BEFORE
AFTER
- This is one of my projects in an almost finished condition. The storefront display is not yet in and there is still a blade sign and interior work to complete. In a few weeks you will find the completed project in the portfolio menu above.
- I have posted it because there is an important lesson here in time allocation. If you are a start-up retailer reading this post, ask yourself how long you think it took to go from the before photo to the after? Recently, I had an inquiry from a person opening their first specialty retail store. They had done a great deal of preliminary work. There was a business plan in place, financing, a connection with an important supplier, and even an up and running website complete with e-commerce. I am always surprised to see a new business this far into a project without understanding how much time is actually required to negotiate a lease and then design and build a real bricks and mortar store. I was unable to accommodate this fun and potentially successful project because the business owner contacted me in August intending to be open by Thanksgiving in time for the holiday season market.
- We started to design the project in the photo in November of 2012. There was a soft opening in August 2013 but the project was not actually complete with all graphics and displays installed until November 2013. I recommend that a new retailer start to design and plan their store a year in advance of their grand opening. This means that work on the business plan and the prototype store design should begin on the same day.
- So why does it take so long? The answer to this is really the subject of an additional post. It is not, though, normally the design time that delays a project. The most common delays have to do with choosing a location, lead times on products, and building permits.