Floral studio

Hollywood

Hollywood

Active Member
Jan 20, 2008
174
118
43
84
GRASS VALLEY CA 95949
www.countryflorist.net
State / Prov
California
Ladies and Gentlemen, my fellow florists,

I would be interested to know if it would be a good idea to move our flower shop from where we are now (which is a bad location, in an enclave between 2 little towns) to our house where we have a big building able to carry out our flower business.
A lot of logistic will be involved, I know but it's possible with some time.
What do you think?? is it a good idea or a suicidal idea??
I would appreciate some feedback by some of the good people who have done it.
Our walkin business is very, very low, so in order to cut expenses, rent etc..... we are starting to think maybe this would be the answer.
It would still be a brick and mortar shop but then it would be ours.
What do you think?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
We have good business par phone ins and website and a group of loyal customers.
The new location would be 1 mile from the old.
I can't wait to get your feeback.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

[email protected] Tel: 800-676-9681.......Fax: 530-268-1632

Don't spare me tell it the way it is........I can take it.

Warm regards.........Henry:jester
 
This is a hard one to answer because so much depends on your town and location.I was in the same situation 7 years ago and since then I have worked from a stand alone studio on my property. There were several reasons I decided to do this. I had a partner at the time and we had chosen a safe location in a high end residential area that also had quite a few luxury hotels and other business. Although our shop was gorgeous the rent was one of the highest in the city and there was almost nil walk in traffic so the walk in didn't make up for the rent by any means. Things have improved slightly in Victoria the last few years but the reason we chose that location was to stay away from the downtown core because of the influx of homeless people and drug addicts which were making the downtown core unsafe to walk in especially in the lower Johnson St area.Victoria became the homeless and drug addict capitol of Canada because of our good weather and homeless people from across Canada moved here in droves.One florist on lower Johnson closed shop after being there for ages because she had to walk over used needles to get to her car every night.After two years of that with no help from City Hall she just couldn't stand it anymore. People stopped shopping downtown and businesses moved away from the area. City Hall finally took some action over the last two years and took over many old hotels and motels for the homeless to get them off the streets so that finally people are slowly venturing back downtown but at the time I made my decision one of the reasons was for safety.I also knew two other florists who had already done it and it had worked out well for them.
I live on a side street to a main street where there are many studio home based businesses.Every block you see one or two businesses like chiropractors, dental mechanics,dog groomers, Interior designers, tailors, etc etc so it is a very common thing and is in no way an isolated area.I maintain regular hours. I still don't get much walk in or drive by traffic but I also don't have the huge rent to pay. Having said that there are many other expenses which go up or remain the same so you do not save as much as you think you will.For instance I knew that my website would be more important so I invested a lot of money creating a new one,business insurance increased, and I also increased my promotion budget to name just a few things.
If you can check around with other business in your area that have done the same thing and see how it has worked out.I checked with our local municipal hall concerning licences, signage, zoning regulations etc before I went ahead but I pretty much knew it would be OK because of all the other businesses in the area.Good luck with your decision.

Dianne
 
I agree it depends on many factors and what your goals are. I agree that depending on your area the walk in is a very small percent of the business.You have to put more effort and $$ into your web presence and you'll have to "train" your clients what you are doing now.Some will still have the mentality that they need to come to a building to do business with you. Moving your shop to your"home" does change the way people think about your business so be prepared for that and for how you want to have your business"perceived".BUt as far as the overhead and all the other crap it does make sense and it is a great way to regroup and get your ducks in a row again.
 
I'm pretty much like you Diane, one street off the main street. The house was a barbershop/home before I bought it but still had to be zoned commercial. If one neighbor said no - that would have stopped everything. I'm paying almost double the property tax because its not a primary residence. I have to pay more for trash removal and they won't even pickup recyclables. No high or lit signage either. Still love the fact that if i'm never able to sell the business, at least I have the property value.

Just wanted to add, I do a lot of walk-in and a lot of funeral. I think it's funny people always ask, "Do you live here?"
 
Will you have a physical "shop" at your home where people can still "walk in" and meet with you?

I converted my garage to my shop. It took a while to start getting walk-ins, and still get alot of people come in saying "I never knew you were here", but the cost savings are phenominal! I had a regular business sign at the side of the road that no one saw. Bought one of the changeable letter signs (with the big flashing arrow at the top), and that seems to have done the trick!

I know I will never have the walk in traffic of a downtown store, but that is not really what I am looking for at this point. Maybe in the future.
 
zoning was the first issue that came to mind. Everyone's is different

would people get the impression you went "out of business" if you moved.

If the loss of walk in sales is off set by a reduction in overhead expenses it sound attractive, I would start checking out what the costs of a move would be.
 
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