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Message:: [QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2751601, member: 10461"]I used to have dreams of being a coin dealer, but have long since given that idea up and resumed life as strictly a collector. Even when I was enthusiastic about becoming a dealer, I knew I didn't have the capital to do that and likely never would, not to mention the lack of safety net implied in quitting one's regular job. Here are some old pictures of my little shoestring antique mall operation I ran on the side, from around 2003 until around 2012.  The images and text are copied and pasted from a 2012 Collectors Universe thread.  The original story was from December, 2007.  So this is now a repost of a repost: ------------------------------ This is probably one of the tiniest "coin shops" around. 5'x10'. Some would argue that this isn't really a "brick & mortar" operation and is really more like a flea market "shop", and they'd be correct. It's really just maybe two bricks with a tiny bit of mortar in between them. As flea market setups go, though, it's a tad classier than many. The antique mall is Antiques, Etc., on Newcastle Street in the historic old downtown district of Brunswick, Georgia. It has dozens of vendors of everything from books, nautical charts, fancy ladies hats, jewelry, and all sorts of antiques from furniture on down to smaller items. Some of these antique malls can be junky places (and that can have its own appeal), but this place is a little more highbrow, which serves my coins well, I suppose. These pictures were taken in December of 2007. Here's a wide shot of the front of my booth. Mine is just a small 5'x10' area in front of the window, between the two doorways. Really, it is all I need. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-01.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Everything you see behind the window in the small room belongs to another vendor, but I have the rights to the front side of the wall. I don't use it much beyond a few signs and a simple chart on basic coin grading. I occasionally display one of the state quarter maps in the window to draw attention. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-02.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Here's the booth as seen from the left side. What really catches people's attention first is my 35c (3/$1) pick bin. The coins are all attributed in 2x2s, which is not usually the case with cheaper pick bins like this. I find it worth the effort. There are old and new coins in the bin, both world coins (sometimes even from the 1800s) and a little bit of inexpensive US material like better Wheat cents or early Jeffersons or low-end Buffalo nickels, etc. These are my bestsellers, and the volume of these cheapo coins often help me make the rent every month! I raised the price to 50c each (5/$2.00) in late 2008, and they're still selling. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-03.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> I bought some antique wooden sewing machine drawers from another vendor. They've served me well for more cheap bulk material. The wooden dollars are my business cards. The other drawers are for the ten-cent pick bins. The identified 35-cent (now 50-cent) coins in 2x2s outsell these cheaper, loose 10-cent ones, however. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-04.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-05.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-06.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Here's the booth as seen from the right side. I keep a wooden stool handy for customers who want to spend a while browsing (the sticker on top of it says "For Coin Booth Customers", so people know it isn't a piece of furniture for sale and that they are welcome to sit and browse). The antique mall staff tell me there are some folks who spend hours going through the bulk bins! The curio cabinet has folders and Dansco albums and 2x2s as well as a few other book and supply items. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-07.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> One thing I did for the first several years was to print flips for all of the "better" individual coins. These flips had my tag on the back, and two copies of the insert in them. This enabled the antique mall staff to pull one copy of the insert for me, while the other stayed in the flip for the customer. It was a good system which made record keeping easier, and the flips looked very professional, but it was VERY labor intensive and time-consuming, and I have since had to abandon it and go back to selling coins in handwritten 2x2s like everybody else. As an absentee vendor who depends on non-numismatists to sell his material, however, it is imperative that I clearly label and price everything, to keep them from having to call me with questions. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/GICbooth-08.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Well, I hope you enjoyed the quickie tour of my tiny coin shop. I thought I would post these pictures for somebody who's had the idea of doing something like this, and I welcome your questions. I had the idea of doing such a post a while back (in 2007, when I took these pictures), but I never got around to it. Somebody recently wanted to ask me some things about my little shoestring operation, though, so I thought it was time to dust off these pics and post 'em. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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