Here are a few of the most commonly asked questions I receive, and exactly what posts to find the complete answers in.  This should make navigating this website and old posts easier!

Q: Where do you buy your stock from when you are setting up a boutique?

You buy the merchandise from show rooms, through a sales rep. West Coast (Los Angeles) its the California Mart, New Mart, Gerry Building, Cooper Building. There is also MAGIC in Los Vegas, and there are show rooms in Atlanta, Chicago, and of course NY.

More about that in this post http://oohlaluxe.net/index.php/35/how-to-get-the-clothes-step-by-step/

Q: How much does it cost to start a boutique?
There are so many factors that it’s tough to say. If it’s brick and mortar, generally I hear 75k-100k for everything. If you’re talking online, I got mine up and running for about 10k but this isn’t the norm; I bought less merchandise, I only bought for one season and I did a lot of work myself (designing and coding the store, etc). Based on my experience I would recommend having 20-25k for an online store, perhaps more.

More here http://oohlaluxe.net/index.php/17/how-much-does-it-cost/

Q: How hard or easy is it to get lines for a new store?

The bigger and more prestigious the brand is the harder it will probably be to get.  The same can often be said for picky indie designers. For instance, if you want to carry D&G or Versace or something, their minimums are usually extremely high per season, they’re very picky about new boutiques and they might require that you travel abroad to purchase.  And also its going to be harder to get brands that are saturated online; like Sky, Rock & Republic, Seven Jeans, etc; usually they wont sell to any new boutiques online because others are already carrying it.  This same rule goes for brick and mortar stores, if the label is being carried in the area of the boutique.  But most of the smaller, popular brands are good to work with.