Provision stores have evolved from the petty stores we used to know to full blown businesses families use to carter for themselves.
This is because of the fact that it comes with convenience, and no one would love to go to a market far away whereas they can get whatever they like from the nearest department stores.

From toilet rolls, to toothpastes, creams, cooking items and even up to junks like biscuits and minerals, you can get them all from the nearest provision stores.

Now, why have they grown to be so popular? Especially seeing to the fact that most products they sell are not even expensive, and have the smallest gains?

Well, it is not always what you see from the outside. Take for instance, a role of (12) sachet chin-chins can be purchased at ₦500, and when you sell them all, you will be getting ₦600, that is a gain of ₦100 per role sold.

You can sell up to 20 roles of different products a day, and you will see yourself making gains of up to ₦2,500.

Calculate that till month end, and it will be equating a civil servants salary.

They also sell sachet water, and a bag cost ₦100 in most areas. When you sell the 20 sachets at ₦10 each, it will become ₦200 and that is a gain of ₦80.

How To Set Up A Provision Store

In setting up a provision store in Nigeria, there are certain things you should first put in place, and we'd be seeing them below:

• Business Plan

Before you venture into any business, it is very advisable you first draft a business plan, and it will guide you though the other processes.

It will include the strategies you intend using to scale through, amount of money you are willing to invest and cost of expenses as well as profit you are intending to make.

• Business Registration

If you intend doing the provision store business on a large scale, then a business registration is very essential.

If however it is a regular department store, you can go on with the  normal community and/or local government registrations. They cost around ₦500 per month.

• Good Location

Some people make the mistake of insisting on citing their provision stores very close to their houses. No, it is not a must, you should get a location close to a school, church, business centre or any other place that gets a good attraction.

A store can be gotten for as little as ₦36,000 per month in the rural areas.

• Suppliers

Make sure you get someone who is already in the business to connect you to affordable suppliers and whole-sellers.

Your customers don't want to hear that you bought your own more expensive than the other competitors, they will boycott you if your own is more expensive.

List Of Items You Should Stock Your Provision Store With

Some of the items that should never be missing from your provision store include:

• Canned Foods


• Drinks


• Diary and Poultry Products


• Packaged Products ie biscuits


• Breads


• Food Stuffs


• Soaps


• Detergents


• Toilet Rolls


• Toothpastes


• Toothbrushes


• Sanitary Pads


• Hair Brushes


• Hair Creams


• Airtime


• Sponges


• Shoe Polishes


• Snacks ie doughnuts, meatpies, chin-chins

And much more. You can literately stock up your provision store with anything you find around. Take the business very seriously, avoid overpricing and missing days at work or you could loose your customers to other people.

Remember there are tons of people around selling the same stuff you have in your shop.

Thanks a lot for reading along. What do you think? Kindly drop us a comment and don't forget to share to your friends.

Before you leave, also check out our next article on how to start a lucrative computer business centre in Nigeria.