How to open a herbalist's shop: dreams in the drawer for 2022

We talked about this recently, 2021 has been a year of big professional and personal resolutions for many. The YOLO approach, i.e. the desire to do something we love because we only live once, has led many people to leave unfulfilling jobs to throw themselves headlong into new businesses.

Are you wondering how to open a herbalist shop? If this has been your dream for a long time, perhaps the right time has come to start gathering information.

The positive thing is that the natural food and superfood sector is growing: thanks to the pandemic, people throughout the Western world have started to take their health more seriously, starting from the table and what they put in the cart.

This is why opening a herbalist's shop, choosing the right place and the right products, can be a good investment as well as a splendid professional adventure.

Studies and certifications necessary depending on the goods sold

The first piece of advice is to put yourself in the hands of a professional. An excellent accountant specializing in small and medium-sized businesses or a trade association will be able to give you all the necessary information.

Opening your own business, in fact, is not something that can be taken lightly: regulations and bureaucracy are stringent. Everything must be done according to the rules to avoid delays in opening or even subsequent sanctions.

In purely general terms, it is possible to know what type of qualification or certification you need to have depending on the type of herbalist's shop you want to open.

• If it is a herbal laboratory where tinctures and oils will be produced from medicinal plants, then it is necessary to have a specific qualification, be a pharmacist or herbalist;
• If it is aresale point for packaged products, of already existing natural brands, then a professional sales qualification will be sufficient. In particular, if they are food products linked to particular diets or intolerances it may be necessary to have studied nutrition;
• If it is a point of sale dedicated to pre-packaged products, cosmetics and household detergents, then you will not need any particular qualifications but only the sales license.

You will need to open a VAT number for the activity and register in the Business Registryof the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as INPS and INAIL.

How to open a herbalist's shop, choosing the location and products

Once the permits have been obtained and the bureaucratic process has been developed, the most operational and interesting part remains. That is, choose where you want to open your herbalist's shop and what "tone" to give to the business.

The first point is fundamental to the success of the business, the location. Having a shop inside a shopping centre, in a hidden alley or on a busy avenue gives a different emphasis to your shop window.

Of course, you will also need to take into account the costs of renting or purchasing the shop, to determine the size you can afford and the area most affordable for your investments.

As far as the choice of products is concerned, here it is up to you to understand if you want to have all the major brands already known in the sector or if you prefer to do a more accurate search, to find some real "gems" for your customers.

The only advice, in this case, is to put your heart into it: only offer products that you would use or that you really use for yourself, quality and good faith are always perceived!

Finally, choose a furniture and window display that are similar to you but also put customers at ease. Yes to relaxing tones of green or warm but not loud colors, such as shades of ocher and orange. Yes to natural materials such as wood and pay close attention to sustainability, avoiding plastics where possible.

The shop window is a beautiful business card, because you can indulge yourself with creativity to highlight the products of the moment, perhaps linked to seasonality. And also because you can decorate it with window stickers that immediately make it clear which brands you are associated with, which companies you are official resellers of.