Start & Run an Adult Boutique. Karen Bedinger
Читать онлайн книгу.
came to mind then was my experience working at Victoria’s Secret. Dozens of people had asked me if I knew of any other stores that sold lingerie that was different from what they sold there. I had not known of any besides the other main retail chain stores, but people were looking for even more choices. I figured that if these businesses did well enough to be huge, national, profitable chain stores and people were still asking for more choices, there was room in the marketplace for additional competition and merchandise. Combining the sale of lingerie with adult products would only increase revenue.
After giving the idea of opening up an adult shop a couple of hours, I proclaimed to Dan, “I’m going to open an adult boutique and it’s going to be awesome!”
This time it was his turn to be a little shocked. It only took him a couple of minutes to recover before he jovially asked, “Does this mean you’ll be modeling a lot of lingerie for me?”
2. The Mainstream Prevalence of Adult Products
The more I thought about the idea of owning my own adult store, the more I liked it. Retail is not the easiest business to get into, as there is so much competition these days, but my idea for a store had a huge advantage over other stores because of the scarcity of nice adult stores and the fact that there were no really nice adult chain stores yet.
The fact that adult products and DVDs are becoming much more accepted in major retail shops and in mainstream media makes it easier to sell these products. On top if it all, the marketplace is only slowly catching up to cater to women and couples.
Adult products are sold almost everywhere. A person can purchase lingerie in major department stores, at Victoria’s Secret, and at Frederick’s of Hollywood. A person can purchase adult toys in the mall at Spencer’s, and “massagers” at The Sharper Image and department stores. Lubricants, massage oils, and other intimate adult items can be purchased at the local drug store, grocery store, or major retail chains. Adult movies can be purchased in many local mini-marts. Advertising for adult products is also becoming more prevalent on radio and television, and in newspapers and magazines. For example, KY® Brand advertises their lubricant and massage lotion on network TV and in mainstream print magazines.
Adult movies and stars are also becoming more accepted in mainstream life. The most famous adult pornography stars such as John Holmes, Ron Jeremy, and Jenna Jameson are as well-known as many top Hollywood actors. There have been dozens of pornography stars that have been in mainstream movies, on television, in the news, in documentaries, and in music videos.
Racy lingerie products such as crotch-less panties and shelf bras are no longer deemed sleazy. They can now be purchased from upscale lingerie retailers, and are no longer confined to small, out-of-the-way shops hidden in the mall. When almost everything sold in an adult store is also available at the mall, it is usually safe to assume the purchasing power in North America has embraced these products.
3. Finding the Perfect Model of an Adult Boutique
Right before I announced to Dan that I was going to open an adult boutique, I began thinking about possible names for the store in my head. This was when I realized that starting an adult boutique was what I was going to do. When I decide on something, there is usually no going back — it’s full speed ahead from there!
I began scribbling my business plan on anything I could write on: little scraps in the glove compartment, some loose paper in my purse, the backside of a map. Since I had written business plans before, I did not have much trouble thinking of a rough outline: possible company names; a mission statement; and a description of my business, marketing plan, costs, profit analysis, business structure, financing, and future goals. Of course, I was going to have to research, figure out, and verify a lot of the information in my business plan and write it out in more detail. But at that moment, it was helpful to have an outline of what my company was going to be like. By the time we arrived in Orange County, I had written the first draft of my business plan.
We were staying with my sister and brother-in-law that weekend. When I told them that we had decided to open an adult boutique, I was not all that sure they believed that we were definitely going to do it. After all, I still had a few nagging doubts. However, being as helpful and encouraging as they always are, the day after we arrived they took us to three different adult stores in Orange County that were aimed at couples so we could gather more ideas of what other adult boutiques were like.
It was important to me to visit more adult stores so I could figure out if I would enjoy owning and managing an adult boutique. I tried to imagine being the owner of each adult store we went into and what it would be like to deal with customers and employees, as well as order merchandise, price the products, and perform all the other daily and administrative work involved. From what I could tell, the customers in each of the stores that closely resembled the type of store I wanted to own — a store more oriented towards women and couples — seemed very nice and normal. The owners of the stores were often working in them when I was there. Most were very open about how they started their business and what it was like for them to own an adult store, and were usually enthusiastic about providing me with advice on how to open and operate an adult boutique.
We paid attention to what we liked and disliked about each store so we had an idea of what to model our store after. Even though I like to work fast, I have always wanted to know as much as I can about a topic I am working on before I start my projects. So on our way back from our vacation we took a different route home and stopped at a few more shops in Los Angeles.
During the first couple of weeks after we returned home, while I began to work in earnest on my business plan (along with the initial setup of the business), we visited more stores in Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and Lake Tahoe. We also went to other upscale clothing and product stores to compare what made the adult stores feel so different in ambiance. It was not necessarily the merchandise that made the difference, it was the clothes racks they used, the paint on the walls, the carpet on the floor, the type and quality of the music or deadly silence in the background, and all sorts of other details that completely changed the landscape of the way the stores looked and felt.
In no time I had a list of everything I did not want my store to be like, and what I did want it to be like. Sure enough, I came up with an outline of a store that was very similar to the ideal imaginary adult store that Dan and I had thought of originally when we visited those stores in San Jose. First and foremost, I wanted the store to cater to both male and female customers. I wanted my store to make women feel comfortable when shopping, but I also realized that there was a point where male customers would not feel comfortable in the same store if it was geared too much toward women. Balancing the store so that both sexes would feel comfortable in it would not be difficult as long as I kept that in mind. My store name and logo would have to portray this women- and couple-friendly atmosphere so that people would recognize it as a place for them to shop.
Aesthetically, I wanted the store to always look beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. Of course that meant it should always be clean, well-lit, have professional employees, and have an air of sophistication. I took note that the neighborhood the store was located in was very important. As a woman, I also did not want to be afraid of the neighborhood where I was shopping, and I did not want to go somewhere that was run-down. The color of the store, inside and out, was important as it could make a customer think twice about entering. Blacked-out windows and dark paint were definitely out, as they would make it look seedy.
The professionalism of the staff would be just as important as the merchandise and the setting, because they would help create the ambiance of the boutique. Because I wanted the store to be more upscale than any of the others I had seen, I wanted everything from the hangers and hooks to the dressing rooms to be beautiful. Dressing rooms with just a curtain hanging in front of them, that did not close all the way, would not fly in my store — they would make a person feel like he or she was the star in a peep show!
Important information I gathered while visiting other stores included a list of brand names that I wanted my store to carry and notes on how other stores were pricing their merchandise. If I thought a particular lingerie outfit