do is warranty repairs on the units that I sold.  Officially, I can say that I have 15 years experience fixing appliances, but the truth is, I have been serious about service work for about 2 years.  I really put my try-hard pants on about a year ago.   Why am I telling you this?  Its because you need to understand t
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

12

Money and slavery. Why money is the burden.

Not to get too deep and philosophical on you guys, but I was/am trying to figure out the relationship between money and modern day slavery.   Yes, I said it.  You are a slave, I am a slave, and likely everyone you know (there are some exempt from this) are enslaved.   I was free once, and at one point I believe that most of us were free, even if just briefly.  Ill get to that in a bit.  First it was "slavery", then It was called "indentured servitude", now its  "career" You are pr
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

15

Merchandise, merchandising, from acquisition to delivery.

So you found the perfect space, now is the time to fill it up? But how?  First, and best choice, find the guys who deliver for new appliance stores.  You see them on the side of the road, pull over, give them your phone number.  These guys are the lifeblood of your business.  There is no better resource for appliances than these guys.  Often you will get stuff that just works, where the customer was simply upgrading.  Needless to say you still need to go over them, but you save huge on the parts
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

2

Location, Location, Location

I thought I would expand a bit more on some of the points in my first entry.  This part will focus strictly on location, and set up of your space.    First, Ill tell you where my store is located.  My place is located on a main corridor; you can drive clear through town on my street.  I am about 50 blocks away from downtown, in a poor/working class urban area.  15 years ago when I started, it was a proper ghetto, however, in the last few years my neighborhood has begun to gentrify.   I
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

2

Intro

1. Location:  Probably one of the most important decisions.  You must think about who buys the most used appliances.  Typically you want to seat yourself in an urban area, ideally in a poorer community.  This has 2 benefits: A: rent, or purchase of space is cheap, B, you are near most of you clientele.  Most of your customers will be lower income, nearing poverty level.  Finding a location that is generally around other retail stores is a bonus.   In order to make a decent living selling us
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

6

Aftermarket parts VS. Genuine. False economy or good deal?

This may cause a bit of a stir with you guys, but Ill discuss it anyway.   Some of you are staunch users of genuine, OE, brand name appliance parts.  I am not one of those people.  Appliance parts is an expense in my business second only to labor.  My rough guesstimate is that I spend about $50,000 a year on parts. If I used exclusively genuine, new parts that figure could easily go up 20%.  Perhaps even more.  Control boards:  You can go new, genuine, and pay $200 for it +$60 core, or
Lorainfurniture

Lorainfurniture

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