There's lots of things you may not know, but I can help you fill the gaps so you are ready to:
- negotiate with your landlord;
- design your fitout, and
- find a great builder. I’ve been working in retail for over 20 years now and I have opened literally hundreds of shops – from 10 square-metre coffee kiosks to 1500 square-metre boutique grocers, nationally franchised gym chains to an award-winnin
g Chef’s Hat restaurant. I’ve also brought to life some not-quite-retail spaces like a childcare centre, a call centre, a couple of art galleries and a theatre. I’ve worked on projects that cost as little as $20,000 right up to $7.5 million fitouts. I’ve worked to set up shops everywhere from huge shopping centres to boutique stores in heritage buildings on old street corners. Throughout my career, I’ve seen pretty much everything that you can see in the world of retail design and fitout. As I helped retailers get through the design and build process to open their shops, I realised one of the critical differences between big retailers and smaller “mum and dad” operators was that the big guys have a lot of resources at their fingertips that the smaller guys don’t have easy access to - like leasing managers, property managers, and project managers plus property criteria, design guidelines and big budgets. Plus, the big retailers have people like me on staff with years of experience from having opened shops all over the country. And there’s a huge advantage in having access to the knowhow of someone like me. So, Setting Up Your Shop is me giving you, the smaller retailer, access to my decades of experience and fitout knowhow. Check out the website www.settingupyourshop.com.au
