Others may disagree with me but I view this as getting into office
equipment / furniture retailing through the used sales channel. There is
nothing novel, I believe, about this type of business venture - a simple
search on any search engine or directory will yield hundreds of links to
existing businesses of this type. For this reason, it may be more useful
for your friend to focus his due diligence research efforts at contacting
knowledgeable experts through different trade associations involved in
office equipment and furniture retailing. I did a brief search and found
two web sites that might be useful starting points:
Business Products Industry Association (http://www.bpia.org/)
Workspaces Resources
(http://www.workspace-resources.com/wr0000.htm)
Both sites appear to provide extensive links to other potentially
relevant information resources.
Your friend should not overlook whatever assistance a local small
business development center may be able to provide with respect to advice
on managing a warehouse-based sales and distribution operation. A good
starting point would the the Small Business Administration's SBDC home
page:
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/sbdc/
Hope this helps.
Roger M. Guttentag
610-584-8836
Read <italic>Recycling in Cyberspace </italic>in Resource Recycling
Nov. / Dec. 1999 topic - Using the Net more effectively (NRC talk)
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At 05:35 PM 10/26/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>I have a friend who is interested in starting a business that would
collect
>used stuff-- office equipment, furniture and supplies; machinery;
pallets,
>etc-- from commercial businesses, manufacturers, and institutions.
His
>idea is to warehouse it and sell it from there to small businesses,
>non-profits, etc. .... Anyone have any other ideas on models-- either
for profit or not for profit-- and any
>thoughts on the business idea as a whole? Thanks.
>
>Amy Perlmutter
>Executive Director
>Chelsea Center for Recycling and
>Economic Development