Michael Maxim

Parma, OH (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

In God We Trust Christian Books and Gifts

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Location: Parma
Industry: Retail/Clothing
Year Founded: 2010
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Creation/Idea
Entity Type: Sole Proprietorship
Description: Our Mission Statement: To create a successful specialized retail store that will not only support our family, but will serve our customer’s needs by providing materials and items to help renew their faith and better our community with involvement in city events and local charities. Here is the detailed long term business plan for our retail venture In God We Trust: Christian Books and Gifts. Both my wife Jennifer Maxim and I are ready to take the next step in life and to go into business for ourselves. We researched and discussed different business ventures and both realized that owning our own specialty retail store is exactly what we wanted to do as a family. With our background and interests it only made sense to open our own Christian book and gift store. We feel that in our area and the store’s target age demographic the market is there with limited competition. Our extensive retail/retail management experience over the years and our connections in graphic design, printing, and our backgrounds as Christians make this a perfect choice that will be without a doubt a success. One thing that we have noticed especially over the past two years there has been a Christian conservative uprising in America and locally here in Northeast Ohio. Millions of Americans are on the path to renew their faith and relationship with God. They are returning to their churches of choice and moving their families into a more faith based family. We feel that there is not a better time frame than now to open a store of such a nature. We have already established a social network on the internet of people both locally and nationally (for our web based business see below) that will serve as our initial customer base. Our initial start up will be our highest expenditure to say the least, but we are confident that we can give the public the store they expect on time and under budget. In God We Trust: Christian Books and Gifts will offer a variety of religious items such as books, cards, statues, jewelry, t-shirts, hats, etc. Based off of our goals and the wholesale companies we have looked into we can offer items that stretch the range of all the Christian denominations that we have here in America. On top of Christian based items we will also offer a selection of religious Americana items that will add to our appeal to our customer base. In short even though we will cater to a specific demographic we will offer items that will be of interest to many of our potential customers to assure a maximum profit ratio with both our physical store location as well as our internet store. We have already been in contact with members of our family and friends to assure that we have a solid crew to help with the initial set up of the store itself. As far as daily operations go the store will be handled daily by ourselves with my wife Jennifer Maxim serving as our financial officer and assistant manager. Myself, Michael Maxim, will serve as manager running the store on a daily basis and as our business grows we already have in place several individuals that will be hired on as clerks. These individuals are all family and longtime friends that we have established levels of trust with which will be essential in our daily operational success. Overall this will be a family business that will give a warm and welcoming environment for our customer base. For additional help we have experience and contacts with professional individuals to help us with various other aspects of the business that will make us a success. I am an accomplished web designer for our store website, we have close relationships with a graphic designer, a local printing company, and when the time comes an accountant. All of which we have already consulted about our business and are ready to work on whatever projects we have when the time comes. Overall with an established customer base, our dedication and desire to succeed and with the already committed help of others we have the recipe for success. Our Target Grand Opening of both the retail location and the online store will be Spring of 2011!