How do you start a coin shop in Minnesota? Are there any books on starting a coin shop? Any websites? thanks
Starting a coin shop is like any other business. First you need to check with your state and city for licenses. Then rent a location and stock your store. The main concern in starting a coin shop is cash on hand. Coin businesses are not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the small shops I visit keep a running inventory of about $300,000.00 Building a network of customers is another task in and of itself. Making dealer contacts are pretty easy once you lay the ground work. Get your company listed in the dealers directory, and join a coin network like CoinNet or Eureka. This takes time. So don't expect to open and start a brisk business right away. Unless you are very familiar with coins, and the players involved, I would not recommend starting a shop. It is definately a dog eat dog world out there.
silver art bars ---- ND gave some good advice---even though I don't run a shop I would one day like too. I know that there is no way that the shop I go to can have $300,000.00 in stock....I love the size of it and the way its run....Its family and he gets what he needs out of the coins but won't rip you off...He will even give me some off some times....So if you want to make a friend be a friend. Speedy
A short answer, NO. There is a guy out in Arizona that sells info on how to become a dealer, but as far as I am aware, there is no easy quick guide. It appears that you are looking for an easy way to make money. The coin business is not this way. Now I run a large firm, so it will vary from a small shop to a degree, but some things remain the same. It takes money to make money. The advertising rates are absolutely ridiculous. Buying from the mint costs nothing but money. Take a quick peak at the mint set price and then figure out how many customers will walk into your shop to buy this item. From a dealers standpoint, a wantlist program is a good and bad thing. It allows you to access new customers which is good, but then you have to scour the country looking for the items. You will spend many hours looking for a run of the mill Kennedy half. By the time you sell this coin for a dollar, you have four hours in it. What is your time worth? Shows are an important part of the business. This allows you to interact with many people at one time. Large shows run around $600 for the table, $400 for the hotel, another $400 in travel expenses, and figure $200 for misc. expenses. You have to sell many coins to make a profit. Then the time factor. Time is something that no one has enough of. All the money in the world doesn't buy time. So even if you want to own a small shop, consider this. You have to be open the days the customers want. So your weekends are a thing of the past. Forget about 9 to 5. For even if the store is open 8 hours a day, there are many other little things that will take up the free time that you thought you would have. Now consider that all of us dealers have the ability to sell the same things. Every collector wants the same thing. Generic coins are one thing, but when you start looking for key dates, be prepared to compete with every dealer in the country. Dealer networks are all fine and dandy, but they are not the magic coin shop. When you need a coin, it can't be found anywhere. You have to spend hours and hours calling every dealer you know, and some you don't. One often overlooked fact of the dealers life. When you buy and sell money, you fall into a very targeted group. Dealers get robbed and killed every year. It is just a fact of life. This is a very hard business for new comers. Just look at the hard time you have had to find a silver bar distributor. That is but a very small taste of this business. Now I absolutely love what I do, and have yet to feel like I work for a living. I have met some of the greatest people in the world, and made many friends along the way. I get to see the country on a regular basis, and learn new things everyday. I am but a small part of what I feel is the greatest hobby in the world. I am very thankful that I continue to have this opportunity.
