It may sound funny, but honestly, if you’re opening up your own retail store the last thing you’ll ever want to do again for the rest of your life is buy anything retail - especially if it’s for your own store. Buying your store fixtures wholesale is not only mandatory it’s a last resort after you’ve tried buying antique fixtures at a fraction of the cost. Even if you’ve hired a top-notch retail store designer, he or she should be buying your fixtures and other materials at prices even better than wholesale. The designer should be charging for his services and not making a markup on the raw materials.
If you’re setting up your store by yourself, you have to shop around to know the best wholesale prices to pay for your fixtures. But expect to pay full price for the design and manufacture of items that must be custom-made for you. For example, if you want a certain look imitated in a new material you can expect to pay a premium for that service as well. But if your tastes are not too esoteric and if your product can be handled tastefully in a variety of attractive displays you should have no trouble finding the right fixtures at the right wholesale prices to fit your budget. Research and flexibility is the key here.