M&M Swap Shop making renovations in uptown Hillsboro
By Caitlin Ryan
The Highland County Press
A Hillsboro High School graduate has transformed a college hobby into a career, as Michael Morgan is a young entrepreneur who has opened and renovated his own business, M&M Swap Shop on West Main Street in uptown Hillsboro.
Morgan buys and resells a variety of items through the shop, with the bulk of the profits coming through eBay sales. He has two full-time employees and works alongside his father, Mike Morgan.
The shop opened on Jan. 15, 2012, just one month after Morgan graduated from Trine University with a degree in golf and business management.
"I wasn't planning on doing this, but I had a business in my dorm," Morgan said. "I'd buy stuff on weekends in Fort Wayne, list them on Sundays on eBay and ship everything out during the week."
Morgan said that as he built up a reputation for being a good eBay seller, things "exploded," and he realized he could make a living out of his hobby.
Morgan purchased two buildings via land contract from the Highland County Board of Commissioners.
He said the county officials have been a great help to him while he establishes his business.
"The place was a wreck when I bought it," Morgan said. "I've been fixing both buildings ever since."
The shop is currently closed for repairs, though Morgan continues to sell inventory through his eBay account.
Morgan said the back of the building had collapsed and the roof had caved in before he bought the building, so they have been trying to clean up the debris and rebuild the structure.
"We had over 40 dump truck loads of rubble that we hauled away from back there," Morgan said.
Morgan said he has had at least 10-12 contractors and other people assisting him with cleaning and remodeling the buildings. The front of the building has been repainted, with the doors torn out and replaced, and Morgan is currently in the process of remodeling the back of the building. They also renovated the apartment above the store.
"We've gutted and replaced everything," Morgan said.
When the remodeling project is complete, Morgan plans to use one building for people to buy from the store's inventory and one building for people to bring in items to sell.
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M&M Swap Shop buys and sells video games, electronics, toys, furniture, antiques and appliances.
Morgan and his father estimate that they ship about 1,200 packages every three months through their eBay sales.
"When we started, I used to take a bicycle down to ship stuff out," Morgan said. "Now we ship things out by the truckload, and sometimes we have to bring a dolly because we have so much."
Morgan said that the shop is buying three times as much as he and his employees can list on eBay.
"We're growing faster than we can keep up," Morgan said.
The shop has regular customers from Wilmington, Peebles, Sinking Spring and Washington Court House who come to buy and sell items, and people have traveled from as far as Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati just to buy video games.
"There's not much we don't sell," Morgan said.
Morgan said that he is dedicated to ensuring the profits made at the store go back to Highland County. A large part of their business model is giving back to the community.
Morgan said they have donated thousands of dollars' worth of clothes to New Life Church and Ministries, and he frequently donates to local schools and other organizations.
"People come in and ask for miscellaneous jobs, and I let them clean for me to help out," Morgan said. "We donate quite a bit to schools, churches and any other worthy causes."
For more information on M&M Swap Shop, visit facebook.com/MMSwapShop.