where is your shop?

My wife and I are about to move the presses out of the house and into a real commercial space. We’ve been debating the pros and cons of shop space vs storefront space. We’d love to know what type of spaces many of you are in and how it works for you.

There’s no right or wrong place to be, it merely depends on your vision, style and ambitions but we’re really curious to see what people across the country are doing. Are you in a garage, a shop space or a street retail space and how does it effect your business?

thanks!

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I’m in the garage. But tell us more about the space you’re moving into!

well, we are looking at a windowed retail storefront with studio space in the back. selling cards, invites and stationery off the shelf as well as taking custom orders at the counter. nothing groundbreaking but definitely not your typical letterpress/print shop. we’ve debated more of a traditional shop space and selling our wares to card shops, online etc but it doesn’t seem quite as fun or interesting to us. we can get a lot more space for our money in a shop, but a lot more traffic and visibility in a retail space… and so the debate/search continues…

Mine is in a 3 car garage and is strictly a hobby.
I used to have a commercial space but I actually like not having to drive to work on a project, or sorting or cleaning or any other number of things that make it enjoyable for me to finally have it within a few steps.

I started in my mom’s cellar, after 20 years of lugging stuff up and down stairs we moved out into a retail location. We kept the retail location for about 20 years, but after 15 years we moved the letterpress to our garage, closed the retail location around 2003, now we work from home. The early years from mom’s basement we relied on word of mouth to get business and did quite well, having the retail location helped by bringing people in off the street. Now i’m retired but still work out of the garage at home and service accounts we have had for years. I really enjoy working from home and will do so till the end of time. Dick G.

My shop was in a two garage in Texas for 10 years and we moved to Arkansas that has a 3.5 car garage. I’m home a night to print and on weekends. The electric bill is minimum. A store front requires a lease, electric with 220 for larger machinery, plumbing, cases for product, etc. If you have foot traffic in the area for shopping then you’ll get folks dropping in so you can sell product otherwise out of sight out mind. What is your marketing plan once you obtain a space and how much money is dedicated for that expense? How much product needs to move to make a profit less all you expenses. It’s a tough call with a lot to think over.

Casey McGarr
Inky Lips Letterpress

Pay more and get a shopfront.

We only live once, and we may as well go all out.

With letterpress, we get to tell a very interesting story. Commercially I can tell you it pays off too.

Here’s my shop:

image: studio.jpg

studio.jpg

Annie17-

It’s timely for me to see your post, as I have been struggling with this same decision for the last few months. While I am in my house now, I have outgrown the space and am starting to spill over into the dining room, storage shed and about everywhere else I can. More importantly I am about to add a windmill to the stable and it literally will not fit anywhere in my house.

I’m in Florida and rents here are still very high for both types of spaces. As Casey stated above, it’s a lot to think about. I want to be in a space that I can comfortably afford, but am hoping it pays for itself eventually. We’re very seasonal here so the goal is to be up and running for the fall.

I have decided to go for a very small storefront (nothing as glamorous as the shop above) - it’s about 350 square feet and has double doors and a polished concrete floor for the windmill. I’ll keep some of my equipment here at the house for now but will move the type out of the shed and into at least conditioned space!

It’s very exciting! Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

Leslie

My wife and I started in the basement, but quickly realized the space was limiting and she couldn’t stand the smells in the house. I am now converting our two car detached garage to the shop. From what we have read, stay where it is affordable for as long as you can! Store front would be great if you are in a location that will provide the exposure and additional business!

For a while we had a small retail location, we kept the bindery and press room there and i brought my typesetting home, then we rented a store with more exposure, that worked out well, but running three locations was very difficult, we closed one and worked from the house and the store front with a great exposure. Now we just work from our house. Dick G.

thank you all for your comments and advice. our extensive business plan does take all the expenditures into account but finding that perfect space in west los angeles isn’t very easy and rent isn’t in line with the economy here either. were looking for something between the 350 sq ft leslie was mentioning and the great storefront that noftus has (that space would be 6k+ a month here) and want to be smart about the decision. it’s been almost 4 months of looking, visiting and even a negotiation that didn’t work out. as you can imagine, were starting to get anxious and can see the holidays peeking around the corner.

thanks again for the info, we’ll post our adventures and maybe it can help anyone else in our situation too!

thank you all for your comments and advice. our extensive business plan does take all the expenditures into account but finding that perfect space in west los angeles isn’t very easy and rent isn’t in line with the economy here either. were looking for something between the 350 sq ft leslie was mentioning and the great storefront that noftus has (that space would be 6k+ a month here) and want to be smart about the decision. it’s been almost 4 months of looking, visiting and even a negotiation that didn’t work out. as you can imagine, were starting to get anxious and can see the holidays peeking around the corner.

thanks again for the info, we’ll post our adventures and maybe it can help anyone else in our situation too!

We have had a shopfront in a commercial/industrial location since 1954. I see it as a major benefit to have the street presence that it provides. Although I do get tired of walk-ins asking if I can beat VistaPrints price of $4.99 for 500 business cards.

That being said, we just put up for rent 800 sq ft of adjacent space with its own storefront, entrances, utilities and bathroom. If you want to move to North Jersey, come and take a look. We’re looking for a mutually beneficial neighbor that would benefit from being attached to an established letterpress shop. I’ll admit its nice shop space, but maybe it’s not “move 4000 miles” nice.
Bill

Do not let people talk you down on your price. VistaPrints is like the ebay for printers. It gives away it work to sell their customer other services to make up the money lost on the cheap items.

I lost my model train business by letting people talk me down to ebay prices.

Now, I am broke, bills I can’t pay. Let the people that want a cheap price, put the other guy out of business.

It is better to do a great job and get paid for your work.

We had been renting a first floor apartment that allowed us to run the press in the back.

When it came time for us to buy a house we focused on properties that had a separated storefront with residential space behind and above (old delis and the like).

What we found and went with was an old watchmaking shop, which required floor reinforcement to accommodate the weight of press and other equipment, but will allow us to basically work out of our home without having meetings in our living room or a local coffee shop (we are still moving things in and setting everything up).

The incidental foot traffic of probable clientele isn’t particularly high, the area is “up and coming”, but we aren’t really looking to focus on off the shelf retail at the moment. It was more important to us to have a professional looking space to meet with clients first. We aren’t too far from a booming commercial area though, so once people know we are here we could certainly become a destination.

All that to say, if you are in a position to buy…look for a mixed use property to avoid paying $$$ to rent a space and spending your time commuting back and forth. It can certainly work out.

i work at home and love it, but i’m not trying to get a lot of storefront invitation/printing business. my painting studio is upstairs, but when i got the C&P earlier this year, i took over the dining room as a print shop. our front living room was already a home gallery for me and my husband (who’s a woodworker/furniture builder). we can host a couple of in-home shows a year and have a nice place for clients to come see our work. now they can see my press as well.

i like not having to commute and being able to amble in during the evening and do a little work if i feel like it. but i’m mostly doing fine art work on my press and selling it at galleries, shops, and art fairs.

bless my husband for giving me concrete for valentine’s day — he spent four days on his belly in the crawl space reinforcing the floor so we could move the press in. he’s also built be beautiful paper tables, drying racks, and other shop furniture. i’m a lucky printmaker.

What a cool house you live in!

Q: Where is your shop?
A: Mostly underground.