Amanda Behrbom is the owner of Blend Fashions and is going to share with us what happens behind the scenes when you own a clothing store.
Behind the Scenes at Blend Fashions
If someone would have asked me ten years ago what I would be doing in 2009, owning a clothing store would not have been my answer. I have always loved design, and of course clothes, but never dreamed of being involved in clothing design and owning my own store.
Coming up with Blend Fashions has been a lot of fun but also a ton of work! Most of you may not know this, but we also own The Mod Bod and Undertease. Blend Fashions is a sister company and as a whole we are a strong thriving business. It was only natural when we partnered with Mod Bod and Undertease to open a clothing store in which both brands play a prominent role. I was put in charge of the store and we had to open it quickly. We remodeled our 30-year-old building in about five weeks and were open a week after that. We opened our doors only a month and a half after we decided to open the store!
So what happens when you want to open a clothing store and you have no idea how to do it or where to find the clothes? You grab a good friend and jump on a plane to LA--and that’s what I did. It was a ton of fun but we only had one day and so much to do! When we went to LA we had to choose things we could get in less than a week so that was a bit tough, but we did it! For our initial opening we had a friends and family night. We knew we would have kinks (and, boy, did we!) but we knew our family and friends would understand (thank you!). Our credit card machine and our POS system weren't working so we did everything by hand. It was a stressful night but a great one as well!
We officially opened the store in November, 2008 and have been open for six months...and it has taken six months to start getting the swing of things. We only recently figured out our POS system--and now that I've said that I'm sure we'll have a problem with it tomorrow! I have to admit it was very risky to open a clothing store while we're in the middle of a recession but things have been really great! A big thank-you to all our wonderful customers!
What do I do during a typical week? I am always placing orders to ensure I have enough new clothes arriving constantly so our customers are happy. Plus, and this has been tough for me, I have to always think about six months ahead. Now that we are finally getting some nice, warm weather I am already shopping for our fall and winter clothes. But I have to say we are getting some really cute stuff for fall! I am so excited!!! We have a great store manager who helps me out a ton. If I didn’t have her I would never see my three kids and my husband!
Besides the ordering side of things we also have the Blend Fashions website. The site takes a lot of work, and I have to admit I am not doing the best job getting new things posted. You will definitely find a much better selection in our store. One other aspect of the business I need to stay on top of is our advertising. Deciding how, what, when and where to advertise is extremely important for our business.
In a very small nutshell, that’s what happens behind the scenes at Blend Fashions!
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