Small Business: Is Owning a Store Your Dream?
Then act like it.
by Jane Harmon
I co-own Esoterica in the 'historic district' of Leesburg, Virginia. Leesburg is a charming old town, and the historic district is quaint, the storefronts unique, many of them dating back to the 1800s. Every year, we see stores come and go, as people try their hand at retail. Typically, a woman who either hasn't been in the workforce, or who has been and hates it, rents one of the downtown shops. Usually a hubby is bringing in the major income and all she has to do is 'help'. So what could be better than a small business selling her favorite things? Just clear the rent and utilities and restock and anything above that is 'Momma's money'.
Very often, these 'extra income' stores fold early in the new year, as 'Momma' uses her xmas proceeds to pay off her debts and liquidate her inventory.
What happened?
I can usually tell by examining the store hours whether or not a new business is going to survive in this economy. You can't pay the rent and other bills by being open from 11 AM to 5 PM five days a week. And if you aren't open both weekend days, you aren't serious about making a living from your business.
The wannabes will whine 'but I want to spend time with my family'. It's sad but true - you must be open Saturday and Sunday if you want to make it in retail. And you should be open late enough in the evening that people who work a 9 to 5 job can still find time to visit. That means staying open until 7 or 8 at the very least.
Store Hours are Critical
If you rented space in a mall for your new business, you would be legally bound by the terms of the contract to keep your store open 'mall hours'; typically 10 AM to 10 PM. Many people rent in non-mall commercial districts to get away from hours like that. But think about it - the mall is your competitor. If you want your small business to be able to compete against the chains at the mall, you have to make yourself available, if not twelve hours a day, at least outside of the 9 to 5 work core hours.
The Ladies Who Lunch are a thing of the past; even women who don't 'have to work' now typically do something during the business portion of the day, if only to keep themselves from feeling like parasites on society. You must make a living now catering to the Ladies Who Work.
"But I don't want to work that many hours."
If you were planning to be the owner and sole staffer of your establishment, please, think again. You should be plan to be open at least sixty hours a week, and it's crazy to try to do that yourself. You need at least one staffer. I'll talk about drafting family members or hiring real non-related staff in a future article, but for now, just accept as a given that you need to have more than one person working to run a store.
If you don't, you will not have a life.
If you want to take a vacation, you must close the store and accept that there will be no income while you are gone. If you want to take a vacation during the summer when your kids are out of school, you will be forgoing summer income, which is almost as bad as closing during December. If you're sick, store's closed. Have a family emergency. Store's closed.
Seriously. Find someone you can trust (and stand to work with) and hire them. The biggest reason small retail establishments fail is because the person who launched them underestimated the work involved.
NEXT: Partnership? Draft your kids? how to get good help and keep them.
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