# Secrets to finding stores to sell to?



## Sarcastik (Jan 2, 2007)

Is there a trick any of you guys used to find stores in your demographic that you can visit and sell shirts? I opened my web store 2 weeks ago, but I found about half my sales have come from 2 shops I have found to wholesale too. I'm in the SF bay area so there's should be tons of shops, but with the small mom-pop shops that are actually willing to working with us little guys it can be hard to find them because they usually don't have websites and aren't listed in yelp. I've gotten my pitch down and confindent about my product I just need to find the stores


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

You could try finding a database of stores, but it might not be very current. Sometimes the best way to find small local stores is to just drive around.

Maybe someone else here has some better tips to share


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## Visual Realm (Jul 15, 2008)

Best thing you can do is design something, print it, and take it to them in person. You will find that alot of people have a hard time saying no.


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## Artsplace-CBR (Feb 22, 2007)

Use you local Yellow Pages.

Art


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## DanLew (Jul 17, 2008)

Yeah, initially starting out, it's much better just to drive around to all the local shops that you think you would like to have your stock placed there, and sooner or later other shops will see the same product and call you.


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## Teeser (May 14, 2008)

Contact the Chamber of Commerce for your city and county. They will have a directory of member businesses. Look for advertisements in the local city newspapers, free weekly/quarterly community magazines, the local targeted direct marketing sent to your home (junk mail), the free advertising booklets in the lobby of grocery stores, and college newspapers. Local mom and pop stores use those advertising options a lot in my area. It's also good to read the business section which will run stories on existing business and new ones opening up. 

Good luck.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

*Hi Jeff. Looking at your site you only seem to have two designs available at the moment? If that is the case, you aren't giving stores a great deal to look at, when you actually locate them. *

*The tees themselves look good, they just need a few friends to go to market with.  *


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## frankiko (Jun 13, 2008)

Visual Realm said:


> Best thing you can do is design something, print it, and take it to them in person. You will find that alot of people have a hard time saying no.


i agree. this is very effective way of marketing your services.


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## Visual Realm (Jul 15, 2008)

Careful with the chamber of commerce, I tried that route and we I live all we did was meet with the same 12 people every 3 weeks and we stood up and talked about what we did for 3 minutes. Which if you think about it, it is basically horrible. You tell the 12 people the same thing month after month. If they are not interested in getting something done, they could care less to help spread the word. In my experience it was not worth the money.


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## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

You can also use MerchantCircle.com | Find new customers. good place for other B2B sales. I've actually had some pretty good luck using their site. It's totally free, but you can use some of their paid services to increase traffic to your site and talk to other business owners across the country. 

Cheers


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## Bammer (Jun 4, 2008)

I am getting some good success just walking in to bars with billiards, sitting down, ordering a club soda and talking to to the players. 

We don't talk about t-shirts. I talk about them. I ask them about them. Inevitably, they ask about what I do. 

And away it goes. My company, BamShirts.com is mentioned and how I operate. 

I don't ask for the sale. I just pass my card to them and go on to have fun. 

The point is, I get to know them, they get to know me. 

before you know it, they begin to trust me and they call me a day or two later and place an order for the softball team they are coaching. 

I was successful at selling used cars this way and I am getting success in the same way selling and promoting my t-shirt business. 

Relationships baby. Develop them and grow them and you will soon be on your way...

Rock On...


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## aoshi1 (Jul 10, 2008)

I am still starting out, but I have been banging my head about this as well. Phoenix has a ton of the little mom and pop joints, and it's just like you say, they are mostly unlisted on the net. I have already been doing some major driving around (also part of my "other" job), but I am planting the word of mouth bug as I go. I have gotten a few references from the people I speak with, so everything is actually starting to fall into place. Hope if continues.


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## LMtee (Jul 14, 2007)

If you know your competitor in your area, you should just go to their website looking for some sort of store listing where their product is available... many company have this sort of listing available on their website....


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