By The Seat Of His Pants  

Take My Hand, I'll Show You The Way

​

I had now been living in Stockport for six months; money was a bit tight. I was chatting to my friend whom I had met

in the army; he was complaining about not being able to find a job.

“Go self-employed,” I chipped in.

“What are you talking about?”, replied John.

“I remember when I was a kid in Glasgow going to where the wholesalers used to sell their bits and pieces to shopkeepers who visited them to buy what they could then re-sell to their customers and make a profit. Just about every city in the country has one such district. The reason why I  knew about this was that I once collected the empty wooden boxes they threw away and I sold them round the houses after chopping them up for firewood.

No one knew where such a district was in Manchester, and so I made a point in calling around my local shops asking the owners where such a place was. I landed lucky on the third one.

“Shudehill,  which is on Bury New Road, Manchester.” He said. “ And they open on Sundays for the shopkeepers.”

I contacted my friend, and he came round to my house to discuss our plan of attack.

The following Sunday we went to Shudehill, near the centre of Manchester, where we were pleasantly surprised to see many shops that were, by the wares they displayed, wholesale suppliers to shopkeepers and market traders. Some shops specialised in gold and others in fashion jewellery, with some trading in clothing. Indeed, anything you would go shopping for was on sale here in quantity for reduced prices.

I sold my £20 worth of fashion jewellery, walking around the houses where I lived, knocking on doors and chatting to the women. The following week I was down in Shudehill with £30 to spend …… I was hooked!

It didn’t take me long to be trading in £100’s and establish regular and special customers. I gradually moved away from jewellery and would now buy anything I thought I could sell. It’s about then, whilst chatting to my lady customers about their weekly shopping, that I found that just about all of them brought a pair of stockings every week. Nearly all the stockings were made out of 15 denier nylon and just about only lasted one week before laddering.

Again, I researched the 15 denier stocking industry and found that the majority were made in Leicestershire. Next I was in Hinckley, Leicestershire chatting up my first deal. I took away samples of all colours and the knowledge that the size range was 81/2 to 1 1 and the best-selling sizes being between 9 and 10.

After calling around the houses showing samples and taking weekly orders, I was up to around 2000 pairs of stockings every week. Trouble was it was taking my entire life to supply them and to chase the slow payers.

I advertised my business for sale. It was bought for £3000 by an American whom I thought was on the run, which didn’t bother me.

I was now free for another adventure.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​