When people dream of owning their own business there are several businesses that always come to mind and owning an antique shop is always quite high on the list of those usual suspects. However owning an antique shop is not as simple as it looks. Competition is tough, and the present economic climate has meant that the clients with money to spend are thin on the ground.
According to the British Antique dealers association there are around 20,000 antique dealers around the country, and times are hard for those 20,000. Antiques are becoming harder and harder to find, and prices are getting higher so setting up is becoming an expensive and time consuming business .
If you thought of the TV series Lovejoy when you thought antiques then you're probably thinking along the right lines. Being in the antique trade involves a lot of detective work, an incredible amount of knowledge and an awful lot of waiting around. If you thought of the Antiques Roadshow then you've already fallen at the first hurdle.
It has been suggested that one-quarter of the overall population collects something. As people become more educated and experience greater expendable income, they tend to look at the purchase of antiques and collectibles for investment, security, and for aesthetic appeal. It is estimated that one-third of these people invest in antiques and collectibles.
The prime antique collectors seem to be the more affluent population born in the 1950s and 1960s. Since the number of people in their thirties and forties is the fastest growing segment of the population, it would seem that the sales of antique objects will continue to be strong over the long term.
Owning an antique shop is not a short-term profit-making venture. Antiques can sometimes sell well, if they're at a good price, or they can sit for months if not years with few interested customers, therefore, some owners make their antique shop only a side line to their usual occupation, or they start from home or just specialise in antique fairs.
According to Fiona Ford special projects director at LAPADA (The Association of Art and Antique Dealers) now is "one of the hardest times of all to set up an antique shop" particularly setting up an antique shop from scratch "People read the headlines about objects going for lot of money, but don't realise that it's not an easy business. People go into it because they love it not because you can make millions".
Most new antiques dealers are from an antique or auction background or have some sort of antique related background or are in there 50's and 60's with a lifetime of collecting behind them. very few get into it at an early age unless they're the sons and daughters of existing dealers. Ingrid Nilson a map and print dealer (www.ingridnilson.com) and consultant started when she was 30 and most of her competitors were in there 50's she's now 40 and the only thing that has changed is her competitors are all now 60. Nilson thinks if you intend to start young then "an apprenticeship is quite vital, at 20 you don't have much knowledge"
It's also a very competitive market, especially in the general antique market where the dealers are all competing essentially for the same market. However the trend for collecting has never been bigger than now. Indeed the definition of antique has gone through many changes. Ford "the definition was objects 100 years old or older or an arbitrary dateline like 1756, at one point Antique fairs would prevent dealers from exhibiting if they sold objects younger than an arbitrary dateline you now no longer have datelines at antique fairs".
So if you can find a niche like coins, early 20th century furniture , art deco art nouveau, second world war memorabilia then you already have an edge, but remember what you make up for in lack of competition you lose in possible buyers as the smaller the niche the smaller the available clientele.
Lastly you have to remember this is generally a luxury market. Nilson "the general economic client affects us, it's a still a luxury market weather it's a £50 porcelain jar or a £600K painting, food, rent and clothes come first, if the economic climate is good then trade is good". It's also a fairly constant market Nilson "there are now Fairs throughout the whole year even July and August and they can work as well in September as October".
