PeterInBrat.
with a location in place How much you think one might need to open a colmado?
I think in the DR you could prob get a small shack colmado going with under $500 inventory. Look at what is on the shelves any place you look at. I've seen some with maybe $200 worth of inventory and about $50 of that in rum. I think my average mark-up was about 15% over wholesale. You have to have goods on the shelves to make money. If you have the only colmado in a village of 500 and they spend even $5 a week at your store, you will have a decent business. Of course
never give credit...
With mine in the Pacific Islands, I put all of my revenue from sales back into inventory for a couple months and eventually had about $2000 in inventory and maybe 100-150 items. Some things stayed on the shelves for weeks and some I could flip three times in a week so it all balanced out. It made a big difference when I could make the minimum where the distributors would deliver. I had worked in another store for about five months beforehand so I knew what sold and what didn't. Oil, sugar, rice, canned meats, soda, candy, diapers, kerosene and soap were always good sellers there. I didn't sell anything frozen but I did sell cold soda. I stayed away from beer and cigarettes to discourage theft. The best way to tell what sells in the DR is to go to a small Colmado and look for dust on the cans. Those are bad sellers.
I made the best money just on hot coffee. It ended up being over 10% of my profit even though it was not a huge amount of my sales. A styrofoam foam cup of coffee sold for a buck there(you won't get 30 pesos in the DR) and I was selling 20-30 cups a day. I gave away free coffee to the gua-gua drivers so they would stop and have a break while their passengers suddenly decided not to come all the way into town. I'd also give them free cigarettes even though I didn't sell them. Give away 50 cents worth of coffee and cigarettes and get $10-$15 in sales. Not a bad deal at all.
In the Pacific Islands or anywhere else though, you have to have good a relationship with the locals. I made a HUGE mistake of being open on Easter Sunday and I lost about half my business for a week. People were mad at me for weeks because I didn't know what a big deal it was to be open then.
For a DR colmado, I'd get a good battery operated digital scale, buy beans and rice in bulk and portion it into 20 peso bags. Most places bag then weigh but if you can make them all 20 pesos it would make it easier. Some places sell tomato paste in 5 peso spoonfulls and cereal by the cupful. You can't squeeze blood from a stone...
One thing I forgot to mention is I had ZERO competition. I would need a lot more to open in a town with other stores.
