Episode 110: Running a Brick and Mortar Shop with Arlene Rust

11/04/21 • 35 min

Have you ever dreamed of owning a brick and mortar shop?

We’ve heard many paper florists express interest in opening up a physical store, but fear of the unknown holds them back. It’s a big leap! Luckily, in our latest episode of Paper Talk we chatted with Arlene Rest of Arlo Arts in the UK. Arlene made the jump from working in the corporate world, to becoming a paper florist, and eventually to owning a brick and mortar store. She shared why a physical store has so many benefits for increasing sales and building community, but she also told us about the many challenges that come along with shop ownership.

Arlo Arts has built up a big fan base and a great reputation. How did Arlene do it? There are too many helpful details from the episode to share here, but here’s a quick look at three things Arlene suggests paper florists should think about before taking the plunge into opening up a physical location.

Be Prepared to Diversify

If you have interest in opening up a shop, it’s probably because you love paper flowers and want to share that with your community, whether through workshops or offering supplies or selling made flowers. The reality, however, is that you most likely can’t keep a store running on that alone.

The good news is that our artform overlaps and runs alongside many other crafts. As Arlene said, “Generally try and make sure you’ve got enough interest in the store, so it’s maybe not just paper flowers, maybe you’ve got complementary things in there.”

Listen to the podcast to hear how Arlene has diversified her store and how she chooses which items will sell instead of just buying things she likes.

Understand the Upfront Costs

Many paper florists are already running online businesses. You might have encountered some surprise costs along the way. With a brick-and-mortar store, there are even more costs, and you have to pay many of them upfront. That means that you need capital and you need a solid plan to start making money as soon as possible.

The first step is to fully understand what you will have to pay for upfront. Arlene shared so much in the episode that will get you started, and there are many other resources out there for people opening up physical small businesses. Do your homework. Get your finances in order. Know what you’re getting into.

Have Enough Time

Running a physical store is not a side gig. Arlene is the only worker at Arlo Arts, and she has to do it all. As she shared on the podcast, her life circumstances are such that she can dedicate herself full-time to running her shop.

Take a look at your life. Be honest with yourself. Do you really have the bandwidth to get a store up and running? Even if you hire someone to help, the buck still stops with you. And like Arlene said, the time she spends on running her shop isn’t just during the store’s open hours. Be ready to pour lots of time and effort into a new business.

You can hear what Arlene’s typical day at Arlo Arts is like by listening to the episode. You’ll get a good idea of what her time commitments look like.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

Arlene’s journey from paper florist to brick and mortar business owner.
The positives of owning a physical store.
What it takes to run a brick-and-mortar shop.
The biggest challenge Arlene faces running Arlo Arts.
How she runs workshops and rents out her space.

Join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.

BULLET POINTS OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Arlene’s journey from paper florist to brick and mortar business owner.
The positives of owning a physical store.
What it takes to run a brick-and-mortar shop.
The biggest challenge Arlene faces running Arlo Arts.
How she runs workshops and rents out her space.

Have you ever dreamed of owning a brick and mortar shop?

Be Prepared to Diversify

Listen to the podcast to hear how Arlene has diversified her store and how she chooses which items will sell instead of just buying things she likes.

Understand the Upfront Costs

Have Enough Time

You can hear what Arlene’s typical day at Arlo Arts is like by listening to the episode. You’ll get a good idea of what her time commitments look like.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

Arlene’s journey from paper florist to brick and mortar business owner.
The positives of owning a physical store.
What it takes to run a brick-and-mortar shop.
The biggest challenge Arlene faces running Arlo Arts.
How she runs workshops and rents out her space.

Join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.

BULLET POINTS OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Arlene’s journey from paper florist to brick and mortar business owner.
The positives of owning a physical store.
What it takes to run a brick-and-mortar shop.
The biggest challenge Arlene faces running Arlo Arts.
How she runs workshops and rents out her space.

Previous Episode

Episode 110 - Running a Brick and Mortar Shop with Arlene Rust

Arlene Rust shares her journey from paper florist to running a brick and mortar shop, plus the benefits and challenges of owning a physical store.

Have you ever dreamed of owning a brick and mortar shop?

Be Prepared to Diversify

Listen to the podcast to hear how Arlene has diversified her store and how she chooses which items will sell instead of just buying things she likes.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:
► Arlene’s journey from paper florist to brick and mortar business owner.
► The positives of owning a physical store.
► What it takes to run a brick and mortar shop.
► The biggest challenge Arlene faces running Arlo Arts.
► How she runs workshops and rents out her space.

Understand the Upfront Costs

Many paper florists are already running online businesses. You might have encountered some surprise costs along the way. With a brick and mortar store, there are even more costs, and you have to pay many of them upfront. That means that you need capital and you need a solid plan to start making money as soon as possible.

Have Enough Time

“One of the things great about brick and mortar premises, people can come in, they can see the flowers, they can discuss custom orders, and it’s almost like you get a bit of added credibility by having a shop. But also people are inspired by what they see. So they see things and go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize you could do that.’ I think I get a lot more orders because of that.”

You can hear what Arlene’s typical day at Arlo Arts is like by listening to the episode. You’ll get a good idea of what her time commitments look like.

Join our weekly meeting on Clubhouse on Thursdays at 7pm PST/10pm EST, and join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.

Next Episode

Episode 111 - Over Coffee: How to Run Promotions like Black Friday Sales

Learn how to time a sale, what to offer at a special rate, why newsletter lists are so powerful, and how to promote a sale like Black Friday or other holiday promotions.

With a slew of holidays around the corner, we’ve got sales on our minds.

People are primed to shop right now. As creative small business owners, days like Black Friday are a fantastic opportunity to promote your products and get a boost in profits before the end of the year.

That said, special sales take planning. In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we discussed the ins and outs of running a Black Friday Sale or any other promotion. You have to think about timing, be careful not to devalue your art, market your sale successfully, and deal with the current delays in obtaining supplies and shipping items.

There’s a lot to cover on this topic, and you can hear all the details about running a successful sales campaign on the episode. Part of our conversation centered around how powerful email newsletters can be compared to social media posts. Here’s a little peek at what you can learn from the podcast with three things you can do to improve your sales emails.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:
► How to time holiday sales to best reach your audience.
► Which products are better suited for special discounts.
► What it takes to market a successful sale.
► How to create graphics to promote holiday sales.
►Why you should cultivate and utilize your newsletter subscribers.

Plan Ahead for Marketing Emails

Some people aren’t great at checking their emails every day, especially the email or folder that receives marketing emails from businesses. You shouldn’t be emailing your newsletter list just once about your sale, the night before it happens. Tease it for a bit. Build some excitement. Get it on people’s radars. That means you need to make a plan early on.

“You’ll be surprised at who reads your newsletters because people don’t reply, you don’t know. You’ll be surprised at who does and who cares. Don’t forget about them.” - Jessie

With holidays like Black Friday, people are also slammed with a ton of messages promoting sales. If one of your fans signed up for your newsletter, they want to hear from you, but you also have to help them see your sale in a sea of emails. As we discussed in the episode, there are ways to stand out from the crowd. Your sale can happen earlier than most for that holiday. It’s not uncommon for Black Friday Sales to happen at the beginning of November now.

Whether you choose to start your sale early or stick to a more traditional approach, you need to plan ahead to get emails out on time. Listen to the podcast to hear more about how we time these messages before a sale.

Understand Your Target Audience

Sometimes it’s difficult to know who is reading the emails you send out. Many email services offer insights into how many emails are opened or how many people click on links from your emails, but it can still be difficult to gauge which demographics are interacting more with your messages.

One way to understand who is engaging more is to add something at the end of your email that asks people to reply. Maybe you ask a question or offer to give advice on something you brought up in that message. As Jessie said, “You’ll be surprised at who reads your newsletters because people don’t reply, you don’t know. You’ll be surprised at who does and who cares. Don’t forget about them.”

If you can get a better idea of who is actually reading your emails, you can better tailor your sales for those customers. It’s no use to have a promotion on items that customers aren’t interested in!

Edit Your Emails

You should be double-checking all of your copy that goes out to customers, but we know that it’s sometimes difficult to get things out on a tight schedule. If you want to engage people who are on your newsletter list, though, putting in the time to produce a well-thought out email can make a huge difference in getting potential customers to consistently read your emails and click through to make a purchase when you have something like a special sale.

“Find a really wonderful, quiet, happy moment in your day and write [your newsletter]. Don’t do it when you’re distracted or busy, it’s going to make a not very good newsletter. And also let it sit and then look at it the next day. Reread it...and polish it up.” - Quynh

Here’s what Quynh recommended on the podcast: “Find a really wonderful, quiet, happy moment in your day and write [your newsletter]. Don’t do it when you’re distracted or busy, it’s going to make a not very good newsletter. And also let it sit and then look at it the next day. Reread it...and polish it up.”

Give yourself en...