What Are The Perfect Store Hours When Opening A Dollar Store?

For those who are opening a dollar store there are a huge number of decisions to be made. These include everything from the placement of fixtures and displays to what dollar store merchandise to carry, and where to buy the dollar store merchandise you seek. There are decisions about the right location, how to best staff the store during hours of operation, and of course, what hours of operation will be best. It is a long, long list of questions. Each requires thorough examination, and the best possible answer. In this article I present ‘what are the perfect hours when opening a dollar store’.

Unfortunately there is no single right answer to the question of best operating hours for an independent dollar store business. In some cases the answer is very easily found. Your lease agreement dictates the hours of operation required for your store. You actually knew the required hours before signing your lease. You then agreed to these hours the instant you signed your lease agreement and started moving forward with opening a dollar store at that location.

In other cases there are no specific requirements dictated in the lease agreement. The final decision about hours of operation is defined by you. Generally the best possible hours are going to be directed by the close by retailers – both competitors and well-established complementary businesses. In this case the goals is to match their hours of operation – in some cases even remain open longer. In other cases you may have a competitor with operating hours which do not align to your shoppers and you may choose to reduce hours.

If you do have flexibility in hours of operation, your customers should be the ones who direct your hours of operation. Their shopping habits will telegraph exactly when they will come and make purchases. Carefully examine your sales-by-hour in the opening hours and the closing hours each day to see just how many actual customers were coming into the store as a means of verifying when they actually spend money in your store. It is also easy to ask about customer preferences in operating hours at the cash register during the checkout process if there is a need for more customer input. Adjustments (Adding or shortening hours.) can be made from there.

Temporary holiday hours are different. The goal should be to capture as much of the seasonal traffic (and sales) as possible. Look at the major nearby retailers and match their hours – within reason – to build even more sales in the early AM and late PM hours. Just remember these extra hours need to be well promoted to have the biggest impact on sales for your store.

If you are opening a dollar store consider using this strategy to determine the best possible hours of operation. It does require a bit of extra work when compared to just saying we will be open from XX AM to XX PM. However you can be really aligned to meet the needs of your shoppers. Supporting your shoppers supports the goal of maximizing sales.

Find more about Opening A Dollar Store. Visit www.openingadollarstore.com for and learn more about Dollar Store Start-up