A clothing or textile shop on the high street is decided by three numbers almost nobody calculates before signing the lease: how many people walk past, how many times a year you will sell the stock you hold in the shop, and what share of sales the rent takes. This guide is about the real set-up, from the premises to the first inventory, for someone opening with tight capital who wants the shop still open in its second winter.
The premises: people walk past, or they don't
A physical shop lives on footfall. Before negotiating a lease, count: stand on the pavement on a Tuesday morning and a Saturday afternoon and note how many people pass in half an hour and who they are. A cheap unit on an empty street is the most expensive one there is, because the advertising you need to get anyone to it costs more than the difference in rent.
- The rent rule. Rent plus premises costs should not exceed 10 or 12% of forecast sales. If meeting that requires selling a figure you do not see in the neighbouring shops, the unit is too expensive for you.
- Window and depth. For clothing and textiles the metre of window matters more than the square metre of depth. A narrow unit with a good window sells more than a big one with the door to one side.
- Stockroom. You need 20 to 30% of the floor area for stockroom and fitting rooms. Textiles take space, and stock that does not fit on the shop floor sells worse.
The licences and registrations that really are needed
- Activity licence or responsible declaration at the town hall, depending on the municipality and the floor area. Textile retail is a low-impact activity almost everywhere, which speeds the process, but the premises must meet accessibility, ventilation and exit requirements.
- Tax registration under the retail-clothing or home-textile activity code, and social-security registration as a sole trader or for the company.
- Complaint forms and a visible sign, mandatory in retail, and a written returns policy: in a physical shop there is no legal obligation to accept returns of non-defective goods, so whatever you decide must be on the receipt and on display.
- Labelling. Every garment and textile article must carry the fibre composition and, on garments, the size and care instructions. If you sell fabric cut by the metre, the composition goes on the invoice.
Opening stock: less than you think, better chosen
The first order is where capital sinks. Two rules that hold for clothing and for home textiles:
- Buy for four to six weeks of sales, not for the season. Without data from your own shop, any longer order is a bet. Replenish every two or three weeks with what turns.
- Depth in few references. Ten references in every size sell more than fifty with one unit of each. In home textiles that means every bed size of the same sheet and the three towel sizes of the same model, not fifteen different towels in one size.
Ask each supplier about minimums and packs before deciding the range. A supplier who demands a high minimum order value forces you to buy a season; one who ships full packs with no minimum order value, delivered within days, lets you replenish by the week. In home textiles packs are usually 6, 10 or 12 units per size; in clothing, by size curve.
The shop's arithmetic
Do this sum with your figures before the first purchase.
- Margin. In clothing the selling price is usually 2.2 to 2.5 times the cost excluding VAT; in home textiles, 1.8 to 2.2. That gives the gross margin, which has to pay rent, wages, electricity, card fees and the sales.
- Turnover. Divide annual sales at cost by average stock at cost. A healthy clothing shop turns its stock three or four times a year; below two, you have money asleep on hangers.
- Sales and clearance. Count on 20 to 30% of seasonal clothing selling at a discount. The season's average margin is calculated with that discount inside it, not at the ticket price.
- Staff. A shop open six days needs more than one person. If it will be just you, close one day and put it on the door; the shop that "opens when it can" loses its customers in a month.
Clothing and home textiles: two different rhythms
If you mix both, understand that they are bought differently. Clothing runs by season: it is bought at trade shows or from the rep six months before it reaches the shop, and what does not sell in its season loses value. Home textiles (sheets, towels, table linen) have no season: they are replenished as they sell, last years in stock and suit the pack-per-size model. Many neighbourhood clothing shops survive the winter thanks to home textiles, which do not go out of fashion and bring in the customer who does not buy clothes.
If you also cut fabric by the metre, it is a service that keeps the neighbourhood's seamstress and upholsterer loyal; it needs rolls, a cutting table and the ability to explain the difference between poplin, twill and sateen. This fabric guide sums up what you need to know to advise without getting it wrong.
The set-up that does not show
- A till with stock control. From day one, even with two hundred references. Without knowing what you sell by size, the second purchase is as blind as the first.
- Card payments. Fees between 0.5 and 1.5%; the cost of not taking cards is far higher.
- Lighting. The fit-out expense with the best return. Clothing and textiles sell on what is seen and touched.
- Fitting rooms. Roomy, with mirror and light. An uncomfortable fitting room puts the garment back on the rail.
How to bring in the first customer without a budget
- A Google listing and local social accounts with real photos of the interior and exact hours. It is where the neighbourhood looks before coming down.
- The businesses next door. Hairdressers, gyms, the neighbourhood's holiday apartments. A holiday apartment needs sheets and towels every season and prefers to buy them from someone who can replace a pillowcase tomorrow.
- Alterations and special orders. Hems, special sizes, sheets for a bed that is not standard. It is what the big chain does not do and why they come back.
What closes shops in the first year
It is rarely lack of sales; it is stock: too much, badly chosen and bought all at once, in a unit whose rent demanded twice the turnover. Buy short, measure with the till, replenish what turns and choose the unit by the people walking past. The rest, the window, the style, the service, is what makes them come back, and that part you do control.