Online stores have long outshined actual retail department stores. Business owners opt to showcase and sell their merchandise by creating shopping websites instead of setting up boutiques or stand-alone stores. These days it seems more economical to do business via worldwide web as it saves time, effort and money above others. Despite this fact, my partners and I still thought it best to put up a quaint boutique for our venture that is plus-size women's fashion.
I have created mental images of our clothing boutique long since my two best friends came up with the idea of starting our own business after graduating from fashion school. The vision was successfully carried out all thanks to my professional interior designer friend who offered to set up the boutique absolutely free of charge.
Since boutiques are generally more interesting-looking than the usual department stores, prepping up the place turned out to be a really enjoyable experience for every one of us involved. It wasn't as hard as imagined what with the help of a few other friends who willingly offered not just resources and store equipment - like commercial cash registers and cash register parts - but more importantly, man labor.
If you're a small business owner like me with plans of setting up your own boutique, consider the following tips.
* Breakaway and break-free from (styling) rules. Exercise your (creative) freedom in coming up with themes or designs for your designated store space. Have elements of surprise throughout the store and they don't even have to be in-line with your business. A good friend has a somewhat high-end boutique that offers vintage designer apparel.
* Having rich and sophisticated customers coming to the store daily, she had to have the best pos software and the best cash registers installed.
* The "surprise" factor was that the store's barcode scanner was for sale as well - as it had a vintage look to it, so I was told.
* Utilize all possible nooks or areas in the given space. For example, back rooms can be good storage areas or you could turn them into comfy lounges for your customers. Get pieces of furniture that are not only decorative but functional as well so to make the most out of your (relatively small) space.
* Establish an image or a mood by means of lighting and decors or accents. Try to make even the smallest detail of your store reflective of whatever image you want your store to have. Maybe the tag prices of the clothes or the hangers could give your customers a feel of your stores overall vibe.
* Make a good impression. Once your customers step in make sure they're already able to get a taste of what your store has to offer. Make specialty items stand out in the display, install unique lamps, and hang interesting pieces of art - whatever you feel would express who you are as the store owner.