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45 days open and going great

Christian Imler, 25/01/07 at 3:18 PM EDT

It's been a good month and a half since we last shared our start-up experience with you. What an amazing journey it has been! Between the opening of ella + elliot, on November 20, and December 31 — despite the lack of marketing — we managed to meet our sales target, especially with smaller items, as we were in prime holiday shopping season! We were pretty excited about that. We didn't mind being open seven days a week. Starting in 2007, we decided to close the store on Mondays, like most retailers in our neighbourhood, to have a little bit of time for ourselves. However, we haven't really seen this "free time" yet as there is a lot of things to do (i.e. pay bills, place orders, accounting, etc.) and we had a lot of work to prepare the "grand" opening we had for ella + elliot on January 18th! The event was filmed for "Opening Soon: By Design," which will air on February 12 on HGTV. Thanks, Clare, for making that event as smooth as possible, and thank you Ashley (our part-time sales associate) for being such a great help that evening! We organized a silent auction, with proceeds going to Roots of Empathy. Giving back to the community is important to us, and we hope to partner with Roots of Empathy over the long run. Our suppliers were generous with product donations for that auction.

There seems to be quite a buzz for ella + elliot out there, as suppliers, friends and customers relate the information back to us. Word of mouth seems to be working!

Preparing such an event, combined with PR, takes a lot of time (I can attest from previous experience), and it was not easy, since I also have to man the store certain days and do a lot of other things. Now that the first 45 days are over and that we were happy with the results, our focus is to continue marketing the store (The Globe and Mail published a nice article on ella + ella this past weekend - thanks, Tralee) and cost containment (angst is creeping in). Welcome to the entrepreneurial world, I guess.

We also have the Interior Design Show coming up next month. We are going to showcase a new line from Europe. However, these products are being tested as we speak for the Canadian market. So, let's hope they will meet Canadian safety standards so we can showcase them...

So, we are very busy, and there is no sign that it's going to slow down. As I was thinking that I hadn't been sick this winter yet, our son got sick last week, then Suzanne got sick, and I got sick last night. That's when you realize that there is no back-up plan: I have to open the store, no matter what. I can't call in sick.

Yummy mummies are lovin' us

Christian Imler, 05/12/06 at 11:10 AM EDT

ella + elliot has been open for almost two weeks now. It's very exhilarating to see our vision come true, after a lot of hard work, and to receive the positive feedback from visitors and customers! Despite the fact that we haven't done any marketing yet, with the exception of this blog, an ad in The Little Paper and e-mail announcements, we've had quite a lot of locals and non-locals through the store. It's interesting to hear how they heard of the store.
 
We've never seen so many Bugaboo strollers in such a short period of time! Many people tell us that the temporary sign in the window caught their attention. Strachan Avenue draws a lot of traffic, and drivers waiting at the traffic light at the corner of Queen Street West noticed ella + elliot. A lot of yummy mommies tell us that they wished such a store existed two years ago when they were shopping for their baby. They tend to know all the online sources, which are primarily in the U.S. For me it's refreshing to hear customers' comments and suggestions first hand after so many years in the corporate world. We've also had the pleasure of meeting some of this blog's readers, and representatives from the media are coming too!
 
Speaking of which, I really have to send these news releases out! We've had some really long days for the last 3 weeks or so. It's become a habit for me to have one very short night per week, and I spend the rest of the week trying to catch up on my sleep! As I mentioned before, I find it challenging to be spread thin nd pulled in so many different directions. Suzanne and I are trying to find a system that works for us. I need to focus on marketing, operations and vendor relations, meanwhile I pulled into pricing, entering inventory in our computer system, sales, demos, cleaning, you name it.
 
We haven't had any serious problem with anything, not even with our Point-of-Sale System, except that one morning it was down for quite a few hours. Fortunately no customer wanted to buy anything during that period.
 
So far most people who have come to the store are checking out what ella + elliot is all about. They haven't made any huge purchases yet. They leave with a few things and ask questions about future purchases such as stroller and cribs. We sold one stroller, though, without having to demo the product.

Until the end of the year, we are open 7 days a week, which is a lot considering we've working at that pace for several weeks now.

Opening Soon: By Design would like us to wrap up our opening ASAP in order for them to broadcast the show in January. Suzanne and I decided to schedule an opening celebration after the holidays so we have more time to prepare it and do it well, and for people to be more readily available.

At last, our grand opening is today

Christian Imler, 20/11/06 at 10:46 AM EDT

ella + elliot will open today Monday November 20, 2006! We finally reached that sought-after date and the space is 99% ready. I'm anxiously waiting for our first transaction to see if our POS works according to plan.

 

Hopefully, we can now turn this page and focus on marketing, sales, and operations! There is still a lot of processes to put into place.

 

It's amazing how many product inquiries we received so far, some customers wanting us to put certain products on hold for them!

 

We look forward to welcoming you at 188 Strachan Avenue in Toronto or via our Web site at http://www.ellaandelliot.com/.

Bear with us! We're opening soon!

Christian Imler, 17/11/06 at 12:36 PM EDT

I apologize to all the followers of the ella + elliot start-up as we have been too busy over the last 10 days to update you on our progress. By the way, a big thank-you for all the e-mail support we've received! It's heart warming in those moments when one may doubt and / or be challenged.

 

Talking about challenge, trying to obtain a final date for the completion of the renovation has been hopeless, as the last items to be completed seem to have taken the longest. Each day it was supposed to be finished, something did not get done. For instance, we waited for almost a week to have a crew come and glue the glass on the counter. Vito, our man on site, has been amazing all this time. He was also getting frustrated as things were not happening as quickly as he would have liked. Vito's last day on the job was Monday. We said goodbye with emotion, as we've got to know each other over the last few months. He's almost part of the family. He even gave us a jar of his home-made peppers... To top it all off, we had a furnace problem, which I may have mentioned in our previous entry, which took a while to get resolved. $1,200 later, the furnace has been working since last Friday. Last week, I was able to assemble quite a few cribs, change tables and dressers with some help. Some of these pieces are extremely heavy, but really beautiful. I was able to admire the pieces in the Netto Collection for the first time. Truly beautiful.

 

This morning, I received a call from the security company informing us that the alarm had gone off three times. I thought to myself as I was rushing to the scene that a break-in was the last thing we needed. Fortunately, it was only a technical problem. The police showed up an hour after the security company called them ...

 

We are also behind schedule with respect to shopping bags printed with the ella + elliot logo. Until we receive our printed shopping, we will use plain white bags. Thanks John for referring us to Progree Packaging!

 

Since Monday, we've been entering our inventory in our computer system with the help of two friends. I've spent 10 to 12 hours in the store each day. Each day, my to-do list does not get done as our priority is to open the store. Each day the store is not open, I think about the rent we pay and the sales we did not make. We hope to put the final touch to the space in terms of merchandising tomorrow, and with a little bit of hard work we may be able to open the store on Saturday! If you are planning on paying a visit to ella + elliot, please call us first at 416-850-7890 to make sure that the store is open.

 

All this is very exciting. At the same time, we can't stop thinking what if ...

 

Our son has not taken very well our absorption in our business, the fact that we are less available to him, which causes extra stress for us.

 

We have received quite a few inquiries from potential customers about products we carry. Hopefully, they will turn into sales. Customers as far as Montreal have contacted us so far! The fact that we had announced that we would open the store on November 09 does not seem to have worked against us so far.

Some good news and some bad news

Christian Imler, 06/11/06 at 10:51 AM EDT

Our opening date is getting closer and closer and ... we realized a few days ago that we won't be ready to open on November 09 as planned. Some products won't be here on time and the contractors have not completely finished their work... A major coup for us this past week is that we have been granted the right to carry the Herman Miller for the Home line!!! Yeah! In the end, we managed to secure the big lines that we wanted to carry. It was a very long process, but persistence and the fact that we are passionate about these products seem to have paid off. Our first order from the Netto Collection was delivered on Thursday. In order for this shipment to arrive, I had a crash course on cross-border shipping on the job. Another unexpected task that took precious time away. So many things to do in so little time. To top it all of, the furnace is not working ...

 

The permanent signage for the window and the stationary have been ordered. They should be delivered by the end of the week. The shopping bags are another story. They need 2 to 4 weeks to be printed to our specifications. So, we had to find a temporary solution until our first batch of printed shopping bags is delivered: we'll have large stickers produced to be applied to white recycled paper. We still need to source wrapping paper, tissue paper, etc. I need to place an order with Staples too.

 

Granny returned to France last Tuesday to our regret. Her airfare did not allow her to make any changes to her ticket, so she could not stay longer. As time is crucial for us right now, we asked Grandpa to come and help for a couple of days. He even took our son back home this weekend. As usual, our son had a blast at Grandma's and Grandpa's house. I managed to catch a little bit of sleep over the weekend, which was really nice, since I've been sleep deprived over the last couple of weeks.

 

Hopefully, Joseph and Vitto and their crew will manage to finish their work tomorrow. I have to say they are truly good people and willing to help. Tomorrow quite a few contractors from alarm system to sound system will complete their tasks. I keep my fingers crossed that all will go well. I also have another training session for the POS system. I haven't done my homework since the previous training session ...

We have a date -- November 9

Christian Imler, 01/11/06 at 10:58 AM EDT

This past week, we had to decide on an opening date. We felt that it was time to commit to a date in order to finish everything we have on the go and ... finally open ella + elliot to the public. We also need to start selling as the total amount of the orders we placed is huge! Joseph confirmed that almost everything would be completed by the end of this week. We feel that within 5 days we can get the store up and running... I know from past experience that even if you are the most prepared the last couple of days before an event tend to be crazy and very long.

This past week, not much happened in the space, to our disappointment. However by the end of the week, the curved millwork was installed and the graphics on the wall started being painted, just in time for the 3rd shoot day for "Opening Soon: By Design". What a day! We were with the crew from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. At least they saw some progress in the space.

To add to the stress level, a painter found the back door unlocked one morning and the thermostat's wires have been snippped, hence no heat in the space...Fortunately nothing seems to be missing.

My mother who came from France 3 weeks ago to help us is leaving on Tuesday evening. When she booked her ticket, we hoped that the store would be open by now and that she would have been able to help us with our son through the opening. Now, we are going to have to find a solution.

A lot of shipments are starting to arrive. Our priority right now is to make sure that the space is ready to open on November 09. I also need to dedicate some time this week to the marketing of ella + elliot.

People ask us if we are excited. Yes, we are, but we are so bogged down with so many things to do that it's hard to be excited at this stage.

A great piece of news I forgot to mention is that Bugaboo granted us the right to market and sell their strollers. This has been a long process, and in the end ella + elliot's future apprearance on "Opening Soon: By Design" seemed to have helped secure the line. The win feels like being in sales and winning a major account!

Two weeks to go...

Christian Imler, 24/10/06 at 9:25 AM EDT

We've been at the space more times this week that we ever have in the past. It's not that we are checking on the progress of the work, but rather that we had meetings with a few suppliers and with a new crew from the TV series Opening Soon: By Design. As the space has changed significantly over the last few days and will continue to do so this coming week, we hope that the space will be ready by the end of this week, or by the beginning of the following week, which reminds me that I should take a few pictures for you to see. The painting that needs to happen on some of the walls, a creation of 3rd Uncle Design, is not that simple and requires the skills of very good painter. Having said that, we thought that it would be reasonable to schedule the opening of the store for November 7 at the latest. Are we going to meet that deadline? This is the ultimate test! We are so grateful that Granny came all the way from France to spend some time with our son and relieve us from some parental tasks, as we are working seven days a week.

 

The temporary signage that we displayed in the window last weekend seems to attract people's attention. We've received a few e-mail messages since. Even a graphic design acquaintance of ours walked by and complimented us on the logo!

 

The next shoot day for "Opening Soon: By Design" is scheduled for Friday, October 27. Enough change in the space will have happened that it will be worthwhile showing this change.

 

Now that all the orders have been sent, I have to focus this week on setting up the retail management system that we bought for the business, inputting all products in the system, pricing, etc. Hopefully one of our friends will join our staff. The following week we will focus on receiving the goods and displaying them.

 

I'm very excited about the line drawings that Alexander completed. And JD, our graphic designer, came up with some very nice ideas in terms of postcards with those line drawings. We'll be able to use the layouts he came up with for invitations, POP take-aways, home page, and even advertising. This reminds me that I must dedicate some time this week to marketing ella + elliot, i.e. opening night (including possibly a silent auction, as I mentioned before), PR, etc.

 

Final note for today: I realize that in the last month or so, I've been very efficient using my time, especially in the morning when our son is at school.

Will we be open for the holiday shopping season?

Christian Imler, 18/10/06 at 10:48 AM EDT

One of the cribs that was tested according to the Canadian Hazardous Products Regulations unfortunately failed the test, which confirms that the Canadian standards are more stringent than the U.S. ones. Is it worth it? I don't know, but I learned several years ago to let go of things you cannot have any influence over, this being one of them. I'm not going to be able to influence these regulations, so I'd better focus my energy at solving the problem. Fortunately the company that designed and manufactures the product realizes the importance of the issue and wants to solve this problem ASAP.

 

Our general contractor had commited to complete his work by the end of this week. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen because of the veneer mishap over a month ago. We'll see if the space will be ready by the end of next week. This delay is not so bad, as Suzanne and I are a little bit behind on other fronts. However, we need to focus on opening the store very soon, because we don't want to miss the November/December shopping season!

 

A lot of millwork was delivered to the space today. The space will look very different within a couple of days. It's nice to see it happening! Suzanne's best friend, who is visiting from Florida, dropped by the space today as we were waiting for a rep from the U.S. There was a communication problem, because we were waiting for him today, but he isn't coming until Wednesday. We are also starting to meet more neighbours: I met Fred from Kamikaze on Queen West. We met the owner of Seoul City on Queen West last week.

 

We are finalizing a temporary solution for our Web site, since we don't have time to have it the way we wanted it for the opening. We started very early with the Web site design, before we even found a retail space. Securing product lines was so challenging that we could not post any information about these products until a few weeks ago.

 

We received an e-mail this morning from a lady in the neighbourood who wrote that she was planning on doing something similar to what we are doing. She said that when she found out about our initiative, she gave up. This reminded me that since we started this project, I always wondered if anyone was also starting something similar in the city, and if there was such a competitive initiative what would we do?

 

Tomorrow, I will receive two hours of training on our new Retail Management System by Microsoft. This application seems to allow any retailer to do anything, which is a little bit overwhelming. Tomorrow, we will also meet with the new producer of the show "Opening Soon: By Design" to lay out our action plan for the next few weeks.

 

I'm really happy about our positioning: Modern Design - Functionality - Sustainability. ella + elliot definitely has some points in common with other online or brick and mortar retail operations in the U.S., but I'm happy that it has its unique positioning. People we talk to seem to understand the value of well designed and well made products that are multi-functional and evolve. These products appeal not just to the eye, but to the wallet too.

Three weeks and counting...

Christian Imler, 11/10/06 at 5:18 PM EDT

A week has gone by since our last entry. We've entered the last straight line of the race (to use a marathon analogy) to the opening of ella + elliot, three weeks from today. Now is the time to check that all the projects we have on the go will be completed on time. The stress level was so high for me last Tuesday that I developed canker soars in my throat, which rarely happens to me, even though I'm prone to canker soars!

 

We have secured over this past week some of the major product lines that are an intrinsic part of our value proposition, which is a relief. But there is still a couple which are outstanding. The one I'm most relieved about is the nursery furniture from the U.S., for which I had to present a distribution proposal. We seem to have reached an agreement. The results from product testing should come in any day now.

 

The company logo will be applied to the store window the week of October 15. Passers-by will finally have an idea of what will be offered in the former "Du Verre space", as it's commonly known. The platforms are also being installed in the space. Most of the millwork has been happening behind the scene, and now we'll notice a lot of change over the next two to three weeks in the space. We had a power outage in the building starting on Thursday late afternoon. Our crew came in to work on Friday at 6:30 a.m. to find no power. Not only did they miss a day of work, but I had to drop what I was doing to relieve our irreplaceable Vitto until Toronto Hydro showed up, since there was no one else in the building. It turned out to be the result of an employee's negligence, which cost us one day of work. It was our first such incident, which made me realize that we had been pretty lucky so far.

 

Our stationery will be ready this week.

 

My mother arrived from France last Thursday, just in time to relieve us from some parental responsibilities, until the opening of the store.

 

We had our Thanksgiving dinner with Suzanne's family yesterday in the country. What a beautiful day it was, and I ate too much delicious food!

With a month to go, work is taking over

Christian Imler, 03/10/06 at 11:14 AM EDT

Artist's rendering of the interior of Ella + Elliot

The beauty of having our son in school every week day morning is that I'm able to get a lot of work done, until head lice shows up in his class! We decided to keep him at home today until the lice situation is under control.That challenged my work-life balance a bit, and it's only the beginning, because I'm sure he'll get sick over the course of his school years and will have to stay at home...Speaking of work-life balance, our conversation at home tends to focus on the business, which is not necessarily a good thing.

 

Suzanne is more involved these days with merchandising, as we are only a month away from opening, and she faces the challenges I've faced over the last few months with distributors who do not want to give us the line(s) they represent because the products are already sold in the area. We realize that "selling" our concept to reps or distributors is VERY challenging. This was confirmed by a friend of ours. And we still don't have confirmation from all suppliers that we will be able to carry their products. We keep refining our strategy. I also need to spend more time on the finance end of things, because I keep putting it off. It's probably one of the things I least enjoy doing.

 

We also had a situation with our architect about graphics on a wall: Is it graphics or just paint? Did we agree to go ahead with this design work? In the end, Joseph may say that painting this graphic will cost more than what was quoted, and due to budget constraints we won't go ahead with this graphic. Meanwhile we'll have spent money (we don't have) on graphics which will not be featured...!@#!@#!@# However, now we can go ahead with having the logo produced for the window. Hopefully it won't be long until it's up.

 

In the previous entry, I mentioned that I decided not to check on Joseph, but I have to admit that I went to the space twice this week and asked questions to his foreman Vito. Vito is a great person, not because he told me what was happening behind the scene, but because he does things we did not ask him to do.