Home Run or Run Home? Opening A Sports Shop

Everyone likes sports of some sort, whether watching it on TV or enjoying a competitive game of squash. So opening up a sports shop, if you have the tools and the talent, would be a no brainer.  If you have opened a shop before, you know that it’s not just the stock you need to make the shop fly like a golf ball in the PGA Tour. If you are opening up with the view to providing sports there are many things to consider:

What are you going to sell?

Are you going to be a specialist shop? Selling items for one sport, like an angling/fishing shop? Or are you going to be a general store, providing all types of sports items? Only you have the answer to that. The benefits of opening up a general store could mean more custom, but at the same time, you are competing with more established sports shops.

How Are You Going To Layout The Floor?

Size is a factor. For a small to medium sized store, your cash register needs to be a focal point. Keeping your stations at right angles will help for maneuverability. In a specialist shop, such as a golf shop, you can look online for information on a point of sale system for a golf course.

Make sure you have your cash register credit card ready, so payments can be processed.

Adequate Security

As you will have customers entering and exiting your store on a constant rotation, making sure that you have durable doors or automatic doors will help. And making sure that you have a good security system installed is best. Alarms and security cameras are an essential tool in catching criminals.

Online Presence

Being on social media, and having your own website are vital tools in getting your business out there. The power of sharing and store pages on the net will help the store take off, and having a memorable brand and slogan will stick in a customer’s mind more than the pull of the items in the store.

Marketing

In store and online, marketing will keep customers interested and make them come back. In the store, use corners effectively by putting displays up. Using brackets and fixtures are a cheap way to achieve this without compromising space.

Based on what your store sells, making where your items are appealing to the eye will do half the job of selling for you.

The Staff

Make sure you are choosing the right staff for the store. There is no point in hiring someone that can’t sell a golf club if they have never played the sport before. Having a passion for the games and having knowledge of the equipment required is a lot of work. So, having staff members that are also keen exercise enthusiasts will benefit. Use people that are personal trainers or gym goers and know the terminology.

Running a sports shop will come with unique challenges different to a run of the mill convenience store, so relish the opportunity and take the plunge, tee off or kick it into touch.

Main Image: Pixabay

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