CHRISTOPHER RIGLING

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

The Buckeye Connection

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Location: COLUMBUS
Industry: Retail/Clothing
Year Founded: 1982
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Growth (profitable)
Entity Type: Limited Liability Company
Description: The BC The Buckeye Connections Expansion The Executive Summary The Buckeye Connection, owned and operated by HUAW llc., is a store specializing in products and goods featuring The Ohio State University Buckeye licensed trademarked goods. Christopher Rigling CEO worked as general manager from 2006 until purchasing ownership on 1/1/2010. Chris has experience in big box management upper/lower; Combined through his years of employment has 12 years of management experience. The Buckeye Connection Convention Center location has been in the same location since 1982, the year that it was established. HUAW llc. Is a limited partnership with 100% ownership going to Christopher Rigling. Expansion to a second location is key to what is possible to be astronomical growth. The downtown location offers 1008sq ft. of shopping space. The locations being considered for the 2nd location are no smaller than 3000 ft. so able to offer more goods in store as well as stock more items for online ecommerce holiday sales. The Buckeye Connection requires thirty thousand dollars to complete build-out including inventory on 2nd location. Completing the ecommerce platform project, and purchase inventory for the upcoming holiday season that is to be sold online. The investment is going to be split up and not solely used on the build out of the new location it will also be used to purchase new pop counter for Downtown as well as some additional fixtures and lights to finish the 2010 renovation and start both stores off our big selling seasons renewed restocked and refreshed. It is our goal to open the location by the first weekend of September. Short North Arts District before the first weekend in September, which is Gallery Hop. . Based on current sales and projects in development for the company we don’t expect to receive any government grants or loans to complete these projects. The $30,000 investment will be is required as soon as possible to allow for orders, fixtures, and other obligations to be met since the time scale is very small. Repayment of the loan invest, plus interest will paid back daily to investor at 25% of each credit card transaction. Two brick and mortar stores and ecommerce should enable full payback of investment ($30,000) as well as the $10.000 ROI being total of $40,000 thousand. This being repaid on the basis of credit card transactions and being automatically done by merchant card processing and splitting my deposits into two separate accounts. There is no set time period for this loan. Opening right before the football season low overhead, leasing agent is working on securing first 2 months at least if not 6 of months services Early retirement of the loan is expected. In addition to the current assets under HUAW LLC, the investment can be further secured by the fixtures, merchandise, equipment, which is $60,000 in current retail cost of Inventory Summary Description of Business Brick and mortar stores offering merchandise for The Ohio State University. Online portals offering over 100,000 different sports related items. Currently one store front location in the Greater Columbus Convention Centers Food Court & Shops where it was opened in 1982. We have 1008 sq. ft. at this location which is limited to downtown conventioneers and downtown office workers from 9-5 daily Monday thru Friday. Weekend customers composed of Convention traffic due to lack of free parking at Center. There is not an open air parking lot for any potential customers to park in. The Ohio State University is a few miles North on High St. from Convention Center as well as the new proposed store location as well. Nationwide Mutual Insurance is located directly across the street from Convention Center and we have frequent shoppers from the employees there. At last count there were approximately 25,000 employees working at Nationwide, and they are completing a 56 floor renovation of Towers 1 and 3 and moving more jobs back to the downtown towers instead of renting office space in the suburbs of Columbus, OH. This will increase sales at the downtown location as we offer Nationwide employees 15% regular price and we are already the lowest prices. Opening across from the Center next year is a Hilton Hotel, which will be connected via skywalk directly to the Convention Center as well. Marketing Plan Marketing would take place in local newspapers, TV and radio spots as well as in inserts that are already u in place with the visitor’s bureau as well as the campus directory that is giving out to every student and staff. The Buckeye Connection #2 will be situated within a high traffic count area as well as daily foot traffic being significantly higher than most locations. We have always offered quite different items than our competition does in town. And with our local competition being bought out and HQ moved to Indiana we are planning on fighting to take over control of being the official Alumni store, since we are Columbus, OH based. Our standard pricing structure will remain in effect. We offer GLP on our items or we will match. We have participated in local fund raisers in the past year including Make a Wish, NBC News Pay if Forward, food drives and other various events. A customer loyalty program is going into effect within the next month. As well as new websites, ecommerce hubs, and epos units that not only tie the inventory together for the two stores but also will be used to keep the entire database from inventory to sales organized and accurate. The Buckeye Connection 2nd location would provide between 2000 to 3000 sq. ft. for customers to shop and prices that are very uncommon for the short north. Establishing a presence in the community that will enable us to expand and open 2 or 3 other stores in next 2-3 years. We have seen excellent ROI with advertising on Facebook and other social media networks which will be one of the most used forms of advertisement for both locations as well as ecommerce promotion. Statement of Financial Needs & Uses of Funds/Investment The Buckeye Connection is seeking a growth capital loan within the following areas: • Build out-using all modular take down put up fixtures; keeps expense down, less maintenance, easier to dispose of than custom fixtures. Majority of fixtures are going to be purchased used, are currently in storage, or can be on site within 14 day time period. • Completion of Internet Multi Channel Order Management System & Implementation before holiday season for all ecommerce sources. This bringing The Buckeye Connection inventory from all channels to one centralized database keeping inventory numbers tight and correct, as well as enabling auto reorders on product if sales trends are there, decreasing the possibility of losing sales due to hot items being out of stock. • Inventory-used at both stores and online. Some key vendors no longer offer net terms on inventory due to the economic turmoil parts of the United States are currently seeing or have seen the past copy of years. o Hiring and training 4-8 part time employees o Training of a part time manager 12.50hr./32 hours Current employee of 4.5 yrs. is stepping up to fill part time manager position