Boutique Boredom – How to Bring Your Store Back to Life

Boutique and boredom are two words I never want to hear together, however I have many clients who tell me that they are bored with their own boutiques. After listening to them describe their ups and downs as boutique business owners, I often hear one thing fairly consistent from each of them – which is that they are bored with their retail store space.

If you are a boutique or store owner, then you can certainly relate to walking into the same place everyday and often trying to capture a new perspective on it depending on the season, your mood, the economy and more. Some of you can do this beautifully, seeing a space that can transform the same way your product changes from season to season. Unfortunately,  many boutique owners are not able to see past what currently exists in their retail space and look ahead to what could exist in their retail space. For this reason, their store layout, merchandising, aesthetics, and more stay consistent day after day. They find themselves bored, which can lead to poor work energy, bad buying decisions, lazy customer service and ultimately, weak sales. In the world of retail, this can lead to your retail death.

To help avoid you dig your own retail grave, there are a few things you can do to reinvent your retail space. To begin, you need to empty your mind from any preconceived perceptions you have about your retail space. Let go of any ideas regarding what your store is and is not in regards to layout. I want you to start from scratch, allowing you to see your store from a new perspective. While I realize this may be difficult, do your best to look at your store as a blank sheet of paper in terms of how the fixtures, shelving, and general floor plan are laid out in your store.

By allowing yourself to see your store as an empty space, similiar as to what it was before it became your store, you will open up new thoughts of what it can be instead of what it is.  Now don’t get crazy here unless you can afford to. If you have the money to spend on construction and professional design, great. But for most of you, this is not a realistic option. So instead I want you to bring your store to life again with the resources you currently have. Inexpensive options to help reinvent your space include paint, so while considering your floor layout you can also consider using paint to bring your store back to life.

Cash Wraps

Every store needs a cash wrap. Where, after owning and working in your store for sometime now, do you think this would be best suited? You will most likely want to see the door from the cash wrap and not have your back facing the door, so keep this in mind. You also want to plan for customers waiting to be rung up to have space in case there is a line, which is of course a great goal. If you currently have a cash wrap that is not being utilized in both location and function as best as possible, think about how you could change this. Adding some simple features or taking away some current clutter may bring your cash wrap a whole new life. Remember that the cash wrap is also a great space to include point of purchase opportunities, which include small items for purchase such as candy, keychains, hair ribbons, and more. By offering these small items at your checkout destination, customers are more inclined to add something additional to their purchase and therefore make you more money. Keeping these items low in cost is ideal.

Fixtures

Once you have your cash wrap station determined, you can then look ahead to where your current fixtures would be best located on your new floor plan. You want to maximize your floor space by offering customers easy walkways and easy visual views of the store, so keep this in mind when positioning your fixtures. By doing this, you will allow your customer to shop more comfortably. Retail research tells us that customers shop similiar to how they hold their pens. In other words, if they are right handed, they tend to move towards the right first when in a store and vice versa. Since most people are right handed, you should consider the right side of your store a stronger opportunity for retail real estate. Now I know I just told you to forget about your current floor plan, however I want you to quickly let yourself remember what frustrated you the most about your current retail space. Whatever that something is – whether it is the tight walkways, crowded fixtures, limited shelving, or only one fitting room – I want you to consider these points when redesigning your new floor space.

Fitting Rooms

While fitting rooms are not relevant to every boutique owner, those who do need them need to listen up. Fitting rooms need to be great! Don’t cramp your customers in tight corners when you are trying to sell them something they want to wear to parties, work, and more. Find a way to make your customers get cozy in the clothes they try on. Maybe the room itself is small, but the space outside of the room should be inviting. Floor length mirrors, borrowed high heels, a chair – add whatever it is that you think will help make your customers find themselves at home in your clothes. Cramping them in too small of rooms may bring hesitation to their purchasing decisions since they can’t “really” see what they look like. Most importantly, give them space. And in doing so, give them style in your fitting room design and decor to help create the mood you want your product to represent.

Style

This can either be the fun part or the worst part for many boutique owners – style through design. Whether it’s the  throw pillows on a bench, the bold pink wall against crisp white curtains, or the lack of color and just plain beige that makes up your style, you need to consider how this influences your overall retail space. Like it or not, your style will influence who shops in your store. Think about who your target market is, what you are selling, and how your store style impacts store sales. Maybe it doesn’t impact sales. If this is the case, try and figure out how style can help bring your store back to life. This is a great place to use paint and freshen things up. Paint is cheap, however the time it takes may be holding you back. Don’t let it! Style can make all the difference! In addition to painting your walls, you can consider painting furniture, fixtures, murals, and more to help enhance your space. You can also purchase some accessories to help recreate your retail space without breaking your budget. Pillows, wall art, mirrors, statues, and more help create a retail style that can ultimately influence your retail space. Consider how each of these details may work for you.

By allowing yourself to see your retail space as a blank canvas, you can open your thoughts to new ways to bring your store back to life. Don’t ever feel like you have to settle in one retail space layout just because that’s how you positioned your cash wrap, fixtures, and everything else from the start. The same way you re-merchandise your store routinely, you should also consider re-arranging your store space as you see necessary to help maximize your store sales. Making these changes will not only allow you to drop that bag of boredom you have been carrying around, but it will also create new energy for your repeat customers to shop in your store! It will also give you a great excuse to merchandise your store from a new perspective, which always adds excitement to any boutique owner. So what are you waiting for – fall asleep tonight with a blank canvas in your head and start thinking about how you can bring your store back to life.