Let’s go on a wholesale shopping trip today with the thought of placing an opening order for a discount clothing store stocked with lower price point clothing. A thrift type store where buyers are more concerned with getting a great deal versus a high-end label. In my hometown we have a thrift store that caters to women only and on and given Saturday, the store is literally packed with customers fighting to find a dressing room. This store make money hand over fist selling used and closeout apparel.
I’ve spent a few hours online reviewing some deals that I think would work for this type of store. Here are my suggestions in no particular order:
Countryside Closeouts has sold this clothing offer for years with many repeat buyers. I have purchased a few hundred pieces of this clothing before, and it represents a great value for eBay sellers, exporters, and discount retailers. This clothing is categorized as customer returns, so please factor in some damages.
Over at H & J Closeouts I found an offer for what they call “ethnic inspired” clothing that looks really diverse, as far as styles. I like this offer because number one, it’s cheap at $3 per unit; and number two, you can buy in small quantities of 18 units or more. Assortment advertises dresses, tops, shirts, and skirts in assorted sizes.
My last stop was Via Trading, which has several clothing offers that I think would work for our discount clothing store. This one in particular I believe to be shelf pulls from a store called Shopko. Shopko is a discount retailer with quality similar to the Target chain of retail stores. I like this offer because they list the clothing as shelf pulls, with minimal to no damage. $2 per unit allows for a pretty good margin when pricing for the clothing rack.
The above offers are just a few I found searching online. How much clothing is needed to start a discount store? This question cannot be answered without knowing how much retail space one must fill. I think a good rule of thumb would be somewhere between a $6k – $8k inventory spend for every 1,000 square feet of retail merchandising area. At least this is what I would feel comfortable with.
Do you have a discount clothing store? Please tell us your story. Please include photos of your store when sending comments.
