How to Open a Clothes Store
Opening a clothing store requires considerable advance planning in order for the owner to have a successful launch. The owner will need to advertise the store to attract as much new business as possible during the first few months. If the store is a success, word of mouth can help the owner to achieve profitability early on.
- Contact the business licensing department in your city to obtain a license for your clothes store. Find a location for the store that has a lot of walk-up traffic such as a shopping mall. Open a bank account for the business and talk with an accountant about the best way to structure your business for tax purposes.
- Enter into agreements with various clothing distributors so you can stock your store. Start to look for employees to help you run the store. Hire as few employees as possible to keep your initial overhead costs down. Buy clothing racks, shelving and any other supplies you need in order to get your store ready for business.
- Decorate your clothes store to make it a fun place to shop. As your clothing inventory arrives, have your staff arrange the garments on the racks. Create a display for the window that will attract customers to your store.
- Advertise your clothes store in the Yellow Pages and plan for a grand opening event. Create a simple flyer to use for advertising the grand opening. Place an ad in the newspaper as well. Contact other business owners in the area where your store is located and ask them to pass out some flyers, since shoppers who come to your store may also go to others stores in the building.
- Offer a discount for shoppers who attend your grand opening sale. Make sure to have refreshments on hand. Have some music playing during the sale to make the event fun for the shoppers.