I have a small premises in a small town pop.3300 and I feel a shoe repair business would work here.Whats involved? How do I source equipment,training etc
Are there any shoe repair franchises out there.I think Timpsons only operate their own stores.
[broken link removed]appear to be the main people or used to be for shoe repairs. You would probably need to do key cutting also to make it pay. Engraving is another option.
Battery watch replacement would be another handy option to include. Some smart stores at the height of the boom were charging €5 to just open the watch - a card of batteries can be bought for €2/€3 in the Euro shops and it has maybe 4 watch batteries provided they are not specialised ones. Scalpel or stanley knife usually opens the standard watches in no time.
Sell a few watch straps too.
Have your money made for you already
BTW if I had my way would only use the old fashioned shoe repairers especially when its comfortable/favourite shoes. As one of them told me theirs was a proper trade years ago. The only problem with that these days is that the repair can sometimes cost the guts of a new pair.
in my 30 odd years of living, i never had a pair of shoes repared
i didnt even know it was possible to have a pair of shoes repaired. Shoes are fairly cheap nowadays, coming from China and low cost countries. People often buy new shoes long before old shoes need repair.
In your town of 3300 people, how many people would use a shoe repair service if there was one? It might work, but you need to do your homework before you start your business.
I make 2 or 3 trips to the shoe repair shop in my town every year! Shoes last much longer and look much better with new heels/ tips, and you can make a good pair of boots last years by looking after them properly - I actually haven't bought a new pair of boots since 2006, and I wear them all through the winter.
I think repairing what you have will get very popular very soon.
find someone you know that does sewing. Offer a sewing the crotch in jeans service, patching elbows service take a % of that and might bring in more for the shoe repair side also