apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am not a business person, but I have heard many times that small stores can be very succesfull in dificult times.
I love the idea of a Homegoods store. I have actually thought about it many times, and plan to do it in a near future.
I would check with small business bureau in your area, maybe they can offer some proffesional advise, and maybe even guide on how to get a grant!!!
Good luck!!!

I owned one for seven years.

If you're willing to spend 60-70 hours a week working, pulling your hair out trying to find decent help, juggling calls from store employees even on the rare day you are able to take off, and are able to keep your blood pressure in check when another rent hike/insurance increase/plumbing explosion from the store next door ruins your floor situation happens then maybe you're up to the task.

Store ownership is so much more than going to market and arranging charming vignettes.

Take a business course or five and try to find a mentor with a similar business. Oh, and apologize profusely in advance to your significant other for what you are about to do to your relationship.

Yea raina. Keepin' it real. :)

Perhaps start at home making a beautiful, efficient website to build capital before you make the major investment of a physical location.

Honestly, now is not a good time at all unless you have capital to invest (that you don't need to pay back any time soon) and are not planning on the store for any personal income whatsoever. You probably can get a deal on rent but you will still need to buy product for your store and there are no deals to be had on products.

I have 2 online stores and a fairly new brick and mortar store. I will be happy to break even on the brick and mortar store for the first year but I don't expect that to happen. In fact, I went into this knowing that it would not happen. For me, it was purely a strategic business move.

Following your dreams is a great thing but now is not the time to quit your job and throw a bunch of cash at a business like this.

If you have the capital to weather this storm, and I mean about 2 years worth for a brick and mortar, then it may be a good time to capitalize on lower lease/rent prices. Talk to other shop owners, ask how they're doing in this economy, learn from their experiences.

If you don't have that capital, then you might consider a blog that fuels your sales (direct, as in the case of Paris Hotel Boutique; Etsy; eBay), that way you could work both your regular job and this new enterprise simultaneously. If you save what you make, to open a brick and mortar store, in the meantime you'll learn whether you truly like this enough to be in touch with the public on a day-to-day and face-to-face basis.

Whatever path you choose, pursue your dream, just be sure all the facets of that dream are crystal clear before you start out (preparedness helps reduce some of the stress).

Sasha Wingate, at Bell Jar, blogs to fuel sales at her brick & mortar shop - you might want to stop by and see if she's open to chatting about her experience.

Lynn Goldfinger-Abram, of Paris Hotel Boutique, blogs as well and runs online-only sales.

I own a small furniture and accessories company that I run from my garage and have a website and an Etsy shop. Starting with as low overhead as possible while you're learning the in's and out's is so smart. My philosophy is to keep overhead as low as possible until you're forced to grow. I am an upholsterer, so I don't even pay someone else to have things redone. I'm really a one-woman show.

Opening a brick and mortar shop is on my radar too and the economy is not the biggest reason my brakes are still on. It has more to do with cost of leasing a space, hiring employees, investing in enough inventory to fill the space and keep it filled.

When you're daydreaming, try to visualize all the day-to-day details and whether you have the money and time to make it match your vision. Passion can take you far but cash is king. I agree with Rucy on that one.

I have ZERO business experience...but I think you have a great idea. There's nothing worse than looking back on your life wishing you had taken a leap you never had the courage and darence to take. I wish you all the best.:)

Take the time to look at the numbers in details before you do anything major.

How much will you need to start? What will you month to month cash flow will be the first couple years? Where will the money come from for you to start? What's your market like? How long can you survive with no sales? How much money will be in your pocket once you paid everything (rent, salaries, taxes, etc.) What's your back up plan? etc.

It's tedious but it will save you in the long run. If you're not good with numbers, get someone who can help you (hopefully a friend or family member so you don't pay much).

Good luck!

Fillamento already had that business, and ZGallerie has that covered by stealing Fillamento's ideas...

The former closed a few years back, and the latter is closing stores right and left.

I opened a coffee shop on the central coast of California, and it is doing well despite the economy. Here are a few things I learned during the whole process:

1. EVERYTHING will take longer and be more expensive than you imagined.

2. Start small. Work out of a garage, a small storefront, an etsy website, to save money.

3. Be prepared to work 70 hour weeks for months at a time, because nobody can run your business like you.

4. Include in your upfront capital enough money to live on for two years. You most likely will not make a profit before then.

5. Do some research. Is your area saturated with home design shops? Are they all MCM? Victorian? Deco?

6. Please do incorporate different price points into your merchandise. As much as everyone crows about Design Within Reach, I have never found it to be within MY reach.

7. Consider a consignment aspect to your business, at least initially. This is like having a bunch of mini-investors, but without signing over control of your business.

8. Advertise!!! Walk around with fliers, have a party for your store opening, offer price breaks in exchange for goods and services from other local vendors.

9. Almost every city has women in business (if you're a woman) or entrepreneur workshops. Go to these. They are usually free and a good place to learn the ins and outs of financing a business. Community colleges also usually offer business courses. Learn how to write a business plan.

10. Please take the time to go to every retail home store in your area. Sit there, observe the customers and environment. Is it a successful business? Take customer counts. Take pictures (with permission). Make notes about what you like/don't like. Buy something and return it. Before I opened the business, I went to approximately 100 coffee shops all over the West Coast. It allowed me to filter through ideas before they cost me money.

Hard work and preparation WILL help, but there's a huge element of luck involved. Great ideas often fail, but great people keep on trying.

Good luck!!!!

oh bepsf, never one to fail with the negative comments... zgallerie is so far from what i would want to do. if anything, more like propellor crossed with swallowtail (but different of course, from either).

this is my question and the other comments so far are very helpful, if sobering. though my heart tends toward juju73's comments, my head is definitely listening to the others as well.

this has been a huge help and i really look forward to more thoughtful comments/suggestions/horror stories. :)

HCVMama hit some extremely important nails on the head, but the one that I think the most about is #5: there are a LOT of shops in SF that fall under the umbrella of mid-range homewares. If you could find a particular niche that could put your shop above the others, awesome! Otherwise, I'd be wary in a saturated market.

A lot of people have already said it, but if you're doing this relatively on your own, the best way is to start small and grow as needed.

And make sure it's something you love, because you'll be doing it a LOT :)

That said, good luck!

There is this great store in Santa Cruz called Stripe. It is amazing. They recently opened and are doing really well. I would recommend stopping by and talking with them and checking out the store. Stripe started as an interior design company and then opened a shop. http://www.stripedesigngroup.com/

They have vintage, both expensive and affordable, independent designers from all over, and clothing that they have given new life to.

Also, there's a great wine bar next door called Soif!

Let me know if you decide to come to Santa Cruz!

Yay for spreading the Santa Cruz love!

Maybe try and talk to Lisa of The Pickled Hutch fame (at least check out her blog). She de-camped from SF, Noe Valley to Pacifica (where by the way starting a new business was easier, more conducive and less pretentious than San Francisco. Now she's incorporated in a San Mateo shop.

She's passionate, personable, with a fine eye (and heart of gold). i found some of my favorite things there, modern, or vintage, not all antique.

Also maybe try talking to businesses past and present, from different economies (what they do or would have done differently, like the people behind Friend, if they're open to it).

I sometimes wonder about Oakland, having lived there and in SF, not just the chi chi parts, and collectives, but they seem not ecomically feasible; SF realities really seem brutal on small businesses of course...in any case good luck!!

Janal - you asked if this were a good time to quit your job and open a business. But you tendancy to listen to someone who has never owned a business telling you to go for it against all the generous people who have owned businesses telling you the great pitfalls is not good business sense on your part. Good business sense is paramount. Get a weekend part-time job at a retail store.

Coffee is doing well...probably because most of us can still afford a treat once in awhile. But retail is dying. The unemployment is twice what they are reporting, and the foreclosures in California continue with no end in sight. The economy is not going to get better. Be grateful for your job; please don't quit it, and take the advice of the wise ones who have walked the walk!

LIsten to your grandma! xoxox

sincere thanks for TONS of great advice. i really appreciate this.

i've been doing a lot of research, writing the biz plan, scoping out competition, etc. owned my own businesses before (but not brick and mortar) so know about hard work.

granny, as a point of clarification, my current job is in retail and have worked in high-end furnishings for several years now. and i'm not sure the judgment about my business sense is fair, considering i'm just listening to all the input on AT.

if there's more advice out here, bring it on - but the thoughtful and thorough responses by most of you is truly appreciated and will be a huge help.

Opening a bricks and mortar store certainly has its limitation. I was told by someone that just because your family enjoys your cooking, doesnt mean you should open a restaurant. There are so many alternatives to selling great homegood items without bricks and mortar.

Create a blog, a facebook page, a myspace page.
Get a few of your best pieces and have an opening nite featuring some of your best ite,s. Sort of a gallery showing. You can probably negotiate with a local business for space.

Opening a store seems great, but how much are you willing to sacrafice?

I think the advise about talking to people that have done it is the best thing you can do.

SF is a hard place to have a business, the leases go up, permits are difficult to obtain and expensive.

I would not take lightly that you would have to work 70 hour weeks, no time off, etc. You may be up for it in theory but the reality is very different. Not necessarily having a business partner is a good thing, but support and help make a difference otherwise it can be a lonely journey.

I would travel and go buy some unusal things you can not buy here and sell them online, see how an online business goes before you take on all the expense and overhead of a store.

I don't know you so not saying you could do it just my two cents.

"I don't know you so not saying you could do it just my two cents" sorry left out "not"

Good luck!

I live in a small community 10 minutes from downtown Wash.DC. It has become a very upscale town in the last decade. It has supported a handful of independent businesses for almost 30 years. I worked at a craft store carrying only U.S. handmade ceramics and jewelry. After 25 years it went under earlier this year. Every store in town is suffering. Staff are losing hours. The artists were reporting for the last year and a half that their sales were way down all over the country. The greater Washington area has always been relatively recession resistant cause of the federal government as the major employer. I don't know what your local economy is like but the presence of well to do homeowners has not made any difference in volume of sales locally. The only business that has opened up in the last two years is a small bar. I offer this as a bit of caution to temper any possible first timer enthusiasm.

Also, please listen closely to the descriptions of how much time you'll be devoting to the store. Something I learned working at this shop and getting to know the various shop owners in town is that in a good year they might earn $50k before taxes. In a bad year they may be borrowing from the store to survive. The hours are grueling. Most of the shop owners here are putting in a minimum of 50 hours a week at the store as well as all the additional work outside the shop. You can't do orders and help customers so you end up doing a lot of work elsewhere. If you aren't at the store you are out buying or putting together orders or talking to vendors or dealing with fire inspectors or filling out quarterly tax reports or trying to find honest employees who are good with customers and interested enough in the merchandise to be informative and every bump in the local news may affect your business, from bad weather to flu epidemics.

I seriously urge you to follow others advice about creating an internet presence which will give you time to discover the work involved without being tied into a lease, utility bills, repairs, staffing, theft, breakage, and all the nutsiness that goes with brick and mortar. Also, if you create a site and a strong clientele evolves you can utilize that site to support a future store. It will give you so much leeway to learn the business. And you may find that some vendors will work with you doing drop shipping so you don't have to make a huge initial monetary outlay for stock that might not sell. With all the excellent bloggers who disseminate info on good sites and if you link your site to the various vendors (many of whom may have sites but only sell wholeale) you can set a good foundation for the future possibilities.

Had a later thought to add. A local fair trade store that opened about 5 years ago was failing. They cut their losses and left the storefront they occupied. They are now sharing a space with a small bistro just starting out. The space is smaller but they now have a built in possible customer base, lower costs and being a double presence in the community should make them both more viable.

Not necessarily recommending hooking up with a restaurant but just offering a slightly outside the box concept. Connecting a home goods store with something like a higher end flower and garden shop or a shop that sells quality chocolates or something that could complement without eating up your potential clientele might be a solution for starting out.

If you are ready go for it. I have had a couple small stores in my day and I loved every minute of it! Contrary to popular belief, if you are meant to do it and LOVE it, it will thrive. Lots of money will go out at first, but the return means more than just money. Also, make sure you aren't doing some sort of KWID thing. That whole thing is so over! Make sure you offer something special and different, not the same crap that everyone else has... I believe in the saying "build it and they will come." If it's good stuff you will have lots of local write ups and great word of mouth :)

Do it!

If...
It is where you find your energy and passion.
You have the time. Or your sig other is very uunderstanding and supportive.
And are willing to eat PB&J, mac n cheese and bean burritos for two-three years.

I have had an online store now for almost three years (Fair Trade and indie made acessories, jewelry, house wears and clothing.)

We started out with $200 and a blog. Not that we have a store full of inventory right now (well maybe a small one,) but we have built up to thousands of dollars in inventory. And it was more of a hobby in the beginning. We did have a brick and mortar store for 9 months last year but I made the difficut desicion to close it because I was so sick with a pregnancy. But I love and miss that part of it. Online is a wonderful place to start, but it also has it's downsides.

- You can't let the customer touch and feel and fall in love with something quite the same way.
- In my opinion, photographin/editing/posting/descripting product is much more difficult than displaying it n the floor (unless your supppliers provide satisfactory images)
- You have to ship it (post office is my least fav place)
- It takes a lot of advertising or knowing lots of bloggers to get people to visit your store's site.

But...

- You can work from home.
- You can keep working another job easily.
- You can make put as little or as much time in, (your store will suffer of course with less, but there isn't as much riding on it.
- You don't need nearly as much $ to start.

But I'm a believer in those who have a good idea and passion can start a business in a recession and if they ca ride it out then they will be on top when thing seem better and more promising. By that time those who wanted to play it safe will just be getting started.

But visit, visit visit! Go to stores you love, look at displays, layout (for inspiration not stealing ideas). Talk to owners, ask them how they like it. (You don't necessarily need to tell them you want to do it too.)

You could take a few first steps before you dive in fully...

- Choose a name, register your business as a sole proprietor (cheapest) or another form you plan to be
- This will allow you to have a resale ID. This means you can go to shows, and/or contact suppliers for catalogs/wholesale pricing/terms of sale.
- Blog about what you love under your new name. The more readers you obtain the more people who will be excited when you open your store.

Good luck! Hope this helps!

I think you should totally go for it!
There is never a "good" time or a "right" time and one can easily sit for a lifetime and never follow the dream. Yes, it'll be expensive. Yes, it'll be hard work. But if you love the work, you love the work. If you figure out up front how much capital you have, you could figure out how long your business can survive on that.
I know a woman who sells vintage furniture and home goods out of her garage and posts on Craigslist and eBay. It's her side job and it takes very little upfront cost. And it's so easy to sell in the Bay Area. People are nuts about decorating their homes.
Go for it!

I think it's so important to follow your passion. I think you have a wonderful idea and passion. Now all you need is some research into the industry and crunching some numbers. There's always a way to do what you want....sometimes you just have to be creative!

I'm actually working on starting an online boutique filled with stylish modern accessories for the home and for yourself. I love indie designers so I want to focus on that.

I'd be happy to chat with you if you'd like since we're both hoping to get started!