When to make the jump to a storefront

sewladyshelper

Greetings all;
 
I`ve been lurking on and off here for about a year now as a direct result of reading Startup Nation. 
 
My wife and I run an all-in-one sewing/embroidery business from our home.  The majority of our business is word of mouth with some minor marketing as of late to help "boost" business.  My wife will be losing her day job soon as her company has been sold and it`s my feeling that we would get more exposure to the business if we had a storefront.  I`ve mentioned this to her on several occasions over the past couple of years and it`s a bone of contention between us.
 
Last week I received word from a colleague in the business that a storefront may be available soon as the current owner is retiring and moving away.  I haven`t pursued it yet as my wife is still somewhat obstinate about making the leap, citing her usual arguments of overhead, working hours, lack of vacation time, etc.....    Of course my counters are: exposure, walk-in traffic, drive-by traffic (the storefront is located in a specialty type strip mall across the street from a major chain grocery store), established customer base from the previous owner, the constant parade of customers through our home, etc.....
 
My question is:  When, if ever, should you make the jump away from home to a store?  How would you know?  Is it gut? Or something else?  Admittedly, I am somewhat of a business novice so knowing when to make the leap is virgin territory for my wife and I.
I wasn`t sure which forum to ask this in.  This was my best guess.
 
Thanks,
Mark

studiocherie

Mark,
I think everyone here has valid points.  What if you took a few months to set aside your potential lease payments out of your current embroidery biz earnings, and see if you like the bottom line?
 
I use local embroiderers and the way I found them was in the yellow pages, not by stumbling upon their storefront.  The ones that I use who do have storefronts also have inventories of apparel and other things for people to purchase.  If you want to do custom work and not handle the expense of inventory, I think it was a great suggestion to stay where you are and spend money on marketing.  If you can afford to pay a lease, maybe you could afford to hire a salesperson instead, someone to proactively get more business rather than hope more comes in the door.
 
Hope that helps.

Jeannie

Mark,
 
Everyone above has given great advice and I agree with all of them. I believe continuing to operate from your home and concentrate more on marketing would be best, especially in todays economy.
 
Just my thoughts.
 
Jeannie