Would Bed Stuy Benefit from Luxury Bed / Bath Store?
Hi Brownstoners, My husband and I live in Bed Stuy on Halsey Street and are tossing around the idea of opening up a luxury bed and bath linen store somewhere in the neighborhood. We are thinking of offering designers like Frette, Sferra Brothers as well as lesser known brands that offer Egyptian Cotton sheets with…
Hi Brownstoners,
My husband and I live in Bed Stuy on Halsey Street and are tossing around the idea of opening up a luxury bed and bath linen store somewhere in the neighborhood. We are thinking of offering designers like Frette, Sferra Brothers as well as lesser known brands that offer Egyptian Cotton sheets with high thread count at slightly discounted prices. My question is, would our neighborhood benefit from having this business? I’m not even sure of having a retail space, I may just advertise on this site to the right and take orders from a home office.
What do you think? Honest opinions are appreciated…even if you think this idea would not work.
Thanks, Brownstoners.
good luck thats what we are here for
OP here,
Brownstoners, you all rock!!!
Thanks so much, I appreciate all of your feedback and based on what you have to say, I have come up with a wonderful idea that will serve all of us looking to dress up our homes and I know it will work. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please continue to respond to my question as I came up with my home run idea based on what you have to say. All will be revealed in early Spring and I will be running this business as a strore from my home open on Saturdays and Sundays only and during the week by appointment only.
Again, please keep the comments coming so I can bring us what we all need and want on a luxury level. Thanks, guys:)
As much as I would love to see such a high-end store in Bed-Stuy, I think it would be better to think about what the neighborhood needs – not what you want to sell. There are few things more wonderful than a Frette bathrobe, but will you have many repeat customers?
If you could do it in your home, I would say go for it, but with the added overhead of a retail space, I’m sad to say that I don’t think it would work.
I think you should talk to the wonderful woman who opened up IBO Landing on Tompkins between Hancock and Jefferson and is closing at the end of the month. ALSO, post on the bed-stuy blog if you haven’t already. I live in bed-stuy and would LOVE love love to go into your store and buy what I could (and would even love it more to have it in the neighborhood), but honestly, I am in the process of buying sheets right now and I just got some on overstock.com for cheap – that is what I can afford because the rest of my money is going into moldings – NOW THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULD (and do) BUY.
I don’t think that bed-stuy is ready to support that kind of store if its a retail venue. I would look to Ft. Green as an example. It can barely support its one home store. But if it’s a home-based business without walk-in customers, you’re considering, it doesn’t matter where you are. You can sell them online via amazon store or ebay stores and you can advertise all over the web. Good Luck. I think being your own boss is the key to happiness, even if you work harder.
Bed and bath stores always sell more than just sheet sets. The OP can offer top of bed: duvet/comforter sets, as well as decorative pillows, throws, draperies and curtains and rugs. In the bathroom there are towels, shower curtains, bath accessories: wastebaskets, toothbrush holders, tissue box covers, etc. She could offer custom and interior design, as well as special order items such as beds, tables, chairs, lighting, hardware, even tiles, fixtures. Then there is tabletop, which can lead into anything used in a dining room.
Go for it – you would only be limited by what you want to do. If you keep your inventory small, arrange to be able to special order everything else (with a quick turnaround), and offer a lot of personal care and custom attention, you can create a wonderful business. Very successful companies such as Waterworks started small and grew to the successes they are.
Good luck.
wow, people really pay $600 for a set of sheets? i guess if there is a market for that, more power to you!
For some years, I ran a contemporary fine art gallery out of the parlor floor of my PLG home. The works I sold ranged in price from the mid hundreds to low five figures. As you are contemplating, I self-financed this business and it was tricky proposition staying afloat. I held gallery hours on the weekends and by appointments because it my was my full-time gig that provided the capital for the business. After about three years of blood, sweat and tears, the business really started to get some legs. But, then came 9/11. The economy took a nose dive and the rest is history.
My point is this: For a good while, I was definitely able to run a “high end” business out of my home in the “hood.” It took time to build a steady customer base, but clearly, one existed — and still exists! Had I had a partner, and/or investors or bank financing, or a spectacular terrorist attack had not occurred in NYC while the business was still in its toddlerhood, maybe my story would have been different. But I know enough to know that with the right combination of wits, creativity, timing, marketing, capital, etc., you can run that the business out of your home in Bed Stuy. And contrary to the ignorant theories mouthed by 12:13, not once was there an attempted robbery of my business or home during this period.
BTW, you might also want to check out the history of “African Home,” a fabulous art/craft/interior design business that was run out a Bed Stuy home on Decatur street for many years back in the late 80’s -early 90’s. I don’t know why it closed, but it had a pretty good run for a while.
I say go for it! If you start it, I, for one, would certainly come over from PLG to patronize your business.
my mother always said if you dont have anything positive to say keep you dam mouth shut so we will never know what an ass hole you are, as if to say all stores in Bed-Stuy get robbed.