Hopefully after the holiday season you won’t have too much Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise left on your shelves. If you don’t have vendors that you can ship back to, most of the left over items have to be stored away until next season. It may seem like a huge undertaking now, but taking extra precautions in storing your seasonal merchandise will keep it looking new for a profitable season next year.
It should go without saying that nothing should be left out in open bins. Keep in mind all the elements that could cause harm or damage to your products. If you building floods when it rains, keep boxes off the ground and use plastic containers instead of cardboard. Clear plastic containers can be helpful so you can see what is in them.
Labeling takes almost no time at all and will save you hours of going through all your boxes next year. Make sure when you stack and store your boxes that the labels are facing out so you can read them, they won’t do you any good hidden away.
With breakable items, it’s better to wrap in a paper without any ink. Newspaper and color tissue paper could get wet and stain your products. Also, be mindful of what products you combine in one box. We recommend keeping scented items separate from everything else, so your products do not permanently smell.
Unless you are absolutely sure that some of your food products will be like new in a year, do not try and store them. On items that are going to expire or that are outdated, consider having a clearance sale to get these products out of your store. And instead of throwing them out if they don’t sell, you can donate items to food banks or charity organizations.
Even though the process is a hassle for you now, you will be so happy that you made the extra effort next year when unloading holiday merchandise back on your shelves with ease.
How do you store your holiday merchandise? Any tips for new store owners?
