Retail storefront

I am trying to decide which direction I want to take my business. One of the options I'm considering is to open a soap shop. How many people here have a soap shop or had their own retail location in the past? What were your likes and dislikes, positives or negatives?

I would think location would be extremely important as a soap shop would need alot of foot traffic to make it successful.

To be honest I think handmade soap is a niche market and having a retail shop only adds to your expenses - rent, electricity etc. I would love to have something like that, it is a dream of mine and only a dream, in this economic climate it would be an uphill battle to make a profit. Location as you mentioned would be critical and if you found a good location the expense would out way the income.

This sounds very negative ,but you have to be practical, I have been in small business before, bills have to paid, before you can eat and there's not a lot left over. Unless you have other means of support to keep you going I'd wouldn't even try.

I share a store with about a dozen other people, most of whom are clothing or jewelry designers. I know it isn't the same thing but it is similar. It is tough.

It's a dream of mine as well but I know it's not going to happen. Therefore I will continue to do my markets/shows as I love doing it. I'm just not willing to risk our financial security. Especially as we are getting older. I watch my mom run her own business for 20 years and the toll it took on her. I'm in a handcrafted market and they struggle every month. I wouldn't want to be in that position.

Tough way to go. Rent, utilities, advertising (one of the biggest expenses), workers comp if in the US, Insurance, etc etc. Then if you decide to incorporate that is a whole nightmare of it's own with expenses. Hate to sound discouraging but am realistic. With a store front you are less subject to foot traffic than you are at farmer markets and at least you only pay as you go. Brick and mortar cost you everyday open or not, customers or not. I do wish you well with your decisions. You will be up against the big boys such as L***h, Bath & Body etc, the ones with the bucks to advertise

I agree with what everyone has said. As an example, there is a local candle maker who has a store front and though it is on a heavily trafficked road, I have hardly ever seen anyone there. She still does markets and shows on top of having the store. Last summer during the Farmers market she would close the store every Friday at 1 to do the market by 3. Her prices at shows and the market are high and I think it is to make up for the costs of the store. Unless you have someone to help with the costs or an unlimited amount of income, it's not worth it in the long run. Like it was mentioned, big box stores will win.

While that would be cool there are only two ways I can personally see that working.

You could partner up with several other artisans and have your own shop which would basically be an indoor market. But then again I don’t think I would partner up unless I really knew the person I think I’d pay for it all and then rent out spaces to the other artisans. That way you they can pay your rent and you will be responsible for selecting vendors that have quality products that don’t compete with you. Doing that and then having special events a couple times a year (music, wine tasting, food, demos) could work.

Or if you do enough business wholesale that you can justify renting a space basically for your production then you can have a small area in front where you could sell the product.

There was a place that did this in San Francisco on Bernal Hill. I loved to go there. Mostly crafty food niche stuff but there was also a guy who had a knife and tool sharpening stall and a coffee roaster. They did seem to have problems keeping the spaces filled for long but I think it was a low enough start up investment that people could gamble on their craft and see if they could sustain a space. They opened about a year before I left SF so I'm not sure if it made it but the knife guy always seemed busy.

Depending on your demographic you could also check out those mall cart kiosks. Some of those guys seem to do okay selling absolute crap so a soap cart might do pretty well.

A regular concession stand in a "mall" might be a good middle ground, too.

As the owner of a successful bath and body shop in Canada I can tell you that it can and will work if you work your tail off, have absolute passion for what you do, have the personality to sell, have already built up a clientele, have top quality products, absolute determination, and a thick skin.

I find since opening the store I have quadrupled my sales (they were great before) and have more than covered my added expenses. Online sales have also tripled thanks to the storefront.

Find a place you can afford, is located in a busy area (main street) and is easy to find.

Please don't listen to anyone who hasn't done this themselves before. They very well may have listened to similar people and that's why they are advising you based on assumptions. I mean no offense to previous commenters but unless you're speaking from experience, it's assumptions.

I did an experimental pop up store at Christmas time and it took off like wildfire and is now paying my bills and then some. It's not always easy but it is doable!

100%Natural said:

As the owner of a successful bath and body shop in Canada I can tell you that it can and will work if you work your tail off, have absolute passion for what you do, have the personality to sell, have already built up a clientele, have top quality products, absolute determination, and a thick skin.

I find since opening the store I have quadrupled my sales (they were great before) and have more than covered my added expenses. Online sales have also tripled thanks to the storefront.

Find a place you can afford, is located in a busy area (main street) and is easy to find.

Please don't listen to anyone who hasn't done this themselves before. They very well may have listened to similar people and that's why they are advising you based on assumptions. I mean no offense to previous commenters but unless you're speaking from experience, it's assumptions.

I did an experimental pop up store at Christmas time and it took off like wildfire and is now paying my bills and then some. It's not always easy but it is doable!

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I LOVE this! A great success story.

But can you go in to more about the transitions you made, as it is clear that you didn't go from online and/or markets selling enough bars for beer money to opening an actual long-term store in one go. You had a pop-up and I imagine there are other things there - if the pop up had done badly, would you have reconsidered the store? As in, is something more physical and regular but still temporary a good idea to see if there is enough interest to sustain a store? Were there other incremental steps that you made?

You talk about sales being great before you did the move - talking bar numbers here - how great is great? If someone is selling 1/5th of what you were in numbers of bars, a store front might not work.

Also, did you notice that a lot of the custom, especially online, were local folks? Did the distance to the bulk of you customers influence your decision?

I think that is where most people were coming from with their caution - if someone is selling enough bars to make it seem interesting while they have fewer overheads, taking the leap to signing a worthwhile length lease on a store worth having can well be the sort of leap that only Sam Beckett would make.................

Gosh, I want to sit you down and interview you!

Here is my story from the start to where I'm at right now.....

From day one I had a goal. That was to have my own storefront within 5 years of starting to sell at local markets and shows. I started selling in 2013 and managed to pull off a retail store within a year and a half instead of 5 years.

The transition came about very quickly. It was either invest a small amount of money in shelving and rent for a couple of months or invest the same amount of money in an expensive but lucrative show that was only for 4 days. The bottom line is that I have been exceptionally careful with any money I've made. Everything possible has been reinvested back into inventory, marketing, shows and now the store.

My sales my first year were approximately 2000 bars. Sales didn't start until June of that year and all I had on my table was bar soap and a few soap dishes. My second year of sales in bar numbers was 5000 (I had lots of other products by this time) and that was from 5 markets a week when the weather was suitable, attending every show I possibly could within 2 hours of my home town, online sales, the pop up store and at home sales. I am not exaggerating when I say I worked 80+ hours a week during market season to keep up. I never turned down a sale regardless of what hour of the day it was and how hard I had to work for that sale. I pride myself on exceptional customer service!

The pop up store brought me 1600 bars of sales in 5 weeks. Christmas is an unfair retail trial for sales but I paid attention to what each and every customer had to say about what I was up to. The general feedback was how lucky our town is to have a store like this, they are happy to have a place that has truly natural products and my market customers are willing to spend an hour or two in their cars to come and shop here. There is also a pride in the locals knowing that the majority of the products are made in their town from scratch.

If the pop up had done badly, I'd not have considered starting back up. I'd have taken the course of wholesaling instead.

There are exceptionally busy days in the store and there are days when I can have $0 in sales. In the end the store itself is selling around 700 bars a month. The store costs me 165 bars a month and that includes rent, hydro, phone, internet etc.

What the store is doing is bringing me many new customers, making it easier for my regulars to get their hands on my stuff, allowing me to spend more time with my family and helping me pay my bills.

I am also keeping a couple of busy markets and most of my regular shows. Every chance I get to get out there and tell people about the store the more bars I will sell. I have staff lined up to cover the store while I'm out of town.

It was a gamble and a half to say the least but so far it's paying off. I also stepped outside of the box for business identity and it's paid off. My booth attracts tonnes of attention at shows and now so does the store.

My favourite saying is 'just because I'm natural doesn't mean I have to be beige and burlap'!

Hope that answers your questions!

100%Natural said:

As the owner of a successful bath and body shop in Canada I can tell you that it can and will work if you work your tail off, have absolute passion for what you do, have the personality to sell, have already built up a clientele, have top quality products, absolute determination, and a thick skin.

I find since opening the store I have quadrupled my sales (they were great before) and have more than covered my added expenses. Online sales have also tripled thanks to the storefront.

Find a place you can afford, is located in a busy area (main street) and is easy to find.

Please don't listen to anyone who hasn't done this themselves before. They very well may have listened to similar people and that's why they are advising you based on assumptions. I mean no offense to previous commenters but unless you're speaking from experience, it's assumptions.

I did an experimental pop up store at Christmas time and it took off like wildfire and is now paying my bills and then some. It's not always easy but it is doable!

Click to expand...

Most people who replied to this post, were trying to help in pointing out the pitfalls, I don't think they are assumptions at all, you don't know what experience the person posting has, so please don't shut people down when they are replying to a post, you letting them know of your own successful experience is enough and it's up to them to decipher the information provided - nobody is right or wrong here.

Samirish do a business plan about opening a store. Keep describing your soaps to the end, and try to get to the financial 'business section' first so you see rent, hiring staff, liscense, how you plan on marketing, projected cash flows etc first and see if you can handle it. Most business's don't break even till after the first year...if they are lucky.Somdo this to see if you can handle it and if you will have a monthly allowance for yourself until you start making profit as you will be at a loss until then.

I love the success story above, but Canada is a whole different market than the USA, and even in the US what will work in one town won't work in another due to how vast and different eac area is.

For now to the OP, a business plan is your friend and will tell you a lot. Best of luck with what you decide!

"The store costs me 165 bars a month and that includes rent, hydro, phone, internet etc."

If I could find that - I would seriously consider trying a storefront.
Other then the big guys (LUSH, BBW and Body Shop), I've never seen a store that is JUST soap (and the other usual suspects) survive for long around any of the places I've lived. The DH is always looking for places to start a shop, but I just can't see me making it survive It is a nice fantasy that I escape to on occasion.. especially since it doesn't involve setting up my tent, lol.

Love to hear about a success story! I'm sure you have a wonderful and supportive family to boot. The cautions that have been presented are valid, but I love success stories and you have proved it can be done.

Keep in mind that a "soap" shop would be considered a specialty shop.
Specialty shops do very well with other specialty shops.Since you will not be reselling a product, you are actually the manufacturer, so there is a head start there.Costs will be low, then you are selling at retail. But along with that large margin is all the overhead of a retail.Remember always that it is a business. Therefor everything is the same as any other type of business, not just handmade soap.If you are/were confident that you could and would be successful in selling another product or running another business, then you can transfer that confidence to selling soap or any desire.Cashflow for any business is real and opening retail just means you would have to have more of it.they say 6 months minimum reserves of operating costs.Which means if you have $500/mo rent and everything else $500/mo that would be a min of $6k on hand for disposal. MINIMUM (hope that you can get a 6mo lease!, otherwise consider min of 12mo or 24mo Another thing to take into consideration is that there are some new products or ventures that come aboard from time to time that are started out of a $1000 loan and turn into multi-million $ businesses On the other side, there are very large corps that take a billion $'s for a new product and it is a complete fail,with using the best resources and team to bring it to market, sometimes 5 or 10 yrs in development.

I have experience in both retail and ecommerce and can say, as long as you are determined and are willing to do your homework
you can be successful in ANYTHING you set out to accomplish.

Wish you well in any decision you choose.

I agree with those above me. I surely couldn't do it for 165 bars a month. Just the rent would exceed that in most scenarios, especially in the areas that may be most viable. I think you are the exception certainly not the norm. It' certainly nice to hear a success story though.

100% Natural how do you meet your demand? Do you have people working for you? I just about keep up with what I'm selling and I don't have rent. I do this full time & there is no more time. I wonder what I will do if I get busier than I already am. Working 80 hours a week doesn't give one more time with their family.

shunt2011 said:

I agree with those above me. I surely couldn't do it for 165 bars a month. Just the rent would exceed that in most scenarios, especially in the areas that may be most viable. I think you are the exception certainly not the norm. It' certainly nice to hear a success story though.

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Quite! When you take out cost of the bars themselves, the profit from 165 bars to pay the rent (and bills!) would suggest a lower rent than many people could find and/or a higher retail price than many could be able to charge in their area