People keep asking how the store is doing. So, one of the summer projects is a book. It’s a big, sprawling, intimidating thing, and I can’t talk about it properly yet.
But one piece of it involves analyzing craft businesses and how they function culturally (through something of a feminist lens). And part of THAT is an analysis of the money, and to that end, I’m using my own business as a case study. So I’m going to be giving you some hard numbers now and then.
I asked Stephanie to pull the income numbers for the first three months the store was open.
February 23 – May 17
Week 1: $1218.66 (my launch party weekend)
Week 2: $115.30
Week 3: $730.84
Week 4: $216.20
Week 5: $147.30
Week 6: $1583.12
Week 7: $546.17
Week 8: $529.68
Week 9: $902.05 (Dive Bar launch party)
Week 10: $172
Week 11: 831.25
Week 12: 313.50
Total in-store income for first three months: $7306.07
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Now, is that good or bad? Factor in that my rent is $1200 / month, but I rent out one room to Dive Bar Soap Company for $300 / month. I also have monthly expenses for insurance, electricity, WiFi, and sales tax.
When I’m too busy to staff the store myself, I have to pay someone to do that. (Dive Bar staffs two days of each week.) And of course, there’s the cost of supplies, the cost of hosting events (like launch parties), and the cost of my own labor (ha ha ha). Plus, consignment fees; I keep 30%.
When income spiked significantly in the last three months, it was usually because I or Dive Bar was hosting an event (which costs money), or because of one-off things (like my good friend coming to town and buying a table for herself AND a bunch of smaller gifts for her work colleagues).
I definitely see more traffic in the store when I’m posting regularly on social media, and/or running Facebook ads.
The free community events don’t necessarily lead to direct sales right away (I definitely don’t want people to feel like they have to buy something if they come to those!), but they do help people get familiar with the store, so hopefully Serendib House will come to mind when they’re looking for a birthday present for a friend or family member (or a treat for themselves).
And the paid workshops do bring in some income — I don’t have a really built out mailing list for those yet, but I expect interest in those to grow over time. Especially if I remember to publicize them.
We’re also looking into space rental options — either for people to teach small classes, or for private events. Someone asked whether I’d do a private shopping event for their book club, and I said sure — now I just have to figure out the logistics. Private spice-blending class, with nibbles and drinks? Could be fun.
I do have some other income that’s related — I’m building out the Shopify store, and will likely add an Etsy store at some point, and am hoping they’ll be a significant source of income (but that does require time to pack and ship, and supplies for shipping, and the ever-rising cost of postage). And similarly, I have Patreon income. It’s a little hard to separate out how much advertising for the brick-and-mortar store also affects advertising for online sales. Some, I’m sure.
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We’ll have to look more closely at the expenses (working on it) to get a real sense of how it’s going, but my general feeling is that after the initial launch, sales slowed down tremendously, in part because it was still cold out, which affected foot traffic.
And I love the Arts District, but in general, it’s not a high shopping area — local businesses are working on that, but it’s a process. The Friday night 4-7 promo may be helping — we’ll see! It’d be nice if Oak Parkers (and our neighbors) started thinking of the OP Arts District as a destination for cool gifts by local artists — not just my store, but all the other studios that offer interesting items and workshops.
People keep asking how I’m doing, and I generally say ‘fine’ — but by fine, I mean as expected. So definitely running at a loss for now (not even counting my time), but we’re almost done with start-up costs, and so hoping to move into some nice steady audience-building over the summer and fall. Christmas will be a nice boost, as always, and then January will be dead (and I’ll likely take a week or two of vacation then).
By next February, I’m hoping we’ll have broken even for the first year, and started to grow some real audience. Consistency with publicity is going to be key. And in year two, profit???
We’ll see!
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Picture of the building I’m in — it’s an apartment building run by the Oak Park Residence Corporation, and I appreciate that they prioritized renting to an artist. 
The poppies are now a permanent installation next to my store (lucky me!), so just look for the poppies, and you’ll know you’re in the right place.
301 Harrison Street, Oak Park
Wed / Thurs / Fri 1-7
Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4
