Exactly one year ago, we took a leap of faith.
After years of operating primarily through online sales, we did something completely different: we opened our first retail location.
It wasn’t necessarily part of some perfectly mapped-out business plan. Like a lot of things in business, it happened because circumstances changed, problems started piling up, and we realized that what had worked for us before wasn’t necessarily going to keep working forever.
One year later, I can say the decision has taught me more than I ever expected.
When Online Sales Started Changing
For years, online selling was our world.
eBay and Amazon were two of the biggest pieces of our business, and we had built systems around sourcing, listing, shipping, and moving inventory online.
Then things started changing.
After moving to our new city, we noticed a major decline in traffic to our eBay store. This happened around the same time as changes involving promoted listings, and unfortunately, our traffic never really recovered.
Instead, it continued to get worse.
Amazon, on the other hand, remained relatively steady for us. But another problem was developing behind the scenes.
We kept getting more and more books.
People were calling us about books they wanted to sell, donate, or simply get out of their homes. We could sell plenty of them online, but not every book makes sense to list online.
That left us with an important question:
What do we do with everything that doesn’t make sense to sell online?
We needed another outlet.
Our First Attempt Was a Mistake
Before opening our own retail location, we decided to try selling some of our inventory through a local vendor mall.
On paper, it seemed like a good solution.
We could put inventory into a physical retail environment without taking on the expense and responsibility of operating an entire storefront.
Unfortunately, it turned into one of the worst decisions we made.
The amount of theft we experienced made the situation unsustainable. Instead of becoming the solution we were looking for, it became another lesson in what not to do.
But sometimes those bad decisions push you toward better ones.
Eventually, we decided that if we were going to sell locally, we wanted to do it ourselves.
So we opened our own store.
Taking the Leap Into Retail
Our retail location originally gave us a place to sell the inventory that didn’t make sense for our online business.
But it quickly became much more than that.
Today, our store carries a wide variety of merchandise, including:
- Used books
- CDs
- DVDs
- Vinyl records
- Toys
- Collectibles
- Costume jewelry
- And plenty of other interesting finds
One of the things I love about the store is that it continues to evolve.
We’re constantly experimenting with new inventory, changing sections, figuring out what customers want, and finding new ways to use the space.
And then came something that has become an increasingly important part of the business:
Printing.
From Bookstore to Printing Center
We introduced printing services inside the store, and that side of the business has continued to grow.
We can now produce a surprising amount of work completely in-house, and we aren’t finished expanding.
I don’t like bragging too much, but I’m genuinely proud of the pricing we’ve been able to offer.
We’ve worked hard to keep our printing prices competitive, and in many cases we’ve been able to beat other local options—including some of the big retailers—while still providing the convenience of working with a local business.
We recently launched Your Ideas Here to continue building out that side of the business.
You can check out our printing services at: yourideashere.com
And we’re just getting started.
Our Latest Printing Upgrades
Last weekend brought two pretty major additions to our printing operation.
We added a 27-inch laminator along with a large-format printer.
Of course, because nothing in business can ever be completely simple, we immediately ran into some issues with the large-format printer.
After some troubleshooting, frustration, testing, and more troubleshooting, we were able to figure out the problem and get it resolved.
That experience actually gave me another idea.
I’m planning to put together a tutorial explaining the problem we encountered and how we fixed it. Hopefully, it can save somebody else from spending hours trying to figure out the same issue.
That’s also something I want to do more of going forward—sharing the problems we encounter while building businesses and, more importantly, sharing the solutions we find.
The First Year Wasn’t Perfect
One of the biggest things I’ve learned during this first year is that opening a retail business teaches you very quickly what you don’t know.
Looking back, there are definitely things I would have done differently.
Some of our early signage wasn’t nearly as good or visible as it should have been.
That’s on me.
Then winter arrived.
There were days when the cold practically froze us out and foot traffic disappeared.
There were slow days.
There were ideas that worked.
There were ideas that absolutely did not work.
There were expenses I expected and expenses I definitely didn’t.
But every one of those experiences taught me something.
That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve taken away from this entire journey:
You don’t have to get everything right the first time. You just have to be willing to recognize what’s wrong, change it, and keep moving forward.
One Year Later, So Much Has Changed
It’s almost hard to believe how different the business looks compared to opening day.
We’ve expanded.
We’ve added new inventory.
We’ve grown our in-house printing capabilities.
We’ve invested in new equipment.
We’ve experimented.
We’ve made mistakes.
We’ve fixed mistakes.
And we’re still finding new opportunities.
There are things we’re doing today that weren’t even part of the plan when we first unlocked the doors.
That’s probably one of my favorite parts about running a business.
Sometimes the business you end up building isn’t exactly the business you originally imagined.
The People Make It Possible
More than anything, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be part of this community.
A retail store doesn’t survive because someone puts an OPEN sign in the window.
It survives because people walk through the door.
Every person who has bought a book, ordered printing, brought us inventory, told someone about the store, shared one of our posts, or simply stopped in to see what we’re doing has played a part in getting us through this first year.
I don’t take that for granted.
There are plenty of challenges that come with owning a small business, but there are also moments when you look around and realize:
We’re actually doing this.
What’s Next?
The next goal is another big milestone for me.
I’m hoping to bring someone on part-time to help around the shop.
That might sound like a relatively small step, but for a growing small business, hiring your first additional help can be a pretty significant moment.
It means we’re continuing to grow.
It also means I can hopefully free up more time to work on expanding the printing operation, improving our online businesses, creating tutorials and guides, testing new ideas, and continuing to figure out where all of this goes next.
Because one year was never the goal.
My goal is to still be here 10+ years from now.
I know there will be more mistakes.
There will probably be equipment that decides not to cooperate.
There will be slow months, unexpected expenses, ideas that fail, and plenty of moments where we have to figure things out as we go.
But there will also be new opportunities.
One year ago, opening a retail store was the next big experiment.
Today, it’s a real business that’s continuing to evolve.
And we’re only getting started.
Here’s to Year Two—and hopefully many more after it.