Hey Guys,
I am currently running my business from home. it is a retail business so I need quite a bit of room for my stock. I am currently using a small section of my garage to hold 2x cupboards and a desk but that is not a lot of room. Obviously moving to a warehouse would be ideal but I cannot afford one at this stage in my business. Would the next best thing be a storage unit or does anyone have any other ideas of where to go to have more room?
Thanks
You must log in or register to comment.
We rented storage units for more space before we made the jump to a warehouse.
Our progression was:
Dining room table
Corner of basement
Entire basement
Entire basement and garage
Entire basement, garage and 26’ truck parked in our driveway during busy season
4000sf warehouse
4000sf warehouse and storage units during busy season
15000sf warehouse
Amazing, what do you sell?
Storage units are great, just be sure you’re not running afoul of any rules they may have in place about you running a business out of their property. You’d be surprised what people try to get away with.
Another option is to sublet space from another existing business in the area, they may have excess space and welcome some extra cash every month. Watch out for issues such as site access, insurance and security issues.
I run a mail order retail business out of my home with 6,000 different products (many of which are patterns – I have six 4-drawer, deep file cabinets where those go, organized by company/designer, and then alphabetically – the drawers are all full).
I have products in one section of the house – my office, our guest room, half of our living room space, and then part of the garage. I am starting to reduce the bulkier things I sell. They require bigger boxes to ship (and I have flat-rate shipping), and try to keep my total number of products around the 6,000 mark). When you can’t spread out anymore, go “up.” So, I have several rollable six-shelf shelving units that I got on Amazon for CHEAP ($119) that are full – you can find them on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NHGMU98/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They allowed me to expand UPWARDS to stay organized. These particular shelving units can also support 500 pounds PER SHELF. I also have stackable totes I get at Target (I find their prices were the best, especially for the quality of the totes.) If your products do not need to be climate-controlled, maybe you could invest in a nice shed for the back yard for overflow inventory?
I will say that if you really want to try to keep your business at home, what I would do is use the available vertical space with shelves and closets (you can get hanging shelves for closets at home improvement stores or online). Keep some products out of the living space by putting them in the garage or a shed. Keep your number items mainly to what sells more frequently; I regularly will delete an item if the last one sells, and it’s something I don’t sell very often. Avoid moving out of your house if possible – renting a storage unit is preferable to warehouse or retail space, which can get expensive; do this only when/if you get so big that you can easily afford the upkeep, bills, and hassle.
Good luck!
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the BestOffice NSF Wire Shelving Unit 6 Shelf Large Storage Shelves Heavy Duty Metal Wire Rack Shelving Height Adjustable Commercial Grade Utility Steel Storage Rack Casters 6000LB Capacity 18x48x72 Black you mentioned in your comment along with its brand, BestOffice, and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful.
Users liked:
- Shelves are sturdy and spacious (backed by 8 comments)
- Easy assembly despite some flaws (backed by 12 comments)
- Great value for the price (backed by 3 comments)
Users disliked:
- Shelves are flimsy and unstable (backed by 8 comments)
- Missing or damaged parts (backed by 6 comments)
- Fixed shelf heights limit storage options (backed by 3 comments)
According to Reddit, people had mixed feelings about BestOffice.
Its most popular types of products are:- Office Chairs (#30 of 41 brands on Reddit)
If you’d like to summon me to ask about a product, just make a post with its link and tag me, like in this example.
This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved.
Powered by vetted.ai
When you say retail business, are people coming to your house to shop or is this just for your inventory? If it is in-person shopping I don’t really understand how you are supposed to have customers meet you there.
Started in the “spare” room, moved to the front room, then finally into a 12’x20’ shed/workshop in the backyard. We are on an acre in unincorporated LA County.