Steve Hodgson

Westport, IN (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Apparel Plus Outlet Inc

Find More Startups Startup
Location: Westport
Industry: Apparel
Year Founded: 2008
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: We realized that people need a place to live, something to eat and have clothing on their backs. These are the simple basic necessities. We based our idea for a solid business concept on this simple basic necessity. Knowing that we did not live in a large city and incomes were middle class or below, we determined that carrying good, affordable clothing in plus sizes would work if we kept the prices in the store under $40.00. We could develop a website to carry items over that amount and also register as affiliates for wholesalers to sell additional items we would not be carrying in the store due to space limitations. Apparel Plus Outlet will do just that. We will not be stocking any inventory. Everything we have, upon arrival will be inventoried, tagged and immediately placed on racks on the shopping floor. We would become an “outlet” for clothing instead of a usual clothing store. Inventory would change often since most of the clothing we will be purchasing from wholesalers are in lots and may not be available next time we order. This will keep consumers coming back to find more great bargains. We would competitively price our inventory with WalMart. WalMart marks up their retail inventory 2-5 times what they pay wholesale. We would not try to beat these prices but instead meet these prices. The only difference, we would be carrying an entire selection of plus size clothing whereas WalMart carries only 3-4 articles of each style in plus sizes. We also plan on carrying stylish clothing for plus size individuals. Currently very little of the clothing available in this county for sale is stylish. Most are plaids and floral prints which make great curtains but not dresses and tops. We have found designer liquidators who carry surplus, new plus size clothing at a fraction of the original wholesale prices. We also have interest from two parties to open a franchise of this business model in the very near future. They live in areas of Indiana that will not complete with this location. Our concept is to open the original store listed here, and add a few stores in the future across Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. This will allow the business to be a viable franchise for potential entrepreneurs.