Checklist for opening a retail store...

I've had many requests for this kind of a list, so here goes. It's based on my experience and anecdotes of other small business owners I know. If you've had experience in this area, please feel free to comment or add your own ideas.

Here's the checklist. It's broken down roughly into 3 sections, and can be followed in the order presented.

1 - Research and Planning
1a) Create a Business Plan. This is a must. It does not have to be a 50-page polished fancy document. It can be as simple as listing your main products and services, your mission and philosophy and some other details. But it absolutely does need to exist.
1b) Create a Financial plan. This is also a must. It can be included as part of your business plan. You have to have an idea of what your expenses will be and a conservative guesstimate of what your income will be. This can't be in your head, it needs to be written down.
1c) Create a Marketing Plan. This can also be part of your business plan. How are potential customers going to know about your business when you start/open? At a minimum, this will be a simple list of things you will do (i.e., obtain a website, attend related networking events, post flyers around town, etc)

2 - Money and Space
2a) Find your space and secure a lease. If you're a retail store, by definition, you'll need space. Most landlords will also require a business plan, by the way.
2b) Secure funding. You might have money in the bank, or you might need a loan. By the time you've completed steps 1 and 1a, you'll know how much you'll need to get through the first 1-2 years. Oh... if you need to seek funding through a bank loan, most will require a business plan. Good thing you've already completed that step.

3 - Get ready to open
3a) Design your store. This might have been done as part of securing your lease. Some landlords will require that you submit a "site plan" for your store during the leasing process. But now you'll need to obtain all your furniture and fixtures, point of sale system, extra lighting and anything else you need.
3b) Purchase inventory. Chances are you'll have one or more regular suppliers so you'll need to arrange with them your first and probably largest shipment ever.
3c) Create operational procedures. This was one of the last things I did before opening, and my procedures are always in need of tweaking, but it was good to know what to do when we opened and was good to have something ready for when I hired my first employees.
3d) Hire some employees. I opened The Pot and Bead knowing that I wasn't going to be in the store at all times, so I started the hiring process right away. Lots of businesses, if they can afford to, hire and train some key employees before opening their doors. You'll need to decide for yourself if this is right for your business.

Now, before I opened, I had a "To-Do" checklist that was more detailed than above and was very specific to my situation - the above list is a simple overview, not meant to be 100% comprehensive. I encourage you to take this as a starting point, and expand each item to create your own detailed list. (Note: I'm in the process of writing the sequel to Cute Little Store and am considering including a more detailed checklist there.)

If you're still thinking about starting a retail business and haven't read my book yet, pick up a copy of Cute Little Store today. It's an easy read and will give you a feel for what it's like to leave the safety of the career you've been in for so long and try something else. I made a lot of mistakes in those first couple of years, which I write about, so you don't have to (make those mistakes, that is).

:)

Has secular Christmas peaked?

It's December 17th - Christmas Eve is a week from today. That means one more week of shopping, presents, wrapping, shipping and all those last minute stressful things that drive us this week of the year. Or is it?

This is my fifth Christmas/Holiday shopping season as a retailer, and it's been the strangest. People seem to be just... well... "blah".

Yesterday was the last day to paint pottery at my shop where we will guarantee the pottery be ready before Christmas. It was also a Saturday. If the past four years serves as any guide, then yesterday should have been the busiest - and I also mean the Craziest... people are usually crazy-stressed by just everything. But that's not the way it was yesterday. Sure, we were busy, but it was an eerie calm kind of busy.

It's not just my store, either. I just got home from a shopping trip where I hit Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond and Borders. Three places that I normally shudder to think of heading into this time of year. And yes, they were all busy, but again... eerie calm. And short lines at the register. I had hit both AC Moore and Michael's earlier this week and had the same feeling there, but I figured that was just a weird day. The fact that it's carried through the rest of my shopping spree makes me think that people are acting a little different lately. (we're also experiencing record warm temperatures here in Northern Virginia. I wonder if the fact that it doesn't feel anything like the middle of December has anything to do with it.)

Even though "Christmas" has been around for a long time, the shopping frenzy started in the 20th century. I'm wondering if everyone is not just saying they're tired of it... what if they are? As customers picked up their pottery in my store yesterday, I asked one of my standard holiday questions: "So are you done shopping for the season?" In past years, the responses got were like: "No! Oh my god there's only a week left!" But yesterday, the standard went something more like: "No... eh... I'll get done what I get done. No biggie."

As a retailer, I've had a hard time getting into the mode where I need to start decorating for Christmas in October and playing Christmas music in November and going nuts with sales all through December. Sure, we have lots of Christmas and holiday related pottery to sell... but beyond that, I've never gone to any extreme. Don't get me wrong... I'm just as anxious to sell during this season as the next retailer, but I've never felt I should go to extremes to have to.

Maybe people are finally starting to see that the real value in these holidays is the time one gets to spend with friends and family. As a retailer, I hope that means stronger sales the rest of the year. As a human being, it makes me glad.

I'll be interested to see how overall retail sales numbers look at the end of the year.