Journal Episode 4 How to Open a Retail Store in 2021

Welcome to the fourth instalment of my journal. Today I am going to set out my decision to do something many might think unexpected of me.

I have been a strong advocate of the benefits of the Internet Century since the turn of the millennium, working across industries to make the digital age a reality. Digital is a critical component of all retail now and through the social restrictions of the pandemic we have all grown used to event experiences being digital too. So why would I choose to open a retail store in 2021?

Firstly Instinct. Instinct based on evidence and probable scenarios tells me we should expect a shift as the world, and in my corner of the UK as we comes out of the pandemic. A bounce after the fall. Past history tells us it has always been so before. After great tragedy, after great loss, after great restrictions upon our freedoms, comes a bounce. A shift, an exuberance of our spirit.

I am prepared to make an investment based on this history, and on the evidence of where we might see this bounce most profoundly. I believe we will see this bounce manifest in Community. In person community and connectivity is what we have all missed most, and so opening a retail store in 2021 begins to make sense.

We have experienced a socially isolated year and a half. Our young people and children have lost all the experiences of community they would normally have. Young adults have missed out on social connection. I can feel it. Everyone can feel it. We are desperate for human connections. We value local community and we saw how the strength of community locally saw us through the pandemic. People going out so their way to support others, to check in with neighbours. So I invest on this basis. I invest in community building. So opening a retail store in 2021 must be based on community. Everything else is directly in completion in with digital and digital is strong.

How, you might ask, does community relate to a physical store. It’s been documented how the high street has declined through the UK over recent decades. The decline of old style retail stores will unfortunately continue. The decline in large scale out of town shopping centred experiences will too.

So how do you something different? How do you build into the societal and economic shift that is coming. How do you open a retail store in 2021? I’ll tell you here I how I plan to. I am testing this in real time, with real money.

Community building as a store.

You need three things to underpin a business in this model.

Firstly you need to identify a community that can be a marketplace. I have done so, identifying my own passion for hobby. Plan to build that community with you, working to add value to everyone in the community. In doing so you are creating a sense of belonging, and so a sense of brand locality. You are also pulling your local residential community to a local store, a local high street. A further sense of belonging, of supporting those around you, of loyalty.

Secondly you need to be confident your idea for a community can be both local and nationally recognisable. The more attuned to cool the better, but cool isn’t necessary. Just that there is a national conversation, a community brand if you will. That could be literally anything that people love to do. Is there passion behind it? Do you feel the passion when you think about it? It could be sowing, it could be reading, it could be a sport. It could be so many other things. I have done so. Local achieved by making the store a hub people will want to come to, to hang out in, to catch up in. National because as I have recently written here on vocal, geek is cool, as cool as you can be in the western world right now. It has grown beyond Big Bang cool. It is Marvel cool, DC cool, movie cool, gaming industry cool.

Thirdly you need to know you can diversify income and be both dominant on the high street and online. You don’t need to sell nationally to succeed, but you must be able to be the online supplier of choice for YOUR community. I know how I intend to approach this. We will have a physical space unlike anything else in the area. We will sell yes, food and drinks, hobby supplies. We will also HOST. Experts creating spaces for people to come together, to create, to play, to learn, to laugh. To indulge their hobby and to have fun. We will host events, all the time. Including special events for lines we might stock on-site all the time. A community event for your hobby interest. The only one in town. We will be online too, we will supply hobby supplies with a best in class browsing, ordering and delivery system. You can buy what you want from us, and be part of the community, your local community, and this national community brand all at the same time. This will be our competing advantage.

So I am opening a physical retail store. Having completed these steps, identifying the passion project you can build community around, what do you need to do next?

The usual retail store things. These are the actual things I am doing NOW.

The practice of how to open a retail store in 2021.

Find a property agent to represent you, one experienced I. the type of project you are planning. You can of course negotiate on your own, but build an expert team. Always build an expert team.

Find potential properties and get out and view them. Narrow the field of options.

Make sure you understand what work would be needed on your options to open, what the lease or purchase options are, what service charge, business rates, VAT obligations might be due.

Then seek the advice of your agent.

Once you have selected a site with them open through them negotiations and aim to reach heads of terms as quickly as you practically can. This is only the beginning. It can take six to nine months from first viewing to opening a retail site.

Plan out the works you will need done, the specification of the internal layout, the fire and security systems, lighting, water, sanitation, air cooling, heating, and power needs. Do this as you negotiate heads of terms.

Plan your stock levels, your supplier relationships, your recruitment requirements, your payments and accounting system needs.

Start your business strategy and business plan NOW. Use this time to plan out your pricing. You need a business strategy. I’ll talk through how I approached my Business Strategy in the weeks ahead. You’ll need a business plan if you intend to raise money, whether from lenders or investors. If you are in a position to fund the business investment yourself then the Strategy will have you covered.

That’s all for now folks