Starting-up - what do I need to take care of? (off-licence/grocery shop)

[mikex79]

Hi everybody
I am planning to open up an off-licence/grocery shop in London.I am thinking what do i need to take care of at the beginning and in the nearest future.I mean licence, insurance, lease, loan and what other general paper-work needs to be done to start it up? Is there any councill or building control needed or fire safety control (and what else) to make sure that the premisses is ready to use. I am gonna create a limited company and me and my business partner both are going to be the directors. Is there any thorough guidance available in the internet?
many thanks

[business.safety]

Hi Mike

If you are opening an off license then you will need to do your BII certificate and once you pass you need to apply to the council for a licensee License.

If you are selling food you will also need to approach the council to check for any licensing.

You will need to check if you need to register for VAT

Whwn you have your premises you will need to do a fire risk assessment and if you emaploy more than 5 people you will need to do all the othher assessments, but it would be good practice to do this even if you are working on your own.

What you need to do before you start is to workout what products you are going to sell, choose a location and also to check if the premises you are looking at is near a supermarket (people will always go and buy cheaper).

One thing I will say about the licensing trade in general is that people tend to buy at supermarkets link tesco as the smaller retailler can not compete on price. It is a hard trade to get into, so before you start make sure that there is a demand for this type of business where you are getting up

Gareth

[Indizine]

Some of the small grocery stores that seem to have sustained themselves in our main town area are the type that sell to a foreign origin community. So in Doncaster, since we now have an airport with regular flights to Poland and a small Polish community living and/working here, there is a shop dedicated to their food. I must admit that if I went to live in a foreign country, as much as I eat Indian, Italian and Mexican, I'd love to know there was a little 'English' shop in the town if I went to live or work abroad!

I have family in Germany and when they visit home they buy Typhoo teabags, etc - stuff that just isn't made the same way and not available where they are.