What you need to open a grocery store

A grocery store more than other retail outlets depends on its surroundings, that is, residents living in its vicinity, and grocery stores competing with it. Therefore, the first step before opening a grocery store is always a comprehensive study of the area in which you intend to start retailing products.

The first thing you should pay attention to when studying a promising place for opening a grocery store is the presence of large network points nearby. You will definitely not be able to compete with these giants - the purchase prices at which they buy the goods will differ by an order of magnitude from those that you can negotiate with suppliers. As a result, they have a much cheaper product, and this factor is always decisive when buying products.

It’s quite possible to compete with stores that are equal in scale to your project, but have been operating for a long time, so the presence of such in the area should not serve as a reason for abandoning your intentions. Check out the assortment of these stores, try to find their weak points, that is, those positions for which they do not satisfy the demand of people living nearby. Based on these observations, form your own assortment line, attracting customers with the missing products from competitors.

When the choice of location is finally made, you can begin to search for a suitable premises and register a company (or individual business). The room is best chosen with a small supply of free space in order to equip the storehouse with a warehouse and an office for the administration. It is advisable to choose a building that is already connected to a standard set of utilities, so as not to spend a lot of time on re-equipment and redevelopment.

The trade department and the architectural department in the local administration should not mind your desire to open a store; Rospotrebnadzor will be especially keen to watch your undertaking, and the fire department will also pay attention to it. Try to comply with all existing standards, keep documents in perfect order and monitor the correct operation of cash registers. Neglecting the formal side of the business creates too many risks and often negates all your many days of work.

Before you buy the first batch of goods, you have yet to acquire trading equipment and recruit sales staff who will serve your store. There shouldn’t be any problems with the first one, since a standard set of equipment is suitable for food stores, even those that have already been used, if your starting capital is not particularly large. As for the staff, the most important qualities of it will be honesty before you and courtesy to customers, and at first, while the work of your point of sale is not yet debugged, it is recommended to conduct introductory interviews with each candidate personally.

• How to open your own food store
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