Branson’s Bin Store opens April 14th, 2022!
What have we been up to? Plenty! Before the end of the year Richard and I knew that we needed to expand so started looking for warehouses. Hah! They are like gold dust here in Branson at this time i.e. non-existent! We didn’t give up, but continued driving around looking for suitable places. One snowy day we thought we had found “it”, but the realtor told us that it wouldn’t work. Why? We have to have a BIG door in order to bring pallets through.
Why do builders/owners build most stores with small back doors? It’s nuts! I honestly think that our perseverance let the realtor know that we were like a dog with a bone! We were not going to give it up! He finally told us that there was only one place in town where the landlord would allow us to put in a bigger door. Not wasting any time we went to look at it that afternoon and that was the place. Is it perfect? No! Is it massive? No! Is it in a good location? Yes! Of course, even then it wasn’t simple as the realtor had to explain to the landlord what we were planning and we also had to not compete with the store next door. Guess what that is? Hobby Lobby!
Oh, I haven’t really told you all the plans. Whilst we definitely needed more warehouse space we didn’t really want the expense of that to take away from all our venues so “Branson’s Bin Store” was born! At this present time, the plan is to be open 3 days a week, Thursday thru Saturday. The bins will be restocked in full for Thursday and we will add fresh inventory throughout the day. Every item that day will be $7.99. (We will literally dump pallets of stuff into them and let customers sort through.) Friday will be $3.99 – no restock. Whatever is left on Saturday will be $1.99. We will then clean them out and start all over the following week.
I wish I could tell you it has been plain sailing but it has not! This entire process has been WAY more time consuming and expensive than we ever envisaged! We were advised to get an architect for the building permit and we are SO glad we did! Due to fire regulations we were not allowed to put in an “Up & Over” door (cheaper option) but had to go with a double door instead. Even that though has had its headaches. We have been “patiently” (Hah!) waiting for the mason to come and cut the hole in the wall. This past week we thought it was going to happen. Whilst he did come, we also ran into an issue of the builder thinking one thing is needed and the architect having planned something else. We now have to wait for the architect to come out and see what is actually there now that we have a BIG hole in the wall! Richard and I aren’t twiddling our thumbs while waiting though. We have done a LOT of painting and Richard has put in all the security cameras etc. Caleb has helped put the bins together. Anticipating a March 31st opening date, Daniel left his job here at Treasure Lake to join us on staff. Obviously that opening date could not happen but we still have plenty to do. Even with the hiccup this week we should still meet our new opening date of April 14th 🙂
We did bring one truckload in early on but that was a different kind of truckload, one that we could unload box by box. It has been good experience and allowed us to fully stock our other venues in town. We will not be competing with ourselves as the truckloads are very different.
SO that lets you in on what we have been doing. Exciting, challenging times ahead. You can find out more at BransonsBinStore.com or by clicking this FB link.
Richard & Liz
