Building the Boutique

Q: I want to open a boutique that carries all kinds of jeans. It’s really hard trying to get a hold of vendor (seven, tr, etc) NO one has called me back or emailed me. Can you please help me out with any tips. When I go to these trade shows are those vendors there?

A: First off, that sounds like an awesome idea for a boutique. Really, really awesome. Secondly (and more importantly), who have you been contacting, exactly? Are you contacting corporate or some name you found on their official website? You have to make sure you’re contacting their showroom/sales rep. Check the LA Fashion District Lines directory to make sure you’re calling the right place (if you’re on the east coast, just give them a call and ask who reps the line over there). If youre not getting through via email, keep calling and calling. Eventually, someone at the showroom HAS to answer. And of course, whether you’re talking on the phone or via email make sure you sound professional, like you know what you’re doing, and use the right lingo.

From my experience, those lines don’t show at trade shows (probably because theyre so big that they’re closed for distribution in a lot of areas and don’t really need to bring in new buyers, I’m guessing). I rarely see any denim lines, actually, except a couple no one has heard of. And Ive never seen True Religion or Seven or Citizens at D&A or Brighte or any of the shows here in LA, but I’m guessing they do show at MAGIC. If you can’t make it to MAGIC you’ll need to go straight to their showroom, and usually during market week it’s deemed “okay” to do so.

Funny story though, the last time I was at market week we pass the showroom for either Seven jeans (Im pretty sure it was them, if not True Religion), and I’ll admit it was pretty daunting. They had a receptionist that you had to pass through before you could enter into the actual showroom, which is something Ive never seen before!

Okay, maybe that’s not helpful, but the point is you always have to try, try, try. If you get a no, ask why and then make changes. I’ve gotten a number of lines that were “closed for online distribution” because I fought for them a little bit. And one of the reasons why Im revamping my website is to open a few doors that were closed for me early on. So best of luck to you, and wish me good luck as well!

More questions? Follow up questions? Hit me up in the comments section of this post, via email or anonymously via formspring!

Hey guys, I’m behind on the form spring questions by about a week. Sorry about that. On top of everything I’ve been trying to do recently, I’ve been sick since last Thursday and I haven’t been to work since then (except to mail out a couple of things). I don’t even know what I would be doing right now if I weren’t in a salon and if I were the only employee at my shop! Anyways, I’ll start catching up tonight. If you have a question or just want to read the answers, check it out here.

Oh boy, It’s been FAR too long since I’ve blogged. Things have been going smoothly, and everything has been at a pretty normal pace so there hasn’t been a lot for me to discuss. The boutique passed it’s one year anniversary in May, and back when this started back in 2008 I didn’t expect to be opening a brick and mortar shop the following year.

Oops…did I just let that slip? looks like the cat is out of the bag! Sort of. I’m leasing space for Ooh La Luxe! within a local salon; the lease contract is in hand and should be signed within the next couple of days. And we WANT to get this open by November, so things are moving pretty quickly.

You know how they always say, in business, and the fashion business especially, that it’s all about networking and selling yourself? Very true. To be honest I’m not the best at doing that, partly because I’m in a very small town and it’s not easy to network with others. So, as usual in my life, I turned to the internet. I was hanging around craigslist looking for jobs listings and I clicked the salon/spa gigs categories, where all the salons list their booths for rent. I figured, there’s nothing to lose (completely ignoring the “do not solicit” warnings) and email all the recent listings telling them about myself, what I do and asking if they were interested in some type of boutique partnership. I didn’t expect to hear anything back but about 4 days later there was a message on my voicemail from a salon saying they were interested in meeting me. And the rest (will hopefully be) was history.

The salon is VERY high end and full service, well decorated and the area has a bit of money. They even have six tanning rooms I can use as dressing rooms, with full length mirrors and hooks and everything. It seems pretty perfect.

So, needless to say, I’m quite exciting. Right now I’m sourcing supplies like bags and tissue paper and trying to get samples from different companies, getting price checks on hangers in bulk, and looking ahead to the spring, since the spring market will be here in just a couple of weeks. It’s very exciting because this opens up the possibility for me to carry SO many different types of merchandise like denim, swimsuits, flip flops, lingerie, more jewelry and some lesser known brands.

Can’t wait and I hope everything works out.

I’m really excited to kick off this month with a brand new product, The Boyfriend Scarf by Love Quotes Scarves. These scarves are cut narrower than regular Love Quotes scarves and they have shorter fringe (which they call “eyelash” fringe). And in addition to the new design, Love Quotes is rolling out a ton of new colors for Spring/Summer. This includes:

And of course there’s also Meditation (black) which is a must have. My favorite this season is definitely Azalea, followed closely by Mykonos. Love Quotes scarves have done extremely well for us and it’s awesome to see them do something different. I’m also hearing rumors that they might be coming out with METALLIC scarves this Fall. Ooooh boy, if that’s true I better get ready to stock up!

Check out the Love Quotes Boyfriend Scarves.