retail shop in Portlaoise

boxercreations

I am moving to Portlaoise in August and I am trying to decide the best way to start my business.
My options are to start from home and use internet and social media/local advertising and maybe local markets/craft markets to find customers - this would be cheaper and low risk but would depend on me connecting with enough customers.
The other option is to open a retail and teaching unit in Portlaoise town centre - there are so many empty units though that I'd be concerned about footfall.
My business is "lifestyle" retail - a lot of my products are handmade or upcycled - small furniture, stationery, bespoke cards, organic bathroom products, signs, mirrors etc. Personalised clothing and mugs.
I also teach classes in how to make your own soap/creams etc, cardmaking and wedding stationery classes.
If I was going to open a retail unit I would also look at taking products from other artisans/crafters to sell - either on a monthly space fee or comission basis or even find a business partner.
Anyone any thoughts on how I should even start? I'm going to go and do some footfall counts next week as a start and look at commercial lettings. Should I expect to pay asking rent or should I expect to negotiate for less?
Another thought was approaching current retail owners about a "pop up shop" type of arrangement for a few months.

jimmii

I opened a similar lifestyle type shop in Dublin a few months back. With products like that people say that they really want to be able to touch the things and really get a feel for the quality. We only get a few purchases online its mostly people using the website as a shop window who then come in and purchase.

Having jumped in head first with a shop I would suggest starting by doing a few craft fairs etc then once you have had some feedback from people then and had some traffic via your website/social media then see if you can find a landlord willing to let you open a pop-up shop for a month or two so you can see how the footfall is. We found it took about 2 months to notice a change in trend from people who just happened to be passing by and popping in and people actually seeking us out. I wish there was someone around at the time to say try a pop up shop first those first couple of months will really let you know if it something you want to do as it will be very tough. I never thought we would have days doing 0 but we had it happen on back to back days in the first month which really sucked!! Make sure you have at the very minimum 6 months living expenses and 6 months shop expenses before you jump in and ideally you'll have a years expenses for living.

boxercreations

jimmii wrote: »

I opened a similar lifestyle type shop in Dublin a few months back. With products like that people say that they really want to be able to touch the things and really get a feel for the quality. We only get a few purchases online its mostly people using the website as a shop window who then come in and purchase.

Having jumped in head first with a shop I would suggest starting by doing a few craft fairs etc then once you have had some feedback from people then and had some traffic via your website/social media then see if you can find a landlord willing to let you open a pop-up shop for a month or two so you can see how the footfall is. We found it took about 2 months to notice a change in trend from people who just happened to be passing by and popping in and people actually seeking us out. I wish there was someone around at the time to say try a pop up shop first those first couple of months will really let you know if it something you want to do as it will be very tough. I never thought we would have days doing 0 but we had it happen on back to back days in the first month which really sucked!! Make sure you have at the very minimum 6 months living expenses and 6 months shop expenses before you jump in and ideally you'll have a years expenses for living.

Thanks so much for the reply.
I don't have the back up for both 6 months living and 6 months shop - it's either/or. Given the large number of empty units in Portlaoise town centre I wonder if I'd find a landlord willing to just let me put up a window display with my contact details - it's just a thought and no idea if it's viable/would be considered.
I'm arranging to see the enterprise board next week as well - I don't know anyone in Portlaoise so I'm going in blind.
Nice to hear that trade is picking up for you and people are actually coming to find your store. Where are you based? Going to do some recce of what other people are doing ...

jimmii

boxercreations wrote: »

Thanks so much for the reply.
I don't have the back up for both 6 months living and 6 months shop - it's either/or. Given the large number of empty units in Portlaoise town centre I wonder if I'd find a landlord willing to just let me put up a window display with my contact details - it's just a thought and no idea if it's viable/would be considered.
I'm arranging to see the enterprise board next week as well - I don't know anyone in Portlaoise so I'm going in blind.
Nice to hear that trade is picking up for you and people are actually coming to find your store. Where are you based? Going to do some recce of what other people are doing ...

As long as you do have some separate funds to live off its best. You'll be amazed how cheapily you are willing to live off to get things going!! You just have to find the right landlord some are happy to do things like that some are not. Sell it to them on the idea that if you make the unit better looking it is going to be more likely to be let! I'm on Capel St so pretty central and Luas stops a little down the road. Today has been our second best day so far (we had a day a month or so ago when someone came in and bought 8 umbrellas so that kind of skews things!). We have a good few people from Carlow who make things for us and that seems to be a pretty creative place so could be a good place to start your recce!

sandin

Forget portlaoise town centre - the rent is ridiculous even with empty units. I enquired and theur initial price was so far off the mark I did not waste time even trying ti negotiate.

Basically a 900 sq ft unit is quoting 60k + 14k rates + 18k service charge.

Don't be afraid if a little travel. Newbridge is 30 min up the m7 and whitwater have outsude stalls at weekends. Shops in Newbridge are way cheaper and there's a lot more money compared to portlaoise.