Judging by things for sale on corotos and friends of mine whine sell their used baby things, baby and kids clothes and products seem to sell well. Not sure I would invest my money in it though. Used clothes for babies and kids usually sell around 100 pesos per piece. It would take a whole lot of clothes to get to 500 bucks. They also don’t need a store to sell items, most sell out of their homes or use the Facebook marketplace and corotos. I’d say a salon would be a more profitable idea if the family is actually willing to do the work.
- Thread starter RickJames2000
- Start date
Selling Clothes and opening a shop
Loaning money to the family of da wife. is never a good idea, in any country probably ... As a Gift , sure , but consider that money gone, and don't ever ask for it back..
Have never gotten a peso back from the "loans" to my wife's family. At least they know to never ask me again for money and they keep their distance. In hindsight, money well spent.
Everytime i have "loaned" a Dominican money it was well spent.
Just find all the doninicans you never want to visit you again and loan them money.
I have lost as much as $325 and it was still worth it.
https://youtu.be/hAuSTQUa3tM
I loaned my maid some money to open up a clothes shop, it lasted for a while but she had to shut her shop up a few months ago. There are so many other people that do the same thing it can be hard to make much doing that. Depends on where you are and the competition I guess.
She would bus down to SD buy tons of clothes and sell them near Gaspar Hernández.
She would bus down to SD buy tons of clothes and sell them near Gaspar Hernández.
When I first came here I naively "invested" in opening a bar for my then girlfriend. I paid for the beer and rum, she opened the bar and business was pretty good. Soon she told me we need to buy more booze. "OK", I said, "use the money from what you have sold and by the next batch". "Oh, I've spent that", she said!
Here's the deal:
Folks are sending new items, as well as used clothes, perfumes, lotions, fragrances, and even electrical stuff, including small TVs and phones, in those boxes/drums. And it's highly profitable... at least for the sender.
Also, there are folks in the D.R. who buy boxes sight unseen, not knowing what it contains. They call them pacas, and while I'm not sure why, I'd venture to guess it derives from 'package.'
They'll buy the pacas and then will try to resell the items individually. Oft-times, you'd hear someone complain that "compré una paca, pero me salió mala" - meaning that they bought a box, but its items weren't 'good' or desirable with respect to resale, but that's mostly when dealing with used clothes. Many a paca contain a mixture of new and used items.
Folks are sending new items, as well as used clothes, perfumes, lotions, fragrances, and even electrical stuff, including small TVs and phones, in those boxes/drums. And it's highly profitable... at least for the sender.
Also, there are folks in the D.R. who buy boxes sight unseen, not knowing what it contains. They call them pacas, and while I'm not sure why, I'd venture to guess it derives from 'package.'
They'll buy the pacas and then will try to resell the items individually. Oft-times, you'd hear someone complain that "compré una paca, pero me salió mala" - meaning that they bought a box, but its items weren't 'good' or desirable with respect to resale, but that's mostly when dealing with used clothes. Many a paca contain a mixture of new and used items.
The best investments while your in the DR, are outside of the DR. A Gringo expecting to make much money in any business here, when your customers are from here, is verrrrry difficult!
Right on the money.
How much of a business could the family get going with $500.00 as start off cost anyways. Gift the money, feel good about it and flip that page.
If they could start and run a business with $500 dollars, it would have been done long before the OP came along and they wouldn't even need his money.
Jumbo hit the nail on the head. They'll sell something here and there every day or so, either on credit or cash.
If it's for cash, the cash will be used immediately to buy food or some other needed item, the credit will get paid when the buyer has money. Never.
I've seen it happen more times than I can remember. (No, not me, I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid).
There is a need for affordable kids and baby clothes in the DR. Anything for kids/babies is nearly double the price there, for poor quality. The Childrens Place opened in Agora the last time I was there, and their “sale” prices were triple what I would pay in Canada.
That being said, if your relatives were to open a store or sell out of their house, their idea would be copied within a month and they’d be out of business. Niche market or not. Also, I think that Amazon is a game changer when it comes to finding more affordable items as well. Even with weight fees through a company like Mailboxes Etc., it’s still cheaper. Clothing included.
That being said, if your relatives were to open a store or sell out of their house, their idea would be copied within a month and they’d be out of business. Niche market or not. Also, I think that Amazon is a game changer when it comes to finding more affordable items as well. Even with weight fees through a company like Mailboxes Etc., it’s still cheaper. Clothing included.
We have a re-sale out of our school that we open up every other month for just a few hours. Mostly it's kids clothes and some women's clothes. Kids clothes sell quickly because as mentioned above they are expensive and poor quality here. Women's clothes are hit or miss - the school is in a super-barrio and so the taste of clothes is..... well, it's not what I wear to the university.
We can pull in 2 to 3 hundred dollars in one afternoon.... but if we opened more frequently, we wouldn't make more. The idea of "running to target to get one thing and walking out with 100 dollars of merch" isn't a thing here because people don't have the money to do so.
We can pull in 2 to 3 hundred dollars in one afternoon.... but if we opened more frequently, we wouldn't make more. The idea of "running to target to get one thing and walking out with 100 dollars of merch" isn't a thing here because people don't have the money to do so.
Selling clothes in the DR is a lucrative business if you can find your niche, keep it simple, buy your merchandise intelligently and heavily market it. We now have three locations for our store . We only sell brand new , mostly mainstream brand name, nothing too high end. And heavy heavy social media (instagram and facebook, a little snapchat. We just built our website ( I did it myself) and will start promoting that soon as soon as we iron out the kinks.
Still after expanding, many of our sales are still from the PERSONAL facebook of my fiancee.
Still after expanding, many of our sales are still from the PERSONAL facebook of my fiancee.
Well here is my take on this. Depending on when and where you buy Paca will increase your odds on a good box. Shipping many boxes with your company will bring the cost down. As stated Baby clothes are the best because you can get quality and good stock turn over. Also good demand. The paca cannot be shipped in a bale it needs to be boxed. You can truly find some gems in a paca box or bale. All this material is pre sifted for the good vintage stuff. However a good political or concert T Shirt can be found that will sell at a fair price to a collector. Same store can also sell the Chinese new fashion type stuff. But the shipping is a killer. You can get it dirt cheap and sent to the states re packaged and sent to DR mixed with used paca it is in fact all clothes right? Again shipping is the killer of good profit, assuming you ordered the right stuff. If you buy from china and ship direct to DR expect Aduanas to charge you (Have All Receipts!) and they more than likely will help themselves to a couple of pieces. Also as stated you need a clever Dominican to do the negotiating and getting the feel for the clients around the store tolerances as far as prices. Salons inside the clothes store is a good thing as the ladies spend much time getting maintenance. There are distributors for both wholesale clothes and salon products in the DR. You need to know where to find them and not let them overcharge you. Here is where the clever Dominican comes in again. Bottom line is it can be done a profitable store can be run but the right chemistry and mechanics will be needed. Never go so far in as not being able to walk away from a total loss. When getting in the store business with the novia. Be prepared that the love of your life could very well be a serious chapiadora. And you buy her a store, nothing more for you.
My mother used to sell clothes and back then it was very profitable. Now, this was just something to make an extra income. She was able to save and bought our first car. Ok, it was nothing fancy but it got us on four wheels and later we were able to buy something better. My mother was good at making budgets, plans, saving, etc. She was also good at collecting the money from the "fiao" merchandise.