As a designer, is there a big benefit to opening a storefront?
Okay, we’re just going to say it, we get this question constantly. And honestly? It deserves a real answer. Not the romanticized version. The actual one.
Because here’s the thing. There is something undeniably exciting about the idea of having a space that’s completely yours. Your aesthetic. Your curation. Your little corner of the world that says this is what I’m about. We get it. We’ve been there.
But we’ve also seen what happens when designers open a storefront for the wrong reasons. Or without asking the right questions first. Or because it looked really good on someone else’s Instagram.
Laura opened her first retail store over 20 years ago in Houston with zero clients, a small loan, and absolutely no guarantee it was going to work. It lost money. Every single month. And it was one of the best decisions she ever made, but not for the reasons you’d expect.
So what actually makes a retail store worth it for a designer? Is it the vendor relationships? The marketing? The walk-in clients? The events? Or is it just a really beautiful, expensive distraction from the business you’re actually trying to build?
We’re getting into all of it. The real numbers. The real time commitment. The questions you need to ask yourself before you do anything else.
And if you’ve been sitting on this idea, this episode is going to help you figure out whether to run toward it or run the other way.
