Why Carmen Never Negotiates Her Suppliers' Prices Down

Most of Carmen's customers at Fosetter, in Montreal's Chinatown, come from referrals: someone who's tried the products, knows she eats them herself, tells a friend. "They mostly come straight to our physical store," she says. "They follow me."

People who work in bird's nest specifically sometimes assume a retail shop can't move serious volume. Carmen disagrees. Buying one or two boxes at a time doesn't do much, she says, but buying a bit more keeps the whole cycle running a little better — the supplier gets paid, she gets paid as the retailer in the middle, and the customer ends up with good quality.

Why she won't negotiate suppliers down

"We really respect our suppliers," she says. "We don't press them on price." Because of that, she says, when a supplier comes through her door, what they bring her is their good stock.

She's specific about why: "I've never pushed a supplier's price down. It really just comes down to that person's own conscience. If a supplier has a good conscience and wants to make money, they'll lower the price themselves."

Her read on how it plays out: when her stock is good, she gets more customers; when she gets more customers, the supplier's income goes up too, and they're willing to sell her a bit more each time.