Thinking of opening a shop in 2025?
We’re in the lucky position of speaking to independent retailers (and retail experts) on a regular basis.In no particular order, here are 12 things we’ve learned about opening your own shop:
- Margins are everything
- Don’t skimp on space
- Invest in the right POS system from day one
- Start before you open
- Really understand your location
- Plan to update your shop window once a month
- Soft launch first when possible
- Consider a Kickstarter
- Be confident that life as a shopkeeper is for you
- Experience really is everything
- Buy enough stock for your launch
- Other indies are your friends, not your competitors
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1. Margins are everything
We can’t stress this enough: margins matter. Whether they’re selling their own products or reselling products from other brands, retailers and brand owners always tell us they underestimated the margins they’d need when starting out.
While there are no hard and fast rules here, we’d recommend independent retailers aim for a 50% margin when shopping for wholesale products (or making their own products). This doesn’t have to be consistent across your full product range, but is what you should aim for as an average.
📚Bookmark for later: What’s a good profit margin for a product?
2. Don’t skimp on space
When you’re opening a shop for the first time, keeping costs down is naturally going to be a key focus. But don’t make the mistake of signing for a shop that’s too small for what you actually need, or doesn’t give you the room you need to grow (or store the stock/props that will inevitably accumulate!).
3. Invest in the right POS system from day one
Another point that comes up often is the importance of getting the right POS system from day one.
We know — your retail dreams didn’t include trawling through POS reviews to find the right model for your job, and you have our full sympathy there. But unfortunately, this is a pretty crucial step!
Specifically, you’ll want to look out for a POS system that syncs up well with your online store, and keeps you updated on your actual inventory levels.
4. Start before you open
Even with all the best planning in the world, opening a shop is an act of faith — and of hope. But that doesn’t mean leaving any early success down to chance. Months, or even years, before opening a retail space, think about how you can build a foundational audience for your shop.
This might mean launching an online store first, or it might mean building a community that aligns with your future shop.
5. Really understand your location
The general consensus is that it’s worth paying more to have a shop that receives natural footfall; your marketing will have to work ten times harder if not.
But repeat after us: not all footfall is equal. It’s easy to spend a premium on a shop in a ‘busy’ area only to realise that it only gets footfall during commuting time (when your shop might well be closed), or that those walking past just aren’t your target customers.
“Relevant traffic for shopping is very different to footfall in general, so don’t jump into a lease just because the high street looks busy" advises our co-founder (and former shop owner), Fahad Khan. “Try to get your lease on a short-term basis before committing longer than 3 months”.
📚 Bookmark for later: How to lease a shop: understanding commercial listings
6. Plan to update your shop window once a month
We’re sprinkling in this little fact because we think it’s a useful really one! Lots of guides out there will tell you that you need to update your shop window regularly, but few will suggest a timeframe for this. So we checked in with Sarah, a visual merchandising pro, who suggested independent shops aim for a revamp once a month.
We’ve published plenty of great window display examples right here on the CREOATE blog, so do pop over next time you need a bit of inspiration.
Colourful Luna & Curious in Shoreditch, London
7. Soft launch first when possible
And Fahad’s closing advice brings us nicely on to our next point: could you ‘soft launch’ your shop first to test the waters?
Whether it’s a pop-up, an ecommerce store or a market stall, a trial run gives you the opportunity to take a ‘temperature check’ on your business idea, and refine it as needed.
📚 Bookmark for later: How to set up a pop-up shop
8. Consider a kickstarter
Kickstarters can be an amazing way to raise business funds, get early feedback on your store concept, and also — crucially — to lock in early customers with an exciting selection of pledge rewards. This isn’t a hugely typical route for retailers, but there’s no reason it can’t be a successful one with a bit of creativity and a lot of campaigning.
And when we say a lot of campaigning, we mean it. Don’t go take the Kickstarter route thinking it’ll be an easy way to fund your business. It won’t be, but it could certainly be a more rewarding and useful one.
9. Be confident that life as a shopkeeper is for you
It’s easy to romanticise the idea of running a shop, but it’s important to be realistic with yourself about how the day-to-day and year-to-year of life as a shop owner will look: boring, stressful, exhilarating, rewarding, exhausting and quiet, all at once. All in no particular order.
For every bustling sunny Saturday there’ll be a rainy Monday when you hardly see a soul. And you’ll need to be there either way, almost every day.
Running a business is never for the faint of heart, and running a shop is even less so — even when it’s going well. But it can also be incredibly rewarding, transformative, and enjoyable. Prepare yourself for all eventualities, and be sure you actually want the life you honestly see before you.
“However hard you think you’ll work, it’ll be harder”, Harriet of Harriet & Rose told us. ‘I have been in the shop six days a week since I opened. It’s my name above the door, and whilst I get it all running smoothly, I need to be here all the time. There is no work-life balance, it’s all work!"
10. Experience really is everything
We hear a lot about how experience is everything in brick and mortar retail, and a competitive advantage over ecommerce. But without real world indie examples, we find this can be a bit of a vague and unhelpful concept.
So we put the question to Sarah Manning, a visual merchandising consultant: we’re used to seeing flashy displays and ‘concept stores’ from bigger brands, but how can independent retailers get there too?
“From an independent retailer’s point of view, talking more about who they are, their ethos, where their products come from, and the importance of supporting them, all helps build a unique experience. Talk about that in your window, talk about it online, talk about it in store… it’s all about product stories and product ethos”, she told us.
So don’t get overwhelmed by the idea of ‘experience’. A great starting point is just to come up with a one-liner about what your shop is, and who it’s for. This will naturally help you align with products that fit your vibe and ethos, and the rest can follow.
📚 Bookmark for later: How to curate an assortment for the first time
11. Buy enough stock for your launch
If you haven’t run a shop before, the actual volume of stock that you need to launch might come as a surprise — it did for former store owner Rachel when she opened hers:
“Obviously you have to buy so much stuff — like you can't have a shelf with one candle on it, you have to have a collection of at least five candles or you know a collection of books rather than one book. So I definitely hadn't really considered that and I hadn't considered the upfront cost of all of that because you can't start with an empty physical shop”, she explained.
“Online is very different. You can have things running low, but a physical shop needs to look good and needs to be full and abundant and people need to come in and feel like wanting to buy. So that was definitely a learning curve.”
Look out for wholesale options with net terms and a returns option to reduce the risk of ‘dead’ stock, and ease the cash flow pressure in such an expensive period of time. You might also want to consider taking items from local artists and makers on consignment, so you only pay if the products get sold.
📚 Bookmark for later: How to buy wholesale for resale: where to source great stock
12. Other indies are your friends, not your competitors
We firmly believe that independent businesses are stronger together than apart — and that’s invariably what you tell us, too. Whether you’re collaborating for events or cheerleading each other on social media, don’t underestimate the value of connecting with businesses local to you — both from a business perspective, and a personal one.
mlkwood store went one step beyond collaboration, successfully merging with next door business Three Ridings Coffee to bring both businesses under one roof
Ready to take the next step?
We’ve covered every angle of opening a shop here on the CREOATE blog; from the practical to the aesthetics, and everything in between.
Find out how much it costs to open a shop in the UK, get to grips with the fundamentals of visual merchandising, or read the stories of other independent retailers.
We’re here with you (and cheering you on) every step of the way.
