Adult toy store in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I had my store open for almost two years. It's a super idea because of the lack of competition.
Yes the store is closed for about a year. My fault as a first time business owner. Mainly not understanding the importance of having products other than just sex toys.
Also customs and importing a product that is technically prohibited. Prohibited being a very loose term in Honduras. Once in the country it is fine just not supposed
to go through customs. A very expensive lesson. Customs would confiscate a shipment. Want the receipt then sell it back to me. Once we found a good broker in
San Pedro Sula we are 100% good on shipments.
Over the two years of being open i slowly learned what was really necessary to have in inventory. Turns out the toys are only 35-40% of sales. I now know every item that
i need to make a successful business. When i opened Dulce Suenos Toy's in April 2018 we had imported literally a ton of toys and we sold literally over a ton. I invested a lot
in advertising. Close to 10K between a live television show, tv commercials, flyers, billboards and facebook. Two of these worked really well and three were a waste of money.
We got popular really fast for being a new business. There is only one other store for competition. There name is 18 plus Toy's. They are established for 12 years. Their prices
are super high, service in their store awful. The employees don't know the products and have no enthusiasm. I wanted my store to be completely different. My girls/employees
were beautiful, sociable and highly educated on every product. We had open examples of all the products so customers could hold, turn on and see how if functions before purchasing.
Even a water station where you could see how the waterproof items work. Our store was fun. Nothing says fun as much as seeing a customer take a swing with a whip at their friends
butt. We also offered free beer, wine, sodas and coffee. Maybe not a great idea in hindsight, but the word spread fast and the competition was nervous about the new store in town.
What do we still have going ???
I have been in the states working for about a year. Saving money to try a re opening.
We still have our business licence and more important the permission for the outside sign. Honduras is very picky about signs. We were open for about four months before they
would give permission for a sign. That was a frustrating time.
Whatsup App--Not a popular way of communication in the USA, but number one in Central America. The money spent on advertising paid off in the number of contacts
in the stores main phone Whats App. We have almost 7,000 contacts. Basically we list items in the status and instantly hundreds if not thousands of people take a look and
begin asking questions. When those messages start they don't stop all day or night. Again if we have the right products there is a gold mine to be made.
Educated employees just waiting for the store to open again.
Dedicated motorcycle delivery drivers. Yes at our peek we had around 10 delivers a day. Not just in the city, but we also delivered to anywhere in the country by bus. Your product
delivered in a brown paper envelope. Very discrete of course.
The Whats App phone is still in Honduras with a very trusted bilingual friend along with my dogs. I send her $400 of products a month and she sells it for by delivery only for at
least four times the purchase price. Most items we shoot for six times the purchase price. Dozens of customers a day ask when is the store going to open again. It's just enough
to keep our name alive.
You are thinking Honduras is a poor country. How can a adult store possibly work there. Yes half the country is very poor, but the other half has money and they like to spend it.
Remember there is one store that is over priced for a country of 8 million people. That's four million with money and only one place to shop where they set any price they want.
Now if you are researching adult stores in Honduras you will find one in each of the big cities. 18 plus toy's has a store in all of them using different names. They have a true Monopoly
on the industry.
We have a awesome accountant!
You have me. I am willing to work 15 hour days 7 days a week to make this work. I am a certified Elementary Teacher. I lived and taught in Honduras for nine years before
opening Dulce Suenos Toy's.
We were approached by a local TV show called Sin Tabu offering a free trial show. Of course I accepted.
You are going to see the caliber of employee i have waiting to work.
I sent Lola my most charismatic sales girl. She is also the store's promotion girl being that she meets with any advertisers and talks down the price.
She also does all the graphics. Logo, Ads, Signs, Banners,Fliers, Window Art ect...
Please watch the YouTube video. Lola begins at the 6:45 mark. It is in Spanish. She is a little nervous at the beginning then settles in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIOvNjIGcGwThe show was live. During and the day after we got a total of over 900 calls and messages. Unfortunately we were getting low on product and i was almost out of money.
A long term contract with Sin Tabu would do wonders. Even better they have a feud with the competition and won't let them on the show any more.
Honduras is a dangerous country with San Pedro Sula being one of the most dangerous per capita in the world. In my eleven years living there i have never had a problem.
I am willing and wanting to be there to oversee the business. With the Corona virus going on getting a good deal on a great location to rent will be possible.
I also have a sample of our TV commercial, logo, outside sign and facebook ads.
I have 25K that I can put in on the store. With another 25K we can open the store and get it stocked pretty well. 50K-100K we can make it awesome.
Let's talk Partner. If we go big we will sell big.
John Griffith
[email protected](352) 281-9982