Must have coins for a shop.

I was thinking about eventually (2 to 5 years) starting a shop and am wondering what you think the must have coins would be, in order to have a small shop.
I want to start doing shows and other venues first to gain more experience as well as gather up inventory.

 

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A 1909 s vdb for about 50 bucks. Please tell me your opening day.

 

Hang on let me go find MR. PEABODY, SHERMAN and his wayback machine and go back to lets say 1972.
While I am there I can pick up some double die lincolns

 

It depends on your target customers.

When I was younger, I was frustrated that I couldn't find much in the way of paper money in local coin shops. Same thing with error coins.

Of course, I now realize that at the time, there was a very limited market for those types of items.

I would think that your inventory should cater to the type of crowd that your store might attract. You will have a much different type of audience in a show than in a physical store front than in a mall store.

So, first question is, what type of coin store and what type of location?

PS. a cool idea that I saw when I was younger was a "coin and barber shop". The two worked really well together because the barber shop always had waiting customers. Looking through coins for sale was the perfect way to kill time and often ended up with sales to people would ordinarily never set foot in a coin store.

I imagine the concept would work for any type of business that normally has waiting customers:

=Doctor's office
=Hair Salon
=Eyeglass Store
=Department of Motor Vehicles

Just thinking out loud here.

 

It would be in a small city near my town. I want to be able to sell to the everyday average person.


BTW
Did the barber/coin shop have this slogan" shave and a haircut AND two bits"

 

lots of silver pieces. I was at the coin shop the other day and someone came in and bought $800 worth of silver pieces. I talked to the owner and he said it happens all the time. I guess people love silver.

 

Have a little something for all levels of collectors. The beginner and all the way to the advanced collector. Coins from 10 cents to whatever you feel comfortable with. With all the counterfeits out there I would seriously have to educate myself a WHOLE lot more...

 

Go with what the majority collect until you get a foothold. Lincoln cents are cheap and popular. Don't worry about keys....most customers don't buy keys most of the time. Morgans are also cheap and popular. And of course modern quarters. Start simple so you don't plow yourself under right off the bat, and then expand as you go.
Guy~

 

Coin and a barber shop is a great idea but would work alot better in a small town atmosphere. What I thought of doing is trying to jump in with a small business which is only open for business less than 40 hour weeks. One of my favorite places to go to is a coin store which is located at Denio's farmers market and auction in Roseville CA.

The guy at that location has opened another store in another town (Elk Grove) but his Roseville location is the perfect place for someone who is a weekend warrior and may be an approach you can use. Regular swap meets or places that rent out space, like an antiques row type of place is an outlet some dealers use here in Sacramento. just a thought

 

I have looked into some fleamarkets. For sunny days, outdoor spaces can be obtained for $5 or $10 per day where I live. Indoor permanant spots are much more expensive.

 

A coin bar would be so much cooler. Belly up for a brew right at the coin display case and look at coins while you drink. Of course, there'll always be the guy who spills his Guiness all over your coins and the drunk who knocks out some glass display panes with a pool cue. Ok, so it might not be cool if you own the place, but for customers it'll be great!
Guy~

 

For one thing at any flea market you have to be constantly on the alert for vanishing coins. Those glass covered cases are esential. If on the outside, less money for a space but then too your always packing and unpacking where as inside, a small safe could be used for some of the coins. Racks on the walls for non valuable, but coin related items.
If you plan on making coin shows, and indoor flea permanent flea market location would constantly get in the way. Can't be in two places at the same time. One dealer I know tried that and really misserable results.
You really should try coin shows first if there are a substantial amount in your area. By me we have 4 per Month and many dealers only do coin shows now that used to have stores since so many. Remember that with a store you sit and wait for customers to find you. At a coin show, customers are there already to buy coins or coin related items. You chances for a sale increase massively. With a store you pay for electric, gas, water, phones, rent or mortgage, security cameras, safes and on and on and on. With a coin show you just rent a space and/or table. Everything else is there except the coffee and someplaces that too is provided.
If you do plan on having a store, you'll have to have merchandise for coins as well as coins. Meaning books, 'Ablums, folders, plastic rolls, 2x2's and lots and lots more.
GOOD LUCK.

 

Lincolns,proof sets,mint sets,american eagles. You will need to bust up sets and 2x2 them so collectors can fill albums.

 

First thing you buy is a .38 snub nose.

 

I think the essential series to start out with would be all small cents, all nickels except shields, Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, walker & Franklin halves, Morgan and peace dollars. As you get established you could add Barber coins, SLQs, and some large cents. Having some silver eagles and/or other bullion silver on hand would also be wise. I would love to own a coin shop, but the innitial start up costs could be pretty high, depending on how elaborate you want to be on opening day.

 

A bid board operation helps draw customers in, you take maybe 10-20 %.

Selling lottery tickets is good too.

My hometown dealer did that, put all his commissions into tickets, hit twice for millions.

 

NEWINGTON, Conn. -- Gordon Downer is excited about selling the winning lottery ticket -- especially since he bought it.

Downer, who has owned the Guilford Coin Exchange with his brother for 25 years, has been selling Lotto tickets since the game was introduced in 1983. He walked into lottery headquarters in Newington Friday to claim his $4.6 million in winnings in the Aug. 24 drawing.

The winning ticket -- 1-12-18-25-39-42 -- was generated by Downer's terminal, a ticket that he happened to buy.

"The night of the drawing I went back to the store to take a printout of…

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Some dealers only sell old coins (pre-64), some only sell modern (64 to present). Maybe if you have a little bit of everything you'll be fine. A few gold coins and a bunch of silver coins and that should start you off but you gotta decide if you'll carry any world coins, commemoratives or hard to find coins.

You gotta have a specialty and hopefully it's something which is scarce in your neck of the woods so to speak. Coins isn't that much different than running any other specialty store, you just gotta find your niche within the industry and customer base. go for it!!

 

I agree - a little bit of everything. Including some high grade older stuff Plus as many problem free coins as possible. A ton of morgans, graded, raw(both high and low) - everybody seems to like these. Modern inexpensive stuff for some of the young ones and new collectors - some of the older rarer(all grades) stuff. World coins - modern and older, proof sets, mint sets, lots of commemorative sets, raw and graded ASE's, AGE, etc. Also have some paper money, a spread of books and magazines, and lots of supplies. And several million dollars to get started.

 

The guy that Fretboard is referring is only at the flea market on the weekends, while his friend (co-owner) works at the coin shop. The other days of the week they're both at the shop. They are in the old auction house at the flea market, and are surrounded by glass cases. They do have some common indian cents and world coins in bins on the counters to rifle through. I guess, they do pretty good, as they've been in business for over 15 years. Their prices are a little on the steep side and typically won't haggle. But it's one of the few coin shops out here that's open on the weekends.

-LTB