Store Renovation Store Renovation Store Renovation

Document Sample
Store Renovation Store Renovation Store Renovation Powered By Docstoc
					Store Renovation
Store Renovation
Store Renovation
                                                                                                     By Rob Wilbrink

Renovating your store—expense or investment?
     Don’t make any decisions about remodeling your store before you do the math

                      any storeowners approach store renovations with      Cash Flow
                      trepidation. Their biggest concern: what will this   With lease-to-own financing, a large part of the renovation can
                      cost? But what is cost? If you buy a car, it’s an    be paid over five years with no impact on existing credit lines.
                      expense because two years later it’s worth half      Lease-to-own financing is generally available to cover about
                      what you paid for it and it doesn’t return any       70 per cent of overall project cost (excluding construction and
income while it depreciates. However, if you buy a boom truck, it’s        leasehold improvements). In the above example, lease payments
an investment that also depreciates but hopefully generates enough         on $196,000 would be about $3,881 for 60 months with a 10
income to provide a good return at the same time. So if you renovate       per cent ($19,600) payment at the end. It is wise to budget on an
your store is that an expense or an investment?                            additional $10 per square foot of inventory, as more efficient fixtur-
   If you think of it as just an expense, the next logical thought is,     ing should deliver higher inventory intensity. The extra $80,000 in
“This is a cost of doing business, so how can I reduce this cost?”         inventory would create a carrying cost of $533 per month at eight
So you spend less rather than invest more; the deck chairs get             per cent interest. This brings the total monthly expense increase
shuffled; compromises are made. Some renovations get watered               to $4,414, or $52,970 per year. Subtracting this off the $148,000
down so much that customers don’t even notice the changes.                 conservatively leaves $95,000 of positive cash flow per year.
Stores are put into a state of turmoil for months on end, meaning
customers need more help finding things but find staff unavail-            Return on Invested Capital
able, testy and stressed. Owners swear they’ll never do it again.          Leasing provides an effective way to reduce taxes paid on
   When contemplating a store renovation, a better question                new income because payments are an expense that is fully
to ask yourself than “what does this cost” is “what will be the            deductible. This helps already profitable businesses pay back
return on my investment?”, or “will our cash flow go up or                 their investment faster. It also increases the return on invested
down by doing this?” Well, first you have to do the math.                  capital. The lease covers $196,000 of the renovation cost in the
                                                                           above example, leaving a net capital investment of $84,000.
Cost                                                                       This generates a pre-tax return of 113 per cent based on the
To do a complete renovation with completely new fixturing,                 $95,000 of additional cash flow. The after-tax return on invest-
new counters and millwork, a complete signage package and                  ment based on the small business tax rate ranges from 92-97
professional merchandising with specialized accessories and                per cent depending on what province you are in.
displays costs $20-40 per square foot. Larger stores normally                  Beyond the numbers there are other factors to consider:
are at the lower end and small stores at the higher end. An                    s A professionally renovated business is much more mar-
average 8000-sq.-ft. store will do about $4-million in sales and           ketable if you are planning to sell your business.
cost $280,000 to renovate.                                                     s Meaningful improvements to your business can be the
                                                                           factor that knocks a weak competitor out of your market, espe-
Payback Period                                                             cially during a recession.
The average building centre does about $500 per square foot                    s Employees are proud to work in a well-presented store
in annual sales at a 26 per cent margin. Renovated stores                  and customers are glad to shop there.
consistently generate sales increases of 10-30 per cent. At the                There’s always a cheaper way to do anything; it all comes
low end using the above example, that’s $400,000 in sales and              down to perspective. If you see renovating your store as an
$104,000 in margin. Overall gross margin percentages also                  expense, it may become just that. If you see it as an opportunity
tend to increase 2-3 per cent. Using a conservative one per                to invest for great returns, you are much more likely to reap the
cent of the higher sales number creates an additional $44,000              rewards, and there is no better place to invest your money than
of gross margin, for a total of $148,000. This renovation com-             in your own business. H    M
fortably pays for itself within two years. This analysis does not
factor in additional labour to service higher sales, however                  If you would like to do your own math, you can down-
most building centres have the capacity to do 10 per cent more             load a financial calculator at, or email
sales without adding staff. Beyond this, there likely will be more Rob Wilbrink is president of Burlington
costs to service the extra volume.                                         Merchandising & Fixtures.

40    H A R D WA R E M E R C H A N D I S I N G                                                                                    May/June 2009

Shared By: