Setting strategy: Expanding a business presents a host of challenges

A successful retail store often leads to … a second retail store. 

But entrepreneurs may face unexpected challenges with an expansion.

That was the case for Brookside Barkery & Bath, which sells natural pet foods and has grooming facilities.

Owners Delena Stout and Debra Manfield knew that they had to expand at 118 W. 63rd St. or open other stores. Customers said they wanted stores closer to their homes with the same services and neighborhood ambiance as the original location.

“One of our customers had a grooming business but didn’t want the expense of stocking a full-line store,” Stout said. The partners decided to open a “kiosk” store inside the Independence grooming business.

The partners also spent three years looking for a pedestrian-friendly site in Johnson County. They opened a Brookside Barkery in Olathe in October.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Independence grooming business decided to move to a smaller location.

Stout and Manfield knew their Missouri customers wanted bath services that the Independence kiosk didn’t offer. So, for their third full-service location, they looked in Lee’s Summit, which would be convenient to their established customers in Independence while serving customers who had been driving to Brookside.

The decision to move forward with the Lee’s Summit store wasn’t easy because the quick move wasn’t part of the owners’ immediate business plan.

“It couldn’t be helped,” Stout said. “Moving forward without a plan is not something we wanted to do.”

It helped that they did plenty of research with the Olathe expansion. Still, they had fewer options in Lee’s Summit than they did in Johnson County, and they opened a store that still had a cozy feel but wasn’t as neighborhood-centric as the two other locales.

Richard Fenker, the author of The Site Book: A Field Guide to Commercial Real Estate Evaluation, said Brookside Barkery already had the most important thing going for it.

“Smart and sophisticated businesspeople understand that before you expand your concept to another location, you have to get it right at the first,” said Fenker. “But you must also be open-minded — willing to change to what your customers want.”

Fenker said business owners should consider three components when choosing an expansion site:

•The location must have daytime activities that support the retail center.

•The location should fit the business. One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is taking a space just because it’s available and cheap.

“Retailers sometimes have the tendency to try to fit retail concepts into spaces not designed for them,” Fenker said. “Existing customers have an expectation of what the business should look like.”

•A new location should create “retail synergy” with complementary businesses.

For Chris and Patty Byler, franchise owners of Children’s Orchard in Blue Springs, the location for their second upscale resale boutique wasn’t the question. The couple in January bought an established Children’s Orchard in Kansas City.

The challenges came when the Bylers had to commute from the Blue Springs location near their home to the second location. Chris Byler also had to drive between both locations to his full-time job downtown.

The second location also meant double everything — from maintaining inventory records to payroll.

The Bylers worked out a system that put Patty Byler in the Blue Springs store most of the time. The most important thing, Chris Byler said, was that they had a loyal and competent staff at the Kansas City location, which allowed him to focus on his full-time job with minimal visits to the second store.

Stout and Manfield also said that having three locations across the area has been a challenge, especially when a large part of their business has been developing personal relationships with customers. They said they drive to each location as often as possible but rely heavily on a well-trained staff.

As for the paperwork, Byler developed a computer program that reduced the weekly time commitment from 10 to 12 hours to just two hours.

“If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to look for ways to consolidate the paperwork,” he said.