|
July 9, 2007
HELPFUL INFORMATION NEWSLETTER
FROM DUSTY HENSON (owner/founder of EPSB)
Dear Friends & Customers,
I have been Importing products (Non Stop) from Mexico for almost forty years now. Many things
have changed and some things never change. Nowadays El Paso Saddleblanket manufactures most
of our own products and imports very little Ethnic Mexican Arts & Crafts. This has not always been the
case.
I have been all over Mexico hundreds of times, owned a nice ranch near Chihuahua City and traveled almost
every back road in the country trading and doing business. Down there I've been happy, pissed off, drunk,
stoned, sick with diarrhea, hot, cold, and lost on more than one occasion.
Today, I am going to give you some real practical advise on doing business in Mexico. This advise may not be
what a lot of you "Dreamers" really want to hear, but think about what I am saying and use your head rather
than any fantasies you may have about the romantic adventures of Importing from a Foreign Country.
Ask your self "Do I want to be in the wholesale import or the retail import business ?" If you do not already
know the answer to this, it may be the first sign you shouldn't jump into this business. Later in this letter
I will give you some locations where certain things are made in Mexico, but please read and consider the
advice of someone who has been doing this for a very long time. I've seen hundreds of "Dreamers" go belly
up and lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. It happens EVERYDAY!
VERY IMPORTANT !! First, find the customers you plan to sell to ... Any fool can find any product in the
world to buy, but to be successful, you need to know who, how and where to sell the product. To be a successful
importer, it should be 10% about buying and 90% about selling. This is the single biggest Mistake made.
Import Wholesale or the Import Retail Business ?? O.K., again let's be practical and examine this.
WHOLESALE From the Get-Go, if you plan to be in the Mexican Import Wholesale business you need to
be in Mexico or on the border somewhere. I don't care what kind of Mexico product or how good your prices
are. it's like the old saying "You don't go to Kansas to buy Seafood."
Secondly be prepared for a competitive
cut throat business with a lot of competition including many Mexicans now living in the US.
- Are you prepared
to warehouse large inventories,
- offer credit terms,
- do your own custom broker crossings,
- deal with Mexican
Officials,
- deal with U.S. Customs Officials,
- pack and ship your merchandise and
- still be able to compete.
All this and much more needs to be addressed before you "jump in head first"
RETAIL Just how large of a retail store do you have or do you plan to have in order to justify direct importing?
- 53 foot Tractor Trailers full?
- If you are selling retail, do you need to stock the 100 or 200 or 500 of each item
you would purchase in order to get the "right" price?
- How long would it take to turn the merchandise?
- How many Tractor Trailers could you import in a year? 6? 20?
- Do you speak Spanish?
- How do you keep from
getting screwed in Mexico or somewhere along the way?
- Import Bonds?
- Breakage?
- Marking Orders form?
- U.S. Customs?
- Textile Quotas
- Agriculture Clearance?
- Transportation to the border?
- Transportation from
the border to the destination?
- Duties?
- Custom Broker fees?
These are only a few of the considerations.
Do you have the answers ?? Do your HOMEWORK or otherwise you will have lots of problems, this I promise !!
O.K. DUSTY... WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?
I suggest you do some research, then do whatever the Hell you want to do. That's exactly what I would do .
ABOVE, I have given you some hard information based on my experience as a successful trader. Last year
El Paso Saddleblanket imported about 160 forty foot containers from around the world and I feel like although
we never stop learning, I kinda know the process. BELOW, I will give you some locations in Mexico where you can
find various products.
WHERE TO BUY MEXICAN GOODS?
The US-MEXICO Border...
TIJUANA, B.C. Tijuana is mostly a tourist town with little to offer, some cheap leather goods is probably
about the only thing worth looking into. Nearby Tecate,B.C. makes some cheap flower design pottery mostly
for nurseries. In general the whole northern half of Mexico is not known for Arts & Crafts items.
NOGALES.. Nothing, forget it unless you want to import tomatoes or fruit.
EL PASO/JUAREZ.. On the El Paso side there is some boot factories, western shirt manufacturers, some
great cast iron and cast aluminum dealers with foundries in Juarez. Mexican food wholesalers, Antique Stores.
This is probably the best place to buy the Mexican Pine rustic furniture although Mexico is losing ground to
India (fast). And let's not forget the World Famous World Headquarters of El Paso Saddleblanket Co. with a
One Acre Showroom and 3 warehouses full of everything .. You can contact my personal email
dustyhen@swbell.net and I will forward you our "now famous" past newsletter that list Names and
Addresses of various wholesalers in El Paso and Juarez.
CIUDAD ACUNA and PIEDRAS NEGRAS.. forget it (small border towns) nothing there.
LAREDO, TEXAS and NUEVO LAREDO,MEXICO.. This is probably the best selection of Mexican
Curios on the border. The action on the American side mostly on San Bernardo Street. Mostly trinkets,
plaster items, cheap pottery, onyx, paper mache, iron and much more. Lots of selection, but be careful
as both Laredos are famous for their crooks. If you want to stock up on cheapo stuff, this is the place.
REYNOSA and MATAMOROS... pleasant little tourist towns with no serious wholesalers and very
little to offer in the way of Arts & Crafts.
The INTERIOR of MEXICO
For the most part you can forget about anywhere on the coast, most of Northern Mexico or the
extreme South of Mexico. A couple of exceptions would be Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua for overpriced
super quality expensive pottery and Saltillo, Coahuila for limited serape production. Western Saddles
are make in Monterrey, but 99.9 % of the Saddle Factories are either owned or under contract by
large American companies (including El Paso Saddleblanket Co.)
GUADALAJARA.. Known for high quality furniture and fine antiques at outrageous tourist prices .
Tonala
and Tlaquepaque (near by) have some nice small pottery workshops, but most are small operations with no
inventory or knowledge of exporting. There are some silversmith in the area. Use extreme caution with
Mexican Silver as it is subject to purity testing by U.S. Customs. I can tell you some horror stories.
MEXICO CITY.. If you plan to be a big player in Mexico Imports then Mexico City is "ground zero". It
has the inventory, the competitive prices, and the production of about anything you want plus it's
the Market Center for all the other Craft producing communities in a 300 mile radius . There are many
market places and wholesalers in Mexico City. It's like New York.. fast pace and you need to learn to
bargain hard. Go to Mexico City and save all the running around all over the place. For over 20 years
EPSB had it's own warehouse in Mexico City (near Lagunillas) where we purchased products from artisans
on a daily basis with our trucks leaving for Juarez/El Paso on a regular schedule. We had a HUGE
variety and selection of Folk Art and Mexican Curios at that time. As we began to manufacturer our
own product line, we eventually gave up the Mexico City warehouse. Even with the volume we were
doing at the time it was very difficult to make money on Native Handicrafts.
PUEBLA, a large city famous for Talavera pottery and rustic pine furniture.
LEON, Guanajuato.. Leather Capital of Mexico (90% of which is shoes for the Mexican Market)
SAN LUIS POTOSI... Beautiful City with very small production of leather goods
TAXCO Silver jewelry producing town (hard to compete with China, India, and Thailand)
OAXACA.. Total Tourist Town ... No legitimate Wholesalers there
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE...The Santa Fe of Mexico. sorry not the place to buy wholesale...it's full of Art Galleries and Art Snob retired American want-to-be Artist
TOLUCA.. for Baskets, Tinware and wood carvings
YUCATAN.. for Hammocks and Guevara Shirts
In closing, I suggest much research before you decide to be a do-it-yourself importer. I suggest to
start with you might want to try to find a reputable wholesaler on the American side, buy some products,
check out your target market area and you can always go direct when the time is right. Don't get caught
up in the excitement and make wrong "emotional" business decisions. Plan an exit strategy and always
keep an eye on the back door.
`
 Happy Trails,
Dusty Henson, owner & founder
(37 years in business)
El Paso Saddleblanket Co.
6926 Gateway East (I-10 exit 25), El Paso, TX 79915
Toll Free 1 800 351-7847 or 915 544-1000 FAX 915 533-7209
sales@elpasosaddleblanket.com or info@elpasosaddleblanket.com
Dusty's personal email DustyHen@swbell.net
3 WAYS TO BUY El Paso Saddleblanket Products
1. ONLINE Wholesale Catalog... for Store and Dealers to purchase the regular line
of El Paso Saddleblanket Products for resale.. $300.00 minimum order with proof
of business (such as Sales Tax resale license or Business license)
www.ElPasoSaddleblanket.com Tel. 1 800 351-7847
2. Online Wholesale "Buy it Now" AUCTION... for Stores and Dealers wishing to buy
special offers of Closeouts, Overstock, One of a Kind El Paso Saddleblanket Products.
NO MINIMUM Order... proof of business required.
www.EPSBauction.com Tel 1 800 652-9170
3. New Online SAMPLE SALES... for EVERYONE !!! .. NO "proof of business" required and
NO MINIMUM Purchase required ... This sight is for individuals who might want to purchase
samples to study for future business or purchase for personal use... Public Welcome
www.EPSBsamples.com Tel 800 998-8608
This weeks featured items from our WHOLESALE AUCTION
View all our auctions online
We have set up this auction site for our wholesale customers and potential future customers to save on special offers, closeouts, and/or test the market with our products without having to spend the normal minimum required for regular wholesale orders. We are still WHOLESALE ONLY to stores and dealers. We DO NOT sell to individuals for "personal" use.
|
