“Starting a Grocery Store Business”
Comment Page 3

Hello, I have been in the grocery biz over 35 years and have run stores from 5000.00 a week to over $1000000.. I dp consulting to small independant store owners or people wanting to start a store. Email me and ill try to help...thanks

abbas,are you located in the us? what kind of store..what is it like...i do grocery consulting...maybe i can help

@gobie, you can start at storesupplies.com

Susan, hard biz to start, a reg grocery store is on a .8 to 1% profit..a great one can achieve 8 to 10% there is very low profit margin in this kind of store..start up cost has many variables...gro? produce? meat? need coolers ect..size of store, utilities..you need an LLc because the type of people that shop these love to sue! grocery outlet is a chain of discount groceries but there always selling ect..very tough..just a round figure to tell you would be 150000to 500000.! you can buy damaged or salvage gro by the pallet but most the times you dont know what is all on it..things you need things you dont...good luck

Its one of the coolest businesses you can open. You get to meet new and interesting people and a daily basis but I have to say it can also be a heartbreak if you don't approach it correctly. Yes, location is very important, as is the size of the store you want to open. Small Mom and Pop's do very well in small areas where the need for day to day goods keeps daily cash flow equaled to your daily purchases. Larger operations tend to get more costly so the proper calculations for the needed profit are very important to understand. I've worked in the supermarket industry for most of my life and I see a problem that causes many a start-up's to fail. I won't get into buying goods correctly, the location site, setting up good receiving records, good control on your cash registers (each person must count out their own till), customer service, store sets....but I will mention one important thing. Making sure you earn enough money on the products you sell. Its called Mark-up and Mark-on in the industry. Most folks make this very serious mistake in calculating their anticipated gross profit. If you simply just go about and throw 30% percent on lets say a $1.00 on a can of green beans, thinking you've just made a nice 30% margin, then think again. Yes, you mark-on is .30 cents but look at it again, its closer to 23%. 7% is a big difference when you start adding volume to the picture. That could be your rent, maybe your clerk costs, maybe your loan load....but it makes a difference in the real world.

Since I'm not a great writer, I copied a web site address that will explain to you in a much better written piece about the difference between Mark-on and Mark-up. Please take the time to read it. Its a very important part of the process and can knock the poop out of your mind set, thinking you have more money to take home at the end of the day and find out that you don't! I've seen a lot of people make this mistake and it cost many of them their stores. Its all in the numbers fellow supermarket retailers. Make sure you have it, before you go out and spend it. Lets make sure, cause opening up a small one, is just about as hard as opening up a big one. Good Luck.
http://joannowak.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/mark-up-vs-margin-the-difference-can-cost-you/
Best regards, Mike

Hello to anyone who is looking to start a discount/surplus grocery store. They are much more profitable then a regular grocery store,since you can buy cheap and sell low. We have many different loads available in the US on an ongoing basis.We also are working on our nonprofit so our prices are very good.I also have owned several retail stores so I can help you with everything on startup as we have done for many of our current clients.Please feel free to email me at surplusgrocery@yahoo.com or call 641-849-0090.Thank you.