Thread: Business loans

Does anyone know anywhere I can get a business loan if I don't have good credit? My husband and I have been selling all new merchandise off and on at flea markets for almost 14 years. Now we have had an offer for a location for a store. The monthly rent on the store is very reasonable. But we don't have enough merchandise to fill a store. I have lots of sources for merchandise. Just not enough money to fill a store.

I know it sounds like a great way to be in business for yourself. It might appear that you could make bundles of money however, you need to sit down and figure out how much stuff you have to sell just to cover your overhead - Rent, Utilities, Taxes, Permits, Wages and any other costs to opening this business. Please note you have to cover those costs out of the "profit" you will be making. Our business has been around for over 25 years and the only way we can get a "loan" is to use our credit line that we have had in place for over 20 years. Once you sit down with pen and paper and figure out all the costs you will realize you have to sell a lot of stuff for a lot more than you realize just to break even. Stick with the flea market - it has a low overhead cost and you have customers brought to you with NO advertising costs.

The place where we would be selling is a mall the has now been turned into all flea market vendors. There are kiosks in the mall and storefronts. They are planning on doing a lot of advertising. They just purchased a billboard. And they are doing radio, tv and newspaper advertising. We are tired of doing just the regular flea markets. It's a pain to have to haul everything and pack and unpack everything every day. With this mall, I can leave my stuff there and not have to haul it. Plus I have the option to be able to sell everyday or just on the weekends.

Originally Posted by buglebe

Could you start out with only the inventory you have on the week ends, maybe?

I have enough that I could fill a kiosk right now but not a store. I talked to my husband earlier and that is what we are leaning towards doing. It's just disappointing passing up on the bigger deals because we don't have a place to put it all. Last week I had an offer on a truckload of all Coleman products for $4000. But, I can't unload a truck at my home. Plus I don't have the room to store a whole truckload.

Originally Posted by Airbuswife

do you have a college around? usually they have a small business association that will help you secure a loan. i've been thru this, we had to make a business plan, etc and present it to them. when your loan is approved, it is guaranteed to be paid back if you default. Fortunately, most of the loans here have not been defaulted on.

Those loans are generally from the SBA (small business administration) and require a lot to get one. I worked on the one for my Uncle for one of his restaurants - he has exceptional credit, 7 other restaurants and a good track record for the type of restaurant he was opening - it was also about 4 years ago. Loans these days are virtually impossible to get unless you have a proven track record and exceptional credit and something that they can hang onto if you default (like a second mortgage on your home). Unfortunately you are trying to open a business in an unknown location and you don't have good credit. So you can try but please realize that you will hear a lot of no's these days. Also remember if you are planning on having a store front and leaving your stock there you will need to have General Liability insurance in case of theft. Just because you are in a "mall" doesn't mean you don't need the coverage - unless you can replenish all of the stock from your pocket.