Opening a Dollar Store - Turn Suppliers Into Your Warehouse

Those who are opening a dollar store are always looking for operational strategies that help to reduce the cash invested in the start-up and ongoing operation of their stores. An area of focus is often the merchandise inventory level that is maintained. One strategy for reducing the amount of inventory that is maintained when opening a dollar store is to use suppliers as your warehouse.

You must remain focused on maintaining minimum inventory levels. When opening a dollar store if the right tools and systems are in-place suppliers can actually become the warehouse for your business. This requires smaller and more frequent orders. It also requires management that pays attention to the details and invests time on a more frequent basis. Inventory levels must be examined more frequently. Orders must be written and transmitted more frequently. The result can be a lower cash investment in inventory when this is properly executed.

While this sounds simple it requires a great deal of knowledge about the store, the desires of the customers, and ongoing inventory levels. It also requires strong relationships with suppliers and with freight companies that are used to transport goods to the store. When all of these exist after opening a dollar store in-stock inventory levels can be dropped to critically low levels before reordering.

Entrepreneurs who are opening a dollar store must know their shoppers. They must be able to anticipate their buying needs and their buying patterns. Then it is possible to forecast sales of consumer goods and other staples. With that forecast in-hand work can be completed to order critical products before they are completely out of stock.

You must have a good inventory system so that you can tell at a glance if in-stock inventory levels require replenishment. It doesn't matter whether you are using a checklist, a Point-of-Sale system or a computerized order, inventory and sales system, there must be easy access to current inventory data.

You must have suppliers that can be counted on to ship promptly. You must also have freight carriers that can be counted on to promptly deliver replenishment merchandise. Working with a freight company that picks up merchandise from a distributor on the east coast and then takes that merchandise on a cross-country trip before returning to your store which is also located on the east coast will not work. For this to work when opening a dollar store the actual delivery time must be minimized.

To Your Dollar Store Success!

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Turn Real Estate Profits From Old Warehouse Properties

Did you know that you can turn a dusty old warehouse into a good source of real estate income? How is this possible? Typically, the real estate wealth builder uses borrowed money to buy the warehouse property at low cost at an auction or as a distressed property.

At any given time, warehouses are available as pre-foreclosures, foreclosures and for short sales. Some warehouse facilities are of historical interest and can be purchased through historical associations, specialty realtors, and government agencies, for little, or no, money down. Warehouse facilities can be very reasonably priced because owners want to unload them after they've made changes to their business.

If you buy a warehouse, you might turn the property into a uniquely interesting and attention-getting site, serving needs of tourists or business people and residents in the area. Well-kept but rustic warehouse facilities often have special appeal and can be retrofitted into upscale restaurants, taverns, retail shops, art galleries, amusement centers and many other types of attractions.

Another option is to rent the property to an individual or business that can develop the property into a money maker.

With the right kind of property in a sensible location and some rehab, a warehouse can practically "sell itself." We've visited three former warehouse or related sites where the business is booming every day. These places were an old brick warehouse turned into a restaurant/bar, a historic postal mail building turned into a highly successful retail shopping center, and a World War II factory turned into an art gallery. 

If you're interested in buying income real estate, a warehouse facility may be worth checking into. Such unusual properties can offer advantages over traditional income properties such as apartment buildings. Potential advantages of these kinds of properties include:

Warehouse facilities can be very reasonably priced. At any given time, warehouses are available as pre-foreclosures, foreclosures and short sales.
You will typically pay less borrowed money for such a property than you will for an apartment building, yet it can have great income-producing potential.
You may be entitled to special discounts or grants which state and local governments provide to owners of historic property.
Taking into account any zoning laws on the property, you can choose what kind of business, if any, you wish to have on the property
You can decide whether you want to live and/or work at the property or whether you want to be an "absentee landlord" with a regular monthly rental income

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