Three Tips For Moving Your Retail Store To A New Location

When you own and operate a retail store, relocating can seem like an insurmountable task. How will you ever move all of that merchandise and then make sure your customers follow you to the new place? You're correct in assuming that this move won't be easy... but you're far from the first person to relocate a retail store, and you can learn from others who have done this before! Here are three tips to make the process less burdensome. 

Hire professional movers.

You might think you'll save money by packing all of your merchandise, shelving, and other items yourself. But consider how many days you'll need to close the store in order to tackle this task. In the long run, you're likely to save money -- and you'll certainly save a lot of sanity -- by hiring a commercial moving company to pack everything into a moving truck, transport it to the new store, and unload it. You can keep your old store open right up until the moving company arrives, and you'll have plenty of energy left to work on setting up your new store quickly.

Don't take everything with you.

This is a tip commonly given to people moving to new homes, and it applies when you're moving a retail store, too. Take this opportunity to get rid of those items you don't need and that are just taking up space. If a piece of furniture won't fit in your new store or you're downsizing and won't need all of the shelving, list it for sale a few weeks before your move and get it out of the way. You could also take all of your extras to a retail auction and allow other store owners to bid on them. The more extra stuff you get rid of, the less you have to unpack and set up later.

Delegate tasks to your employees.

Even when you hire professional movers, there will be some responsibilities that fall on your shoulders -- like counting your inventory, letting your delivery companies know your new address, and so forth. Choose a couple of your most reliable employees, and delegate some of these tasks to them. This may mean you need to give some of their normal tasks in the store to less senior employees, but they will often be happy to get more hours -- so it's a win-win situation for everyone involved. 

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