Thinking creatively and looking for new income streams are great ways for designers to weather down times, whether work is slow, the economy could be better or for any other reason. One idea that seems like a natural fit for many designers is opening a retail wing, selling furnishings and decor to folks who might or might not be interested in design services. Here, Northern California designer Leyla Jaworski — who founded the boutique firm Design Shop Interiors in 2013 and a furnishings and home goods store called The Shop in 2019 — shares what she’s learned from adding a retail store to her existing interior design business.

Hidden Advantage

Aside from the obvious benefit of (hopefully) bringing in extra money, having a retail store “gives you street cred and more visibility,” Jaworski says. “We’ve all seen the slowdown in design projects and everything this year, but I think for the people who are looking for a designer, are they going to see me first? Do I have more visibility than five other designers who I think are really good, but they don’t spend any money on Google [and] they don’t have a physical presence? I definitely think it gives you an advantage in that respect.”

Risk Factor

“Money is the No. 1 risk,” Jaworski says. If you invest in a retail arm without fully knowing what you’re doing — accounting for all the hidden costs, having the right connections already in place, knowing what will actually sell — you could lose a substantial amount of money. “If you’re somebody who just decides to open a store and you know nothing about freight and delivery and have no connections, you’re going to be in trouble,” Jaworski says. 

7 Best Practices for Doing Retail

1. Start small — and maybe stay that way.

Opening a small space and investing a small amount will allow you to learn what you need to learn with less risk. Jaworski started with a 2,000-square-foot self-funded store and quickly learned about hidden costs and the effort involved. And still, when she moved to a 7,600-square-foot space, “I just completely underestimated how much inventory would cost, how much the build-out would cost,” she says. She ended up having to take out a substantial loan to cover those costs. Luckily things worked out, and now she’s in a 20,000-square-foot space, but growth doesn’t have to be a given. “If you’re happy in that smaller space, that’s certainly less stressful,” she says.

2. Consider sticking to brick and mortar.

Setting up shop online might seem easier at first than renting out a physical space, but the added hassles — tech requirements, storing items, shipping products quickly, processing returns and so on — might not be worth it. “We will never do e-commerce,” Jaworski says. “E-comm is a beast. Everybody wants to return everything.”

3. Be aware of all possible costs.

“When people think about opening a store, there’s a lot of hidden costs that they just don’t anticipate or have any idea about. Warehousing and delivery is a huge one of those,” Jaworski says. For instance, many ordered products come on pallets. “If you don’t have a dock, if you don’t have a forklift, you get extra fees,” she says. Many people don’t realize how expensive insurance and utilities can be either. Do your homework to learn about all possible costs in every area ahead of time.

4. Be savvy about what you stock.

While as a designer you might be drawn to gorgeous high-end pieces, as a retailer you have to know what your customers will shell out hard-earned money for. “There might be a very, very small percentage of people who are willing to pay a lot of money for a custom-made table that’s by a local maker,” Jaworski says. She figured this out the hard way. When she opened her first retail shop, “we put it all in the fabrics that we use for our design clients, which are the upper-end fabrics. We’ve been slowly selling it basically at cost just to get it out the door.” On the other hand, she also stocks multiples of items that are or expected to be popular.

5. Include unique pieces.

While products with wide appeal might be your bread and butter, including some unique products will help you stand out and will be a draw. “I work really hard to have things in here that you’re not going to find anywhere else,” Jaworski says. “We have people who come from three and four hours away to shop at our store, because they won’t find it anywhere else.”

6. Charge for delivery.

While clients of course find free delivery attractive, charging for deliveries has a twofold benefit. The first one is obvious: You won’t be eating the cost yourself. The second might not be so obvious: “Once we started charging for delivery,” Jaworski says, “people wanted to pick up their stuff. For a big percentage of our sales now, people are just picking their own stuff up.” Much less hassle for you, and if anything gets damaged when a customer brings it home on their own, you’re not responsible.

7. Vet your vendors.

Be as sure as possible that your vendor is trustworthy and has a stable business, particularly when you’re sourcing from overseas, as you may have little recourse if things go awry. “I have a really great vendor,” Jaworksi says. “He imports reclaimed and a lot of antique pieces from China. I go to him and sometimes I pre-order; sometimes I just show up to him with a truck when he gets a container and I buy stuff.”