Though Leila Blumberg and Heather Savoy had originally penciled in a mid-January opening for their lingerie shop, Privé, by early November they had decided to push it up to an ambitious pre-Christmas date.
After all, renovations to their 1,350-square-foot Towne Center storefront were well under way, and the 5,000 or so pieces of merchandise they’d ordered after the fall market in Dallas were starting to come in. If all went as planned, they’d make it in time for the final 10 days of the holiday shopping season.
Or so they thought.
“We were getting all our stuff and people were starting to ask about us and we felt like we were really generating a buzz,” Blumberg recalls. “We thought December 15th was doable.”
And for a while, it seemed to be. The partners had done all the research, planning and preparation. They had a cracker jack retail consultant who’d made their purchasing and planning decisions a lot easier by putting them on a detailed budget. They’d ordered a variety of merchandise and even managed to sweet talk some of the most exclusive vendors in the industry to sell to them.
They had an ideal storefront, too, in a desirable location with a well-connected architect and interior designer helping them remodel the space. New Orleans-based retail consultant Steve Fingerman had given them a budget for that, too, so they knew how much to spend on the velvet wall covering, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and handmade cabinetry.
But as anyone who’s had anything to do with a contractor in the past three years will tell you, even the smallest of remodeling jobs takes longer than planned these days. Privé was no exception—especially during the holiday season.
“I didn’t think this was major construction because we were not tearing down or building walls so I thought, ‘No big deal,’” Blumberg says. “But there was more to it than that.”
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Construction on the cabinets was the biggest delay. Blumberg and Savoy hired a carpenter to build cabinets as well as boxes they set up around the mirrors in their showroom. There were also renovations to be made to the dressing room, carpet to put down and changes to the lighting.
By Thanksgiving week, they realized mid-December wasn’t going to happen, so they pushed back their opening to mid-January. That gave them a little time to breathe, but there was still much work to be done.
First, they had to hire employees. Though they weren’t sure where to start, it turned out to be relatively easy.
“We both know a lot of people and we would be out and about and just bump into friends who said they were interested in coming in and helping,” Blumberg says.
They decide to hire two part-time employees and one full-time. They also decided that Blumberg would run the store full-time, while Savoy would divide her time between the shop, her family and a part time job in real estate.
Next, Blumberg and Savoy had to think about advertising. They were fortunate to have connections in the business. Blumberg knew a lot about it, having worked as an account executive for a publishing company, and Savoy had a cousin who designed their logo and marketing materials.
In December, they bought ad space in two local magazines, 225 and InRegister, that they thought would reach a broad cross section of the female market they were targeting. They also got a good viral marketing campaign going, using their many professional, social and volunteer connections to spread the word that Privé was coming soon.
“We’re both very involved in the community and everyone knew we were working on it, so we just got a lot of buzz going,” Blumberg says. “It was very exciting.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge the partners faced was in setting up the store and displaying the merchandise. They already knew how they wanted to do it, having studied it on the Internet and visited countless shops and boutiques here and in other markets. But actually doing it took a bit longer than they’d anticipated.
Then they needed to move all the merchandise into the store and set it up. It had been coming in for weeks, and Blumberg had been tagging it at her home and entering it into the computer. Friends would come over to help for late-night tagging sessions. Once the merchandise had been moved to the store, they came to help her set it up.
“We were here a couple of late nights,” Blumberg says.
Finally, it was time for Opening Day. The night before, Privé had a soft opening for a group of businesswomen with which Blumberg and Savoy are affiliated. Though the shop wasn’t completely ready that night, it gave the partners a good feel for what to expect, and they were well-received.
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