Hi Jen
I am the "Mum" Candylottie is talking about. I do agree with Tulips, you do have to do a lot of number crunching and prepare yourself a good business plan. Decide what your USP is (Unique Selling Point) e.g. loyalty club, same day delivery etc. and a SWOT analysis is also a very useful tool. Sorry sounding like a business advisor.
You haven't said whether the shop is freehold or leasehold. If its leasehold you then have to look at whether the takings for the time being from IF would cover your rent, rates, water rates, electricity, telephone etc. If you needed to fund the purchase of the shop from finance whether you have to borrow more than the cost of the shop and stock to cover your overheads in the short term.
Again the cost of the shop is a key factor. If the present owner is prepared to offer you the shop for the cost of the stock only then it definitely worth a lot of consideration.
Look at your area too - how many florists are there, what sort of work are they producing, can you offer customers something different.
There are three other florists in our town, we bought freehold an empty shop and started from scratch but in a very short time we have built up a good reputation. We know that the quality of our flowers are good and have a lot of positive feedback from customers, but its still a struggle. But there again if it wasn't then life would be boring!!!!
Keep us up to speed with how it goes.
And BTW welcome!
