So, hey, here’s something new — I’m opening up a physical store! Well, really, just a booth. It’s part of this Sprout Incubator project (Cermak Plaza, Berwyn), where the city subsidizes new small businesses (especially women & minority-owned), so we can try out a retail space for low commitment.
So the next few weeks, I’m going to be setting up my space, with plans to open in October, and try it for 3 months. It’ll be good to catch the holiday season, I think, and it’ll let me test things out for a physical store, see if that makes any sense for me. Fun.
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It’s a booth with a long wall and a short wall (and a window, because it’s at the front of the shop, nice!), so my next step is to figure out how to focus those spaces. If I had three, I’d divide it up into three sections:
1) food: Feast and Vegan, S. Asian and autumn tea towels, and resin saffron and chili flake jewelry
2) flowers & cancer: Tornado and Perennial and resin botanical jewelry
3) SF/F — The Stars Change and geeky tea towels and dragon soaps
With just two sections, I’m not sure whether to divide up the long wall in half, to make it three, or just skip one section for now.
If so, I’d skip the SF, in part because I just sold my last in-stock copy of The Stars Change, and I’d have to order more.
Hmm….pondering. Thoughts welcome!
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Photos below are from the grand opening of the space last month!