Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Ladies Boutique



Last night I went to look at the place that could potentially be where I open my boutique. I had one of my friend's with me who will be my business partner. The place looked like it has the potential to become a rather nice little shop that will be catering to the ladies in the area. I hadn't originally planned on offering fashion jewelry but since I want to make it affordable to everyone, I've since had a change of heart.

Here are a few of the items I will be offering in my shop. I just hope I can pick out the sellers easily. This is so stressful. I am a little bit scared but the shop used to be a women's specialty store so I think the previous shop owner's customers will definitely continue to shop when I'm there.

I managed to get information from two of the people/tenants in the same shopping strip and they seem to be happy and didn't have anything negative to say about the landlord. The best part is that he's willing to just have me do a 1 year contract versus a longer one and the triple net is included. Granted, it isn't as fancy or as upscale as the shops down the road but I just cannot bring myself to pay several thousand dollars in rent when I'm not sure how well the business will do.

Today I drove to the other store that the lady, who vacated the space I'm going to lease, has. She was straightforward about the situation and told me their sales were great but had to close it down because of her mother being sick. It seems, as she stated, it was too much for her to handle and she decided to just close that one store and focus on the one closest to her home.

I did manage to see the type of merchandise she carries. They were nice items, no sterling silver jewelry but nonetheless, they were nice. I have my suppliers inline for the fashion jewelry and the clothing. Although, I must admit, having clothing wasn't in my plans at all. Since I have all those racks sitting in my garage, I guess I'll have to put them to good use.

The space is approximately 1200 sq ft and it seems it will work well since it already has all the slat walls already put in. It also has the two dressing rooms already built-in so that's one less thing I have to do. It does, however, need a fresh coat of paint and some minor cosmetic touch-ups.

Looks like I've got my work cut-out for me. I have to now order fashion jewelry, get merchant account set up at my bank, sign a lease, order packaging material, sort out all the racks, baskets and stuff I have in my garage. The most important thing I have to do, I believe, is pray. Pray a lot that all goes well.

Am I scared? You bet your patooty. But if I don't do it now, I will never know if I would've made it or not. What's funny/ironic is that the racks I bought were the racks that came out of that store. The very one I will be having my own store at. It came around full circle. God works in mysterious ways. I will have quite a bit of Christian inspired jewelry and scripture bracelets in the fashion jewelry. With the price of silver being at an all-time high, I know that it won't be easy to purchase for those that cannot afford it. I still want the customers to have the option. A fashion scripture bangle bracelet will sell for $7.99 where its sterling silver counterpart will cost approximately $40.

Well, I'm off to do some cyber shopping. Say a prayer for me that all will go as God intends for it to go. God bless you all and have a great evening!



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