Small Biz Survival

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Local sources of resale merchandise

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Our Friend Chuck Huckaby wants to share some ideas on where to find local sources of merchandise to resell.

This is a solid model for a small town business: take a local resource into a larger market.

  • Find your local sources: landfills, garage sales, auctions, local manufacturers, local retailers, local farmers. Look for their overstocks, scraps, by-products, and trash!

Chuck says, “It can take a lot of hard work identifying these sources, building a relationship, and establishing the source, but it might provide years of regular income. Most people stumble over the work part.”

  • Add some value by cleaning, researching, matching, organizing or improving.

Lots of antiques and collectibles gain in value when you do the research and clean up the items. Clothing resale items gain in value when they are cleaned, matched into outfits, and displayed nicely. (I miss my local clothing consignment shop!)

  • Transport it to a larger market (like a big town) to add value.
  • Sell online to reach the larger markets and hopefully add value.
  • Sell at auctions, at flea markets, in your retail store, or on consignment in a larger store.

Right now, an entrepreneur could start relationships with local gardeners, buy their produce during the season, drive the bigger nearby towns, set up and sell the products at the farmers markets. Basics like tomatoes and cucumbers are hot sellers!

What ideas can you come up with?

[Photo: A farmers market, Frankfurt, Germany – entrepreneurs taking a local product to a larger market.]

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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