Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

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Smiffy
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Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

Post by Smiffy »

Hi!

We currently run our business from an industrial unit, which is separated into a workshop and gallery area.

We are toying with moving to a shop on a high street, but the unit we are looking at isn't big enough to accommodate a workshop. There is a workshop nearby which is suitable, and at a good price too.

I just wondered if anyone else operates a business out of a shop with a separate workshop? And if so, how do you find it?
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prospero
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Re: Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

Post by prospero »

Good question.

There is the matter of having to man two locations. The shop unit will have to be open all day and that means someone being there. They might sit there all day and never get a customer. So while the shop is fulfilling the purpose of a high street presence it would be an expensive one.

Also, the person taking the framing orders in the shop wouldn't necessarily be the one framing it, so there is a disconnection with the customer. Not a serious drawback in some cases but it could be in others.

Could be a good thing though. I'd say go for it if you can get a short lease, say 6 months, just to test the water.

I have a retail area about 20ft sq with two nice display windows. Lately the workshop has been overflowing into the front area to the extent that some days I shut the front door and leave a note telling people to come round to the side door. Seems daft, but I find the space is more valuable as workshop than retail area. I often have half-finished work lying about and frames all over the floor drying, so I can't really permit hordes of folks in at once - especially with kids. One or two at a time and I can supervise them and ask them to watch where they put their feet. :lol: Rather than losing sales it actually works out very well. Any serious customer will make the effort to walk around the corner and any tyrekickers can gawp though the window and not waste my time. The point is, a high street shop is essential for a lot of businesses but not for all. It's going to incur high costs so it has to pay for itself on a daily basis. There is also the fact that an industrial unit may be more easily accessible to people and car parking is most likely to be less of a hassle. Once people are aware of you.
Depending on the stuff you sell it might be an idea to look for anyone who has a high street shop who doesn't really use the window. Or someone with underused space where you can set up a display with contact details. You could have a number of these sites. Come to some arrangement over £££s. But it could be mutually beneficial.

Just a tought
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A Few More Words
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Re: Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

Post by A Few More Words »

Interesting topic !!... Having two locations may well work for some, but Prospero's points are very valid. By this stage, we have operated all three formats , so we understand the pros and cons to be as follows;

1> In town, retail and workshop combined.

This will work best if the framing business extends into some other combined retail activity...eg gifts / photo printing etc , as then the higher footfall can be capitalised upon. You can get good utelization of labour resources, getting framing done during quieter retail times. With more tyre kickers and ice cream lickers, sale conversions may be lower.
Although rent and rates may be higher, the necessary marketing spend may be lower. Workshop space and storage will generally be tight which can be limiting for a production process.. In town, access can sometimes be difficult and deliveries can be a pain......Thinking here of carrying end caps of glass a few sheets at a time through a shop etc.
Need also to consider what customer parking situation is.

2> Retail shop in town / Workshop in Warehouse on edge of town.

Combined rent & rates may not differ hugely from 1> above.
Complexity of 2 sets of utility /services....electricity / phone / heating in winter / alarm monitoring etc
Biggest drawback here is as Prospero points out......having right/ enough people in right place at right time !.....and the side effect of this is that you end up working many more long days...heading to the workshop for a long evening / night after a full (possibly quiet sales wise ) day in the shop in town. Another issue here is being able to have competent people in both places....no point in just having a warm body in the shop, while “the framer” works in workshop , as much better quality sales / upselling will be made by a sales person with a full understanding of framing techniques and possibilities.....This indeed is the biggest challenge in scenario of a single workshop with a number of 3rd party satellite / concession sales arrangements within someone's retail space. Some “rushed” jobs will be missed as you will not have the same resources immediately at hand to complete these jobs quickly.

A big issue we had here was moving artwork / completed work between both premises. As we did not want to leave artwork in a van over night, we ended up doing 1 / 2 round trips every day...and having to put a check in / out system in place for these movements was also a pain. This used up at least 1 man hour per day...which really added to the actual cost (and opportunity cost)

However, each element of shop and workshop may work well in their own right, as shop has good exposure / footfall while workshop has space / headroom /easy access for truck access / pallet delivery etc. And most importantly the time spent in the workshop can be very efficient as there should be no interruptions. The workshop can be located anywhere, well out of the way...lowest cost/ft possible as customers will not be visiting.

In this scenario, ideally the retail shop should be in a prime location....in the centre of activity / shopping centre etc...sacrafice size for a smaller better location.....as that shop window display must be your best sales tool, requiring very low additional marketing / advertising spend. Better this than having a secondary back street retail location , which will not get footfall and will require more advertising etc. Storage of completed pieces for collection can become crowded. It is simply very difficult to be focused when you are drawn between two places !
Again , customer parking needs to be considered......is it near... is it free / paid etc.....as every customer will be dropping off / picking up something.


3> All in one...out of town

We view this as the most suitable scenario for a picture framing business that does not extend into other retail areas....because , as such, picture framing is a customer destination location. By its nature, space will be greater, so you can possibly set up an ideal workshop space with easy delivery / pallet access, as well as a decent display area to showcase your work......picture framing is a very visual business, so for customers to see completed samples of your work can be a great sales tool.

Total rent / rates costs will be lower, labour utelization will be good , customers will be able to drive to your door and have free parking. You may however be prepared to drive marketing initially to get your business known, but once customers get to visit you once , they will be happy to drive to you and appreciate the advantages.
The location of this unit can be also important in its own right.......the better it is located , the better it will be.......eg what are the neighbouring businesses ?? is it a well kept industrial / retail park area or is it run down ? Can it be seen by passing traffic from a busy road etc ? You will have a high customer conversation rate and fewer tyre kickers to contend with.

Hope this is of some help. You may indeed have the best situation already ?
Cheers
Tom
Fine Framers
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Smiffy
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Re: Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

Post by Smiffy »

Some very good points raised in both of those responses.

In a nutshell, I left the army a yr and a half ago, and have had the business set up for just over a year. We've spent plenty of money so far on paper ads (local rag / A5 shopping brochures), leaflet drops, Yell.com (what a crock that is btw!), road signs... Pretty much all you can think of... Yet we are still getting people in who are local saying they didn't know we were there. I know business takes time, and we managed to make a profit in our first year, but I'm not getting much confidence out of the fact that there's still so many people who live local that don't know we exist.

The cost of the shop we have found (which is in a small precinct and has a massive free car pack about 30metres away) and the separate workshop is only £170 more per month than what we pay now, and I reckon we could get that price down some.

If we can work out a good system between myself and the business partner, I'd be struggling to turn the opportunity down.

The other option would be to keep the workshop / gallery we already have, as well as take the shop on, giving us essentially 2 retail locations. That would allow us to continue pretty much as normal, with the addition of a shop mainly for the signed memorabilia side to our business, whilst advertising / taking on what ever framing may come out of it. The down side would be the total cost.

All tricky decisions to be made!
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Re: Separate Workshop to Retail Unit

Post by Kwik Picture Framing »

Its better to have both workshop and shop in one Premises. Saves time running around back and forth with orders, So as you get orders you can make them up at the same time, Also on your quite days you have to go specially just to make 1 or 1 frames
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