Storefront Owners

[EccoLights]

So after 3 years inside a local market we took the leap of faith and got our very own store! It's not big, just over 300sq ft, but for a retail spot (sadly production is still done at home)... it works for us.

So just wondering from others that might have a brick and mortar shop or may have worked in some, what ideas would you have to draw the local community in?

We are going to run some ads in the local paper as well as the local school paper too. Aside from that a ton of online promoting of course, banners are hung and 8' wide, so very visible. I have a good friend that will even dress up in a Tweety Bird costume and run up and down the road

A little about the city we are in, it's Akron, Ohio. So around 300k population, the area we are in are mostly 30s-70s, mid-high income levels and many churches around.

So any advice, thoughts, ideas, events, etc you would like to share... I'm all ears TIA!

[ksranch]

First off - Congratulations!! It's a big step, but you have some very unique products, and I wish you the best of luck!!

[franu61]

Best of luck to you!

[EccoLights]

Thanks for the good luck It's an adventure and we opened up this past Friday. So far so good but always looking for something I don't do already

[David Fields]

1. do whatever it takes to get people into your store. 2. while they are in your store, do everything you can to keep them there as long as possible. 3. Have your pricing, quality and customer service such that they want to come back. The first year or two in a store is TOUGH. You have to establish a repeat customer base that grows over time.

[EccoLights]

1. do whatever it takes to get people into your store. 2. while they are in your store, do everything you can to keep them there as long as possible. 3. Have your pricing, quality and customer service such that they want to come back. The first year or two in a store is TOUGH. You have to establish a repeat customer base that grows over time.

Thanks David for the advice. We have built up a good following over the years at that market and many have already came over to the new place I'm thinking of doing a community cook out or something to get the "locals" in the door, or at least in our parking lot Tho I think that would be better suited for the spring/summer months.

[SliverOfWax]

I routinely run ads on Craigslist. I run them in the Household by Owner section.

If you go with Craigslist, make sure your header is especially inviting or people won't open your ad. I always put ** in my header. The ** will separate your ad from all the others.

An example of what I might do would be:

**Hand Crafted Candles**Made in (your city)**

On the inside, be sure to put specific driving directions and hours you're open.

Edited November 28, 2012 by SliverOfWax

[EccoLights]

I routinely run ads on Craigslist. I run them in the Household by Owner section.

If you go with Craigslist, make sure your header is especially inviting or people won't open your ad. I always put ** in my header. The ** will separate your ad from all the others.

An example of what I might do would be:

**Hand Crafted Candles**Made in (your city)**

On the inside, be sure to put specific driving directions and hours you're open.

Thanks Silver! I do use CL quite often and did at the market we were at too. I like the ** idea tho and will use that as well Also going to get with the local schools and work out the details of doing a few fund raisers for them too. Now to figure out what to do with the churches... In this mile strip of road there are 4 of them, so surely need to promote to them somehow

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and advice. I'm always open to more ideas

[Bernadette]

Many churches still have weekly bulletins that are available after weekly services. They are the listing of the coming weeks services and events, and the back is usually ads that local businesses post, which helps defray the cost of the printing. We have advertised in our church bulletin at a monthly cost of $25.00. Got quite a bit of business from it. You may want to check into it.:tiptoe:

[PAgirl89]

Thanks David for the advice. We have built up a good following over the years at that market and many have already came over to the new place I'm thinking of doing a community cook out or something to get the "locals" in the door, or at least in our parking lot Tho I think that would be better suited for the spring/summer months.

Instead of the cookout, maybe you want to do a wine & cheese party or something of the like. Do you have any local wineries? Maybe you could pair up with one of them and it would be beneficial to the both of you.

[SherriLynn]

The biggest draw of customers into the store is my sidewalk board. I have something posted every day .. whether it's a sale..just new items... newest fragrance... sample our lotion today... etc. And I always tie balloons to the top of it to gather attention of those driving by. I can;'t tell you how many times someone has said.. I just saw your sign!! I also use Craig's List for my area...

[SliverOfWax]

Many churches still have weekly bulletins that are available after weekly services. They are the listing of the coming weeks services and events, and the back is usually ads that local businesses post, which helps defray the cost of the printing. We have advertised in our church bulletin at a monthly cost of $25.00. Got quite a bit of business from it. You may want to check into it.:tiptoe:

If I were going to do that, I might also say something like: Present this bulletin and get 25% off. I would probably also have an expiration date.

A long time ago I handed customers a slip of paper offering 25% discount on next purchase with presentation of ad. I think I only got 2 or 3 of them back. It was a bust, but ya never know.

[Candybee]

Contact your local Chamber of Commerce. If they have local business get togethers 'meet and greets' go to some and meet new contacts. You never know who may be interested in starting a wholesale account or knows someone in another town who does. Also, chambers have websites and can advertise your shop-- but it may require membership so check it out.

If you can attend the local farmers market when the season opens up that's another way to get your biz name out their. I know lots of local businesses that go to them to sell these days.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Candybee

[EccoLights]

As always you guys/gals come to the rescue!!!

OK so the wine / cheese thing is in the plans as well We do have a few local winery's and I hadn't even thought of talking with them!! The laws here are weird and from what I was told, for us to have a "wine tasting / gallery showing" we would need a license if it is open to the public. So I thought of just doing a private showing and announce it only to our FB followers. Now the winery tho, getting them involved I think the legality of it would fall onto them and not us I'll be checking into that one very soon and thanks for the idea!!!

The church bulletin part is just genius! I'll be headed down that way tomorrow to talk with the pastors and see what we can work out

Sidewalk sign is getting ordered either tonight or tomorrow, so that will get that going. Also talked to the local paper here and can get a decent ad in their coupon section for about $100/month. Not bad to reach 46k people! And that $100/month covers 4 - 5 papers each month

OK, so again, you all are just awesome! Thanks for the ideas and I'll be sure to implement them all very soon If you got any other ideas feel free to throw them out here

[David Fields]

We don't adverise. But the mall (where our store is located) does. The advertising that they do that seems to work best for us is 'Text to Get". Not computer savvy, so I don't know how this works. But for one month when it's our turn, customers text a site that tells them to go to our store for a free auto air freshener. When they come in, we ask them to delete the text and sign a form. Each month we do this we get around 80-100 new people in the store and 20-30 regulars. The mall settles up with us after the month and pays us the cost of the products we give away.

[Bernadette]

The church bulletin part is just genius! I'll be headed down that way tomorrow to talk with the pastors and see what we can work out

I responded with this because you asked about churches. Our church bulletin has written above all the advertisers, "Please support our advertisers". Since you'll be talking to the pastors, you may want to see if they will be having any silent auctions or raffles. It's free advertising for you, and a tax write off. I've gotten lots of local customers this way too.:tiptoe:

[EccoLights]

David the SMS marketing is another route I'll be looking into soon enough but thankfully I know a guy that knows a guy that does that stuff So it should work out

As for the churches, I'll be stopping by today to talk with a few of them and yes, the gift baskets for the raffles or silent auctions is a great idea too

Thank you both for your thoughts!!

[redraider]

Sounds like you have some great things coming. I am laughing though. Different parts of the country are really different. I can see myself here in Texas working with the churches and also the wineries but knowing my luck I would get night & times mixed up and about the time the wine started flowing in my shop that would be the same time all the Baptist and Church of Christ ladies would show up for their promotion. Then I would be out of business and need more wine.

[jeanie353]

Then I would be out of business and need more wine.

[JI]

For you store owners...is it scary opening up a brick and mortar? I know it is a silly question. But how did you know you were ready to explore thst avenue? Also if I suddenly had to pay all that rent etc I know I would have to raise prices obviously. I have never priced retail space. Is it outrageous or not bad? David; are you in an indoor mall or strip mall?

[David Fields]

Ironrose, we have an in-line store in a shopping mall. Yes, the rent is high. But it works for us. We started out with a store in a strip mall for 3 or 4 years, then added the mall store. Ambitious and greedy. But we found out very quickly we had no life. At the same time we continued doing craft shows because the income wasn't there yet with the stores. It was tough. Thankfully we had money saved to fill in the low months. I am sure everyone is like us when they open a store. Big dreams. We tried not to think of how much we were committing to pay each month; instead we dreamed about how much we could make if sales were x. Ha Ha. ADVICE. Have deep pockets to weather the first year or two. Anticipate terrible sales while you build your customer base. Keep your costs as low as possible. Work out on paper how much you have to sell each month at your unit cost plus profit. Then figure out how many units that is a week/day. Make sure your production is ramped up. A friend of mine had beautiful candles and could sell them wholesale, but could not produce them fast enough to keep his wholesale customers happy. He went out of business. Another friend tried to expand too fast. He and his wife opened seven stores in two years and lost all of them a year later because his sales couldn't support them. We closed our original store and concentrated on the mall store. It is doing very well after eight years. We are truly blessed.