Buying a market stall?

Hi Donna, In my opinion THAT is a LOT of money to be putting up for a venture such as that. Obviously I do not have access to the trading books of the seller, but I have been involved in and traded on markets for years, so do have some experience in this area. Is that a 7-day a week market stall? What size? Where? What's the P&L like for the existing business? Will you require a good wage or is it more of a hobby/additional income generator? What state is the Van in? and how much stock are you getting as part of the deal? I would have thought that Plants/Groceries have a very short shelf life? You'll also have the running costs of the stall - i.e. rent, maybe electric, the upkeep of the van, fuel, staff/wages? I'm assuming that the P&L for this business is very rosy? You have to bear in mind that a lot more retail places are now open 7 days, and offer exactly what you are offering, so can you do it better, or is the existing business good/profitable enough for you not to have to worry in the short-term?
------------------------
Kind Regards,

Martin @ LTA Leisure Ltd

enquiries@lta-leisure.co.uk

Donna, I would agree with Martin that this sounds like a lot of money for a market unless this is very well established. You need to make sure the books for this have been properly checked (paying over the odds for damaged stock is a classic problem with buying businesses like this) and the sale agreement has been cleared by your solicitor. You should budget at least £1000 for professional advice, which should be earned back many times over if issues are found. In practical terms you are going to struggle to get 85% finance - 50% is the standard amount that is fairly easy to raise through normal channels, such as the high street banks. You may get up to 2/3 in some cases. 85% will however be hard going, so don’t get too excited about this prospect until you have secured finance. Sorry that’s not very positive, but you need to be realistic about the sort of business you can afford or you will be spending a lot of time chasing non-existent finance. £10k actually sounds like enough capital to start up on your own if you can find a pitch. Regards,
------------------------
James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

---------------------------
Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

I must admit I think that is a large amount. As with anything, ensure you are getting what you pay for. Is it really worth it? Go to the marketplace where this stall is and look for competitors as well as speaking to some other stall holders around there. I wonder how much they value the business name as (sometimes it can be referred to as "goodwill" and in other places they actually value the brand)? And who is to say that you want to keep the name?
------------------------
Marketeer
marketeer@lycos.co.uk

Thanks very much for your replies. I personally thought that the price was VERY expensive, but from further research on the internet, I am now wondering if it would be better for him to just start up from scratch. He has a good, nearly new ford transit that he has been using for his plastering business, and we would just need to buy the stock for it. He would obviously need to start out as a casual trader, but after a while might end up getting his own pitch... Does anyone know how we could find out how to go about buying from a wholesalers?

hi please could anybody give me links to stock suppilers
ASAP
thanks