September 4, 2025 • 26 mins
The outlook for gift boutiques, online & in person, is shifting fast, and if you’re a business owner, you’ll want to pay attention. In this episode, I break down what’s happening in the market, why customer expectations are changing, and how you can position your business to thrive in the middle of it all.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love too.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, hello, this is Kimberly.
It's episode 308.
I'm so glad that you're heretoday because I'm having a frank
conversation with you, veryfrank conversation, because I'm
still like coming off of a lunchthat I had with a friend and
she's had her own boutiquephysical, like store for gosh 10
years and then maybe 10 yearsbefore that ran it out of her
home.
(00:57):
And we were just talking aboutthe future of boutique
businesses, if you are areseller versus just a brand
where you make your own products.
And we're talking about whatwas the past of that, what that
looked like in the future, whatthat looks like, how she's
having to shift, how I had toshift 7 years ago when I closed
(01:18):
my online gift boutiques becauseI could start seeing the
writing on the wall of whatbeing a reseller of products was
like, because I resold all mygifts and everything.
I didn't make anything myself.
Today we're going to talk aboutit.
This is a reality check for you.
If you have a boutique, whetherit's online or it's local,
whether you are a maker, likeyou make products, you have your
(01:40):
own brand or you are a resellermeaning, like I did, you resold
other people's products.
This episode is a must-listen.
A must-listen, because thefuture of your business depends
on it.
Okay, this is key to thesuccess of your business and it
(02:02):
is vital that you know what'scoming and you know how to deal
right now so you actually builda successful business.
So I'm riffing today.
This episode is not set up likemy normal episodes where I'm
like, okay, 3 points for thisand I give you 3 simple steps.
No, I'm riffing on this on thepast and future of boutique
businesses.
(02:22):
Whether you're a maker or areseller, this is for you.
So listen up, I'm so excitedyou're here.
If you're new, welcome.
You came on a fantastic day.
You're going to hear some realtalk.
If you are starting a businesswhether it's a coaching business
, service business, productbusiness, whatever it is you can
scroll down in the show notes.
I've got free resources for youand I have paid programs and
one-on-one coaching, which hasbeen the hit right now.
(02:47):
Everybody wants help right now,as fast as possible.
So I'm here to help you.
I don't want you flailingaround.
You should not go about thisalone.
This is too important to youand your future and your income
and your happiness.
Do not take seriously.
Don't let this fall intoanother hobby.
Reach out, I would love to helpyou.
You can send me an email throughthe link down below and, if
you've been listening a while,thank you so much to all my
loyal listeners.
Y'all are awesome, amazing.
(03:08):
I respect you so much.
You are doing amazing things inthis world with your small
business and I think it'sawesome.
I'm so, so happy for you tojust hit the five-star rating,
like if you're an Apple podcast.
Right now.
You can rate this podcast.
You just go to my main podcastpage she's just getting started
and you'll see the rate thispodcast Rate it, hit five stars
(03:30):
and then, if you have 30 secondsto write a written review on
what this podcast has meant toyou, how it's helped you, what
you like about it, I would loveto hear it y'all, because I get
no feedback every sit here.
I record it in this roomupstairs in my house, and to get
(03:50):
feedback is priceless for me.
So it's a big favor that you dofor me when you do that.
So that's it.
Okay, on to the episode.
Well, hello friends.
How are you?
How is everything going in yourlife right now?
I hope amazing.
And how is your business?
That's a big question, right,how is your business?
I'm so happy for all of youjust pushing forward with your
dream.
I think it's amazing, and Irespect you so much.
(04:12):
Today, though, I wanted to havesome real conversation here,
even though it's only one way,with me just talking to you, but
it's still a conversation.
Right, it's still aconversation.
I want to talk to you aboutboutique businesses.
Whether you are a product makeror you are a product seller,
this is for you.
When I say a product seller, Ishould have said product
(04:34):
reseller.
You're reselling someone else'sproduct, so either you're a
maker or you're a productreseller.
Let's talk this through todayy'all, because if you are
looking to start some kind ofboutique online, in person, like
at a retail store, you want,you have a booth, and you either
(04:56):
want to make something yourselfor resell it.
These are physical products.
Listen up, the future of yourbusiness depends on this,
depends on today's conversation.
Even though I'm no fortuneteller, I am no market expert in
(05:16):
terms of what is coming, but Iknow what's happened and I can
see the writing on the wall, solet's talk about this today.
So, as I mentioned before, afriend and I were having lunch.
She owns a boutique that islike clothing, gifts, jewelry
all that in her local area andwe had a frank conversation
(05:37):
today about the future ofboutiques and she knows good and
well.
I had my online boutiques for16 years and we were both like
in this weird mood.
We were like and she's good andwell, I had my online boutiques
for 16 years and we were bothlike in this weird mood.
We were like and she's had herbusiness for a long time too,
like I don't even know how longas well 20 years, something like
that as well and she's seeingthe massive, am I and we are
(06:01):
kind of lamenting what is nowthe past but yet excited for the
future.
But what that means for peoplelike her is that you have to
change and it's so hard.
Y'all I was kind of likeningthis to.
I know this sounds morbid andsad, so just bear with me, but
(06:22):
you know how, when you have apet, you love your pet.
You buy it no-transcript thesethings.
(06:54):
You love it, you adore it, it'swith you every single day.
You think about your pet whenyou travel.
You have to deal with your petLike everything has to be taken
care of, but one day we all knowthat our pets will move on and
they will pass away.
They will pass away and it'svery sad and you're sad for what
was, but you're okay becauseyou know that your pet is in
(07:16):
heaven with the other animals Atleast, I believe that, right.
And your pet is out of pain,right, because we had to put our
dog down, gosh, a little over ayear ago, and it was so sad.
It was so sad, right, but youknow that this is not forever.
Your animal is not forever,okay, sorry, I know that was sad
, but it's the same.
(07:37):
If you have a product businessthat you've had for a while,
right.
So, like my friend and like me,having those boutiques that I
closed in 2018, 2019, it's likea sad letting go of what was
y'all.
I had two multi, two multisix-figure businesses that I was
running at the same time.
It was a blast.
(07:58):
It was everything that was onthe up.
It was booming.
Online was booming.
I knew just enough to get myitems ranked on the first page
of Google, and that's how I gotbusiness.
I wouldn't happen to post onInstagram all the time.
I wasn't doing anything, Iwasn't doing ads, I had repeat
customers, I had local customersand I ran it all out of my home
, right, okay, so those days ofreselling other people's
(08:23):
products and making a killing isvery hard now, okay, and you
may be saying, well, I am amaker, so what does that mean
for me?
Okay, so we know the resalemarket is very hard.
Okay, now, back in the day aswell, the people who made
(08:43):
products wanted to get withretailers everywhere, so they
were trying to get me to reselltheir products and then I would
double the price and resell themto my online customers.
That's the way it's been.
So there was a middleman, right?
The maker would sell to me, Iwould sell to the consumer.
(09:04):
I'm a middleman, so they woulddouble their price to me.
So they'd make double about ontheir stuff, and then I would
double the price, right?
So if something costs $25 forthem to make, they would sell it
to me for 50.
And I would turn around andsell it for $99.
Okay, that's how retail hasworked when you're reselling.
(09:25):
Okay, and those makers whetherthey made candles, jewelry bags,
anything like that, that's whatthey wanted.
They wanted to get into a tonof retailers, right?
Well then, what happened thatwe've seen over the last 10
years is that costs have gone upon products.
We all know that right.
For example, something that Iused to sell on my online store
(09:49):
seven years ago.
My cost was like $27, $28, andI would resell for $56.
I'm not going to say what itwas because I protect my vendors
, but I would resell it for $56.
I just looked because, as y'allknow, my daughter's kind of
wanting to resurrect my oldbusiness in this very room.
Use my logo and do all that andmaybe sell some things locally
(10:10):
here and we'll have a littlewebsite, very micro business,
fun, right.
And that same product that wasa bestseller, that cost me $28
and I would sell for $56, nowcosts over $40.
So I'm gonna have to sell itfor for 80.
And I'm like is this worth $80?
This is $80.
I mean, like what?
(10:31):
And I'm just kind of likeflabbergasted because that's
what happens, y'all the cost andinflation has gone up.
That's the big shift that I'veseen over the past 10 years.
Here's the other big shift.
We all know it's Amazon.
Everyone just goes to Amazon.
It's, don't you?
I mean, that's what I do.
I'm like just order on Amazon.
You got your phone, you're evenin a store and you're like
(10:53):
about to buy something andyou're like but I can get it in
two days and it's a little bitcheaper, I'll just order on
Amazon.
I mean, sometimes I'll buy inthe store, but you see what I'm
saying y'all.
And here's the other big shiftis that there's the rise of
direct-to-consumer brands,meaning a lot of those makers
now that used to sell to me asthe middleman to resell are no
(11:15):
longer needing to sell to mebecause it's number one hurting
their profits because they canjust sell.
Now it's easy.
They just throw up a website.
They're like I'm just going tosell to consumer, I don't need
to go through a retailer, I'lljust sell to consumer.
And they're even opening storeswith just their brand.
That's what has become sopopular is the brand's own
(11:38):
stores.
And it didn't used to be thatway.
Like I was thinking, years andyears ago it was boutiques
everywhere that sold like aselection of candles from
different brands, a selection ofperfumes, a selection of
clothes, right, and I wasreflecting like shopping the
other day with my daughters.
We're on Market Street, which iskind of a bougie little
shopping area here in theWoodlands, texas, and I'm
(11:59):
looking around and all thestores are their own brand.
The stores are their own brandVuore, lululemon, aloe, jcrew,
warbly Parker, nike Madewell,kate Spade, golden Goose, kendra
Scott, jo Malone PerfumesEverything is the brand.
(12:20):
There's no middleman Now.
There's no middleman Now.
There was Francesca's, which,if y'all know, if you have a
younger female niece, daughter,anything they love Francesca's
jewelry, clothes, all that.
So they resell.
And Nordstrom's right resellsand Anthropologie resells, which
I love.
Nordstrom and Anthropologie, Ido buy their stuff, right, they
(12:43):
resell other people's productsand they may have their own
brand.
Yeah, they do.
They have their own brands aswell that they just like.
What do you call it?
White label it as theirs.
But in general, I'm lookingaround and I see the writing on
the wall the brands are cuttingout the middleman.
So what does that mean?
What does that mean?
Right, we've gotdirect-to-consumer branding that
(13:07):
people are doing.
Inflation and cost of goods ismaking all the margins for
middlemen really hard.
Amazon is dominating, we knowthat.
And then we can kind of see that.
There's stats all over.
For example, in the US therewas like 7,300 store closures in
2024, and it's projected todouble closures in 2024, and
(13:31):
it's projected to double.
So I predict that by 2027,there's gonna be so many little
small boutiques and stuff out ofbusiness.
There's no way y'all that, thatresell, that resell okay,
there's just no way.
Now, those stats I don't knowwho all that is.
It's just all kinds of stores,right?
I think that you know, I wishthey had it broken out where we
knew if it was just like thedirect-to-consumers brands, but
I just I feel like those are theones that are actually popping
(13:51):
up.
So I'm kind of assuming this isa lot of like stores that are
reselling other brands, right,and it's saying that small
business survival rate is 50%fail in the first year.
It used to be that in likethree out of five years or
something.
Now it's the first year, sothat's it.
Y'all.
Boutiques are struggling.
That traditional resale modelthat I was just talking about
(14:14):
makes it so the reseller hasvery low margins but yet high
overhead, so that's not going towork.
Brands actually want morecontrol.
Like, if you're a maker, youactually want more control over
the way your product ispresented, whether it be online
or in person.
Right, we've got all thiscompetition.
Now I will say there is hopefor you.
(14:36):
So, if you are a maker, listenup.
I believe, if you are a maker,that you need to build a solid,
awesome brand.
You need to become a brand witha story.
A brand with a story.
If you make jewelry, if youmake candles, body products I
don't know what you make art yougot to have a brand with a
(14:59):
story.
Okay, I think if you want tohave a boutique, like you've had
a dream of had a clothingboutique, gift boutique I think
you need to assess where you'reopening it.
Is it in a small town where youcan be the go-to, like?
I remember 30 years ago almost,when I got married, right my
(15:20):
husband's from a very smallTexas town and there was one
store that you registered at foryour wedding and they cornered
the market for all the gifts andweddings and showers that every
girl was doing in that town.
You can do that.
That can still work.
That can still work.
I do believe that.
I believe college towns havegreat boutiques.
I believe that if you have,like a hyper-local community or
(15:40):
something fun where you canbecome the go-to, I think that
is your best bet.
If you want to have a boutique,if you do not have a lot of
foot traffic, it's going to bevery hard for you to make it
because your margins are low.
You're competing against Amazon.
It's going to be very hard.
So you got to be the go-to.
You got to be networkinglocally.
You need to be involved in yourchamber of commerce.
Everyone has to know who youare.
(16:01):
You are the go-to.
If you cannot be the go-to,what's working?
What is working right now thatyou could move to?
Okay, private label boutiques,meaning stores manufacturing and
(16:21):
selling their own brandedproducts.
Just like I told you, on MarketStreet, 90% of everything that
is there is its own brand.
Lush thought about that.
That was there.
What else is there that it washis own brand?
There's all the bougie KateSpade.
What else is there that it washis own brand?
They're all the bougie KateSpade.
You know Gucci, golden Goose,there's all those, but most of
(16:41):
them, y'all, are their own brand.
Okay, so private labelboutiques, where you have your
own brand of stuff.
You make it, you sell it in alittle store, in your booths.
Okay, here's the big thing.
This is the big thing that ishere is niche resale markets.
Everyone loves to go thrifting.
(17:02):
My daughter, 16-year-old, talksabout that that they love to go
thrifting.
Luxury, resale, thrift andvintage, sustainability-focused
stores Y'all this is growing.
Huge Resell markets okay,global apparel re-commerce is
projected to grow.
Y'all listen to this Projectedto grow from $139 billion
(17:27):
industry this year in 2025, $139billion to $1.26 trillion in 10
years.
So that's tenfold in 10 years.
That is the re-commerce market.
So if you have something thatcan be resold, upscaled luxury
resale, y'all it's huge rightnow.
Okay, here's what else you cando.
(17:48):
If you are, for example, acandle maker, shout out to
Annalisa Marie.
She was in my programs and inGrow Getters and she is making
candles.
Her business is calledAmbitious Vibes and she opened a
store in her area and does whatwe call candle making classes.
(18:11):
She hosts parties, she doesevents Y'all this works.
This works Experiential stores.
So if you're going to have astore, don't just sell your
stuff.
Try to make some kind of event,something that's fun, that
people can do.
That is working right now.
You can do pop-up shops.
(18:31):
You can partner with othershops and just do pop-up booths.
You don't even have to haveyour own store.
Right now you can just pop upeverywhere.
You can have a mobile truck orbooth and do that, and pull up
to parties and do things likethat.
Hotel and resort boutiques aredoing well because they're niche
.
They're right there.
People want to buy when they'reon vacation.
They're excited.
(18:51):
Okay, lifestyle-driven shoppingis doing very well.
I think if you want to have anonline store, at this point you
need to be everywhere.
Well, let me say this If youwant to have your own store, you
need to be online as well.
You need to have both.
You need to be omnichannel,right?
Omnichannel boutique whereyou're online and in-person.
(19:11):
It's got to be both Y'all.
That's what's working.
Private label boutiques,meaning it's your own brand
boutique.
Experiential things like, likeI said, the candle making
classes and all that for acandle store Genius, do that.
Pop-up shops, very niche marketstores like small towns where
(19:35):
you have become the go-to.
That's what it means.
But whatever it is, y'all.
You are going to have to build abrand with a story.
Now, that's what you have to doa brand with a story.
It's better if you can makeyour own stuff, because the
margins for reselling are slim,unless you have a lock in the
(19:56):
market in your area for aboutique and you have a prime
location a college town,whatever it is where you can
resell stuff and you have enoughtraffic that you're still going
to make it.
Otherwise, it's going to bevery hard to be profitable.
So if you own a boutique now,or you dream of owning one.
(20:17):
Ask yourself am I going to be areseller or am I going to be a
brand builder?
Now, again, reselling can workagain.
So don't get me wrong If you'vehad this yearning to have your
boutique and you're like this iswhat I've always wanted in my
own boutique, you can do it.
But I hope you will take allthese things into consideration
and tell yourself I'm going tobecome a brand and the go-to in
(20:40):
my market, right, if you are amaker, then you need to build a
brand, build an online presenceand be local with that brand,
with the story behind it, andyou sell direct to consumer.
Okay, you have to have a localedge.
You are going to have to have alocal edge somehow.
I think online you can do well,but I think reselling online is
(21:03):
very hard.
What I had back in the day isno longer.
I think.
I mean it can be, obviously fora big enough company that can
resell a whole bunch of goods,but it's not as easy for just
normal people like me to start amulti-six-figure business
reselling just products, right,that people can get on Amazon
(21:23):
and everywhere else, even ifit's cute, unless you have a
great location and you're thego-to, okay.
So what can you do?
You can consider having aprivate label, like if you've
had a gift boutique and you'veresold other stuff, you could
consider having your own productline that you get manufactured
Maybe you have to get itmanufactured overseas, I don't
(21:44):
know and you put your privatelabel on it and it's your brand
of bags and backpacks andjewelry or whatever it is right.
Niche, resale is huge.
You could have a resale kind ofstore.
Or you could do an online-firststrategy where you start
testing this online, seeing whatsells, and then open a store I
would recommend that and then,you know, open some kind of
(22:06):
local place.
But I think the old model ofwhat I did, which was just
restocking or just stocking andreselling other people's stuff,
is fading.
I think that's fading and itpains me.
It pains me to say that becausethat was my bread and butter,
that was my life.
I was like my baby.
I loved it, I nurtured it.
(22:27):
I, you know, slept, ate,breathed my online gift
boutiques.
That's all I did, right?
So don't get me wrong Boutiquesare not dead.
It's just that the future looksdifferent.
It looks different.
You're going to have to adapt,just like me and my friend
talking about her boutique thatshe's had and her store that
(22:49):
she's had for 10 years.
But she's had the business shedid out of her home for like 10
years before that.
She's having to adapt.
Now, y'all she's having toadapt.
She's probably going to have toclose her physical store and
she's going to figure out whatshe's going to do next.
Is she going to private label,is she going to go online?
But still, it's going to be thesame Like she's going to have
to figure something out.
Right, you have to have a brand.
(23:11):
If you're going to have a store, it needs to be.
I would try to be experientialor have location, location,
location.
Okay, I'd love to hear yourtake on this.
If you have your own boutique,online or in person, I'd love to
hear your thoughts.
You can DM me atstartwithkimberlybrock on
(23:31):
Instagram.
It's below the links down belowtoo, so you can just click it.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
If you already have had aboutique or you've been wanting
to start one, your dream, what?
What are your thoughts and whatare your thoughts about how
you're going to actually make itsuccessful?
Because it has shifted fromwhat it was.
It is no longer.
It's sadly like our pet thatleaves us.
(23:52):
We loved it, we adored it.
It's now time for a new cycleof life.
That's where we're at, people.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I know it was pretty frank withyou, but I think you needed to
hear it.
I needed to hear it too.
It's actually cathartic for meto be talking about all of this
(24:14):
because I have to let go.
I think we get emotionally tiedto our business and I haven't
even had my boutique businessesfor 7 years and I still have to
like I'm what am I letting go of?
I'm already done.
But see, you, see how we are.
I mean, you're probably like me, like we just love our
businesses.
I haven't had it for 7 years.
I feel like I just had ityesterday, like it's fresh,
(24:36):
right.
So I know if you love yourbusiness.
I know how it feels.
But we've got to be thinkingabout the future and where we're
headed.
And the resale market is tough,tough, tough.
You can still do it.
You can still do it.
I truly believe that.
But it's got to be with a wholenew spark.
A whole new spark and a wholenew direction.
And I think if you want to havean online store.
(24:58):
You need to bring.
Bring it Solid brand.
I would be a maker If I wasstarting over right now.
I would be a maker and build abrand, and I would private label
something.
It's just my brand and I might.
I would probably have a localstore, like if I had to do some
kind of retail.
I would have a local store withonline, because I think locally
you could get business.
(25:18):
I would do it maybe in a reallysmall way, but I think you're
going to have to be omni-channel.
I truly believe that.
I mean, you could try to justmake it online.
You could just try to make itonline.
It will be harder, though, butyou're still going to have to
show up.
You're going to show up places.
You're still going to have toshow up.
You're going to show up places.
You're still going to have tohave a local presence somehow
where you're sponsoring things,all of that.
So I'm rambling, but see, Itold you I was just riffing
(25:42):
today and we're just talkingabout this, so I'm so glad
you're here.
I hope this sparked yourthoughts.
I hope this helps you thinksmarter about the future of your
business and, again, reach out.
Start with Kimberly Brock.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Okay, have a great day Untilnext time.
Bye now.
Now this episode may be over,but our relationship does not
(26:06):
have to end here.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Head on over to KimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what you don't need togo through this alone.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I would love to help you.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Thank you so much and have a great day.
Bye.
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love too.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, hello, this is Kimberly.
It's episode 308.
I'm so glad that you're heretoday because I'm having a frank
conversation with you, veryfrank conversation, because I'm
still like coming off of a lunchthat I had with a friend and
she's had her own boutiquephysical, like store for gosh 10
years and then maybe 10 yearsbefore that ran it out of her
home.
(00:57):
And we were just talking aboutthe future of boutique
businesses, if you are areseller versus just a brand
where you make your own products.
And we're talking about whatwas the past of that, what that
looked like in the future, whatthat looks like, how she's
having to shift, how I had toshift 7 years ago when I closed
(01:18):
my online gift boutiques becauseI could start seeing the
writing on the wall of whatbeing a reseller of products was
like, because I resold all mygifts and everything.
I didn't make anything myself.
Today we're going to talk aboutit.
This is a reality check for you.
If you have a boutique, whetherit's online or it's local,
whether you are a maker, likeyou make products, you have your
(01:40):
own brand or you are a resellermeaning, like I did, you resold
other people's products.
This episode is a must-listen.
A must-listen, because thefuture of your business depends
on it.
Okay, this is key to thesuccess of your business and it
(02:02):
is vital that you know what'scoming and you know how to deal
right now so you actually builda successful business.
So I'm riffing today.
This episode is not set up likemy normal episodes where I'm
like, okay, 3 points for thisand I give you 3 simple steps.
No, I'm riffing on this on thepast and future of boutique
businesses.
(02:22):
Whether you're a maker or areseller, this is for you.
So listen up, I'm so excitedyou're here.
If you're new, welcome.
You came on a fantastic day.
You're going to hear some realtalk.
If you are starting a businesswhether it's a coaching business
, service business, productbusiness, whatever it is you can
scroll down in the show notes.
I've got free resources for youand I have paid programs and
one-on-one coaching, which hasbeen the hit right now.
(02:47):
Everybody wants help right now,as fast as possible.
So I'm here to help you.
I don't want you flailingaround.
You should not go about thisalone.
This is too important to youand your future and your income
and your happiness.
Do not take seriously.
Don't let this fall intoanother hobby.
Reach out, I would love to helpyou.
You can send me an email throughthe link down below and, if
you've been listening a while,thank you so much to all my
loyal listeners.
Y'all are awesome, amazing.
(03:08):
I respect you so much.
You are doing amazing things inthis world with your small
business and I think it'sawesome.
I'm so, so happy for you tojust hit the five-star rating,
like if you're an Apple podcast.
Right now.
You can rate this podcast.
You just go to my main podcastpage she's just getting started
and you'll see the rate thispodcast Rate it, hit five stars
(03:30):
and then, if you have 30 secondsto write a written review on
what this podcast has meant toyou, how it's helped you, what
you like about it, I would loveto hear it y'all, because I get
no feedback every sit here.
I record it in this roomupstairs in my house, and to get
(03:50):
feedback is priceless for me.
So it's a big favor that you dofor me when you do that.
So that's it.
Okay, on to the episode.
Well, hello friends.
How are you?
How is everything going in yourlife right now?
I hope amazing.
And how is your business?
That's a big question, right,how is your business?
I'm so happy for all of youjust pushing forward with your
dream.
I think it's amazing, and Irespect you so much.
(04:12):
Today, though, I wanted to havesome real conversation here,
even though it's only one way,with me just talking to you, but
it's still a conversation.
Right, it's still aconversation.
I want to talk to you aboutboutique businesses.
Whether you are a product makeror you are a product seller,
this is for you.
When I say a product seller, Ishould have said product
(04:34):
reseller.
You're reselling someone else'sproduct, so either you're a
maker or you're a productreseller.
Let's talk this through todayy'all, because if you are
looking to start some kind ofboutique online, in person, like
at a retail store, you want,you have a booth, and you either
(04:56):
want to make something yourselfor resell it.
These are physical products.
Listen up, the future of yourbusiness depends on this,
depends on today's conversation.
Even though I'm no fortuneteller, I am no market expert in
(05:16):
terms of what is coming, but Iknow what's happened and I can
see the writing on the wall, solet's talk about this today.
So, as I mentioned before, afriend and I were having lunch.
She owns a boutique that islike clothing, gifts, jewelry
all that in her local area andwe had a frank conversation
(05:37):
today about the future ofboutiques and she knows good and
well.
I had my online boutiques for16 years and we were both like
in this weird mood.
We were like and she's good andwell, I had my online boutiques
for 16 years and we were bothlike in this weird mood.
We were like and she's had herbusiness for a long time too,
like I don't even know how longas well 20 years, something like
that as well and she's seeingthe massive, am I and we are
(06:01):
kind of lamenting what is nowthe past but yet excited for the
future.
But what that means for peoplelike her is that you have to
change and it's so hard.
Y'all I was kind of likeningthis to.
I know this sounds morbid andsad, so just bear with me, but
(06:22):
you know how, when you have apet, you love your pet.
You buy it no-transcript thesethings.
(06:54):
You love it, you adore it, it'swith you every single day.
You think about your pet whenyou travel.
You have to deal with your petLike everything has to be taken
care of, but one day we all knowthat our pets will move on and
they will pass away.
They will pass away and it'svery sad and you're sad for what
was, but you're okay becauseyou know that your pet is in
(07:16):
heaven with the other animals Atleast, I believe that, right.
And your pet is out of pain,right, because we had to put our
dog down, gosh, a little over ayear ago, and it was so sad.
It was so sad, right, but youknow that this is not forever.
Your animal is not forever,okay, sorry, I know that was sad
, but it's the same.
(07:37):
If you have a product businessthat you've had for a while,
right.
So, like my friend and like me,having those boutiques that I
closed in 2018, 2019, it's likea sad letting go of what was
y'all.
I had two multi, two multisix-figure businesses that I was
running at the same time.
It was a blast.
(07:58):
It was everything that was onthe up.
It was booming.
Online was booming.
I knew just enough to get myitems ranked on the first page
of Google, and that's how I gotbusiness.
I wouldn't happen to post onInstagram all the time.
I wasn't doing anything, Iwasn't doing ads, I had repeat
customers, I had local customersand I ran it all out of my home
, right, okay, so those days ofreselling other people's
(08:23):
products and making a killing isvery hard now, okay, and you
may be saying, well, I am amaker, so what does that mean
for me?
Okay, so we know the resalemarket is very hard.
Okay, now, back in the day aswell, the people who made
(08:43):
products wanted to get withretailers everywhere, so they
were trying to get me to reselltheir products and then I would
double the price and resell themto my online customers.
That's the way it's been.
So there was a middleman, right?
The maker would sell to me, Iwould sell to the consumer.
(09:04):
I'm a middleman, so they woulddouble their price to me.
So they'd make double about ontheir stuff, and then I would
double the price, right?
So if something costs $25 forthem to make, they would sell it
to me for 50.
And I would turn around andsell it for $99.
Okay, that's how retail hasworked when you're reselling.
(09:25):
Okay, and those makers whetherthey made candles, jewelry bags,
anything like that, that's whatthey wanted.
They wanted to get into a tonof retailers, right?
Well then, what happened thatwe've seen over the last 10
years is that costs have gone upon products.
We all know that right.
For example, something that Iused to sell on my online store
(09:49):
seven years ago.
My cost was like $27, $28, andI would resell for $56.
I'm not going to say what itwas because I protect my vendors
, but I would resell it for $56.
I just looked because, as y'allknow, my daughter's kind of
wanting to resurrect my oldbusiness in this very room.
Use my logo and do all that andmaybe sell some things locally
(10:10):
here and we'll have a littlewebsite, very micro business,
fun, right.
And that same product that wasa bestseller, that cost me $28
and I would sell for $56, nowcosts over $40.
So I'm gonna have to sell itfor for 80.
And I'm like is this worth $80?
This is $80.
I mean, like what?
(10:31):
And I'm just kind of likeflabbergasted because that's
what happens, y'all the cost andinflation has gone up.
That's the big shift that I'veseen over the past 10 years.
Here's the other big shift.
We all know it's Amazon.
Everyone just goes to Amazon.
It's, don't you?
I mean, that's what I do.
I'm like just order on Amazon.
You got your phone, you're evenin a store and you're like
(10:53):
about to buy something andyou're like but I can get it in
two days and it's a little bitcheaper, I'll just order on
Amazon.
I mean, sometimes I'll buy inthe store, but you see what I'm
saying y'all.
And here's the other big shiftis that there's the rise of
direct-to-consumer brands,meaning a lot of those makers
now that used to sell to me asthe middleman to resell are no
(11:15):
longer needing to sell to mebecause it's number one hurting
their profits because they canjust sell.
Now it's easy.
They just throw up a website.
They're like I'm just going tosell to consumer, I don't need
to go through a retailer, I'lljust sell to consumer.
And they're even opening storeswith just their brand.
That's what has become sopopular is the brand's own
(11:38):
stores.
And it didn't used to be thatway.
Like I was thinking, years andyears ago it was boutiques
everywhere that sold like aselection of candles from
different brands, a selection ofperfumes, a selection of
clothes, right, and I wasreflecting like shopping the
other day with my daughters.
We're on Market Street, which iskind of a bougie little
shopping area here in theWoodlands, texas, and I'm
(11:59):
looking around and all thestores are their own brand.
The stores are their own brandVuore, lululemon, aloe, jcrew,
warbly Parker, nike Madewell,kate Spade, golden Goose, kendra
Scott, jo Malone PerfumesEverything is the brand.
(12:20):
There's no middleman Now.
There's no middleman Now.
There was Francesca's, which,if y'all know, if you have a
younger female niece, daughter,anything they love Francesca's
jewelry, clothes, all that.
So they resell.
And Nordstrom's right resellsand Anthropologie resells, which
I love.
Nordstrom and Anthropologie, Ido buy their stuff, right, they
(12:43):
resell other people's productsand they may have their own
brand.
Yeah, they do.
They have their own brands aswell that they just like.
What do you call it?
White label it as theirs.
But in general, I'm lookingaround and I see the writing on
the wall the brands are cuttingout the middleman.
So what does that mean?
What does that mean?
Right, we've gotdirect-to-consumer branding that
(13:07):
people are doing.
Inflation and cost of goods ismaking all the margins for
middlemen really hard.
Amazon is dominating, we knowthat.
And then we can kind of see that.
There's stats all over.
For example, in the US therewas like 7,300 store closures in
2024, and it's projected todouble closures in 2024, and
(13:31):
it's projected to double.
So I predict that by 2027,there's gonna be so many little
small boutiques and stuff out ofbusiness.
There's no way y'all that, thatresell, that resell okay,
there's just no way.
Now, those stats I don't knowwho all that is.
It's just all kinds of stores,right?
I think that you know, I wishthey had it broken out where we
knew if it was just like thedirect-to-consumers brands, but
I just I feel like those are theones that are actually popping
(13:51):
up.
So I'm kind of assuming this isa lot of like stores that are
reselling other brands, right,and it's saying that small
business survival rate is 50%fail in the first year.
It used to be that in likethree out of five years or
something.
Now it's the first year, sothat's it.
Y'all.
Boutiques are struggling.
That traditional resale modelthat I was just talking about
(14:14):
makes it so the reseller hasvery low margins but yet high
overhead, so that's not going towork.
Brands actually want morecontrol.
Like, if you're a maker, youactually want more control over
the way your product ispresented, whether it be online
or in person.
Right, we've got all thiscompetition.
Now I will say there is hopefor you.
(14:36):
So, if you are a maker, listenup.
I believe, if you are a maker,that you need to build a solid,
awesome brand.
You need to become a brand witha story.
A brand with a story.
If you make jewelry, if youmake candles, body products I
don't know what you make art yougot to have a brand with a
(14:59):
story.
Okay, I think if you want tohave a boutique, like you've had
a dream of had a clothingboutique, gift boutique I think
you need to assess where you'reopening it.
Is it in a small town where youcan be the go-to, like?
I remember 30 years ago almost,when I got married, right my
(15:20):
husband's from a very smallTexas town and there was one
store that you registered at foryour wedding and they cornered
the market for all the gifts andweddings and showers that every
girl was doing in that town.
You can do that.
That can still work.
That can still work.
I do believe that.
I believe college towns havegreat boutiques.
I believe that if you have,like a hyper-local community or
(15:40):
something fun where you canbecome the go-to, I think that
is your best bet.
If you want to have a boutique,if you do not have a lot of
foot traffic, it's going to bevery hard for you to make it
because your margins are low.
You're competing against Amazon.
It's going to be very hard.
So you got to be the go-to.
You got to be networkinglocally.
You need to be involved in yourchamber of commerce.
Everyone has to know who youare.
(16:01):
You are the go-to.
If you cannot be the go-to,what's working?
What is working right now thatyou could move to?
Okay, private label boutiques,meaning stores manufacturing and
(16:21):
selling their own brandedproducts.
Just like I told you, on MarketStreet, 90% of everything that
is there is its own brand.
Lush thought about that.
That was there.
What else is there that it washis own brand?
There's all the bougie KateSpade.
What else is there that it washis own brand?
They're all the bougie KateSpade.
You know Gucci, golden Goose,there's all those, but most of
(16:41):
them, y'all, are their own brand.
Okay, so private labelboutiques, where you have your
own brand of stuff.
You make it, you sell it in alittle store, in your booths.
Okay, here's the big thing.
This is the big thing that ishere is niche resale markets.
Everyone loves to go thrifting.
(17:02):
My daughter, 16-year-old, talksabout that that they love to go
thrifting.
Luxury, resale, thrift andvintage, sustainability-focused
stores Y'all this is growing.
Huge Resell markets okay,global apparel re-commerce is
projected to grow.
Y'all listen to this Projectedto grow from $139 billion
(17:27):
industry this year in 2025, $139billion to $1.26 trillion in 10
years.
So that's tenfold in 10 years.
That is the re-commerce market.
So if you have something thatcan be resold, upscaled luxury
resale, y'all it's huge rightnow.
Okay, here's what else you cando.
(17:48):
If you are, for example, acandle maker, shout out to
Annalisa Marie.
She was in my programs and inGrow Getters and she is making
candles.
Her business is calledAmbitious Vibes and she opened a
store in her area and does whatwe call candle making classes.
(18:11):
She hosts parties, she doesevents Y'all this works.
This works Experiential stores.
So if you're going to have astore, don't just sell your
stuff.
Try to make some kind of event,something that's fun, that
people can do.
That is working right now.
You can do pop-up shops.
(18:31):
You can partner with othershops and just do pop-up booths.
You don't even have to haveyour own store.
Right now you can just pop upeverywhere.
You can have a mobile truck orbooth and do that, and pull up
to parties and do things likethat.
Hotel and resort boutiques aredoing well because they're niche
.
They're right there.
People want to buy when they'reon vacation.
They're excited.
(18:51):
Okay, lifestyle-driven shoppingis doing very well.
I think if you want to have anonline store, at this point you
need to be everywhere.
Well, let me say this If youwant to have your own store, you
need to be online as well.
You need to have both.
You need to be omnichannel,right?
Omnichannel boutique whereyou're online and in-person.
(19:11):
It's got to be both Y'all.
That's what's working.
Private label boutiques,meaning it's your own brand
boutique.
Experiential things like, likeI said, the candle making
classes and all that for acandle store Genius, do that.
Pop-up shops, very niche marketstores like small towns where
(19:35):
you have become the go-to.
That's what it means.
But whatever it is, y'all.
You are going to have to build abrand with a story.
Now, that's what you have to doa brand with a story.
It's better if you can makeyour own stuff, because the
margins for reselling are slim,unless you have a lock in the
(19:56):
market in your area for aboutique and you have a prime
location a college town,whatever it is where you can
resell stuff and you have enoughtraffic that you're still going
to make it.
Otherwise, it's going to bevery hard to be profitable.
So if you own a boutique now,or you dream of owning one.
(20:17):
Ask yourself am I going to be areseller or am I going to be a
brand builder?
Now, again, reselling can workagain.
So don't get me wrong If you'vehad this yearning to have your
boutique and you're like this iswhat I've always wanted in my
own boutique, you can do it.
But I hope you will take allthese things into consideration
and tell yourself I'm going tobecome a brand and the go-to in
(20:40):
my market, right, if you are amaker, then you need to build a
brand, build an online presenceand be local with that brand,
with the story behind it, andyou sell direct to consumer.
Okay, you have to have a localedge.
You are going to have to have alocal edge somehow.
I think online you can do well,but I think reselling online is
(21:03):
very hard.
What I had back in the day isno longer.
I think.
I mean it can be, obviously fora big enough company that can
resell a whole bunch of goods,but it's not as easy for just
normal people like me to start amulti-six-figure business
reselling just products, right,that people can get on Amazon
(21:23):
and everywhere else, even ifit's cute, unless you have a
great location and you're thego-to, okay.
So what can you do?
You can consider having aprivate label, like if you've
had a gift boutique and you'veresold other stuff, you could
consider having your own productline that you get manufactured
Maybe you have to get itmanufactured overseas, I don't
(21:44):
know and you put your privatelabel on it and it's your brand
of bags and backpacks andjewelry or whatever it is right.
Niche, resale is huge.
You could have a resale kind ofstore.
Or you could do an online-firststrategy where you start
testing this online, seeing whatsells, and then open a store I
would recommend that and then,you know, open some kind of
(22:06):
local place.
But I think the old model ofwhat I did, which was just
restocking or just stocking andreselling other people's stuff,
is fading.
I think that's fading and itpains me.
It pains me to say that becausethat was my bread and butter,
that was my life.
I was like my baby.
I loved it, I nurtured it.
(22:27):
I, you know, slept, ate,breathed my online gift
boutiques.
That's all I did, right?
So don't get me wrong Boutiquesare not dead.
It's just that the future looksdifferent.
It looks different.
You're going to have to adapt,just like me and my friend
talking about her boutique thatshe's had and her store that
(22:49):
she's had for 10 years.
But she's had the business shedid out of her home for like 10
years before that.
She's having to adapt.
Now, y'all she's having toadapt.
She's probably going to have toclose her physical store and
she's going to figure out whatshe's going to do next.
Is she going to private label,is she going to go online?
But still, it's going to be thesame Like she's going to have
to figure something out.
Right, you have to have a brand.
(23:11):
If you're going to have a store, it needs to be.
I would try to be experientialor have location, location,
location.
Okay, I'd love to hear yourtake on this.
If you have your own boutique,online or in person, I'd love to
hear your thoughts.
You can DM me atstartwithkimberlybrock on
(23:31):
Instagram.
It's below the links down belowtoo, so you can just click it.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
If you already have had aboutique or you've been wanting
to start one, your dream, what?
What are your thoughts and whatare your thoughts about how
you're going to actually make itsuccessful?
Because it has shifted fromwhat it was.
It is no longer.
It's sadly like our pet thatleaves us.
(23:52):
We loved it, we adored it.
It's now time for a new cycleof life.
That's where we're at, people.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I know it was pretty frank withyou, but I think you needed to
hear it.
I needed to hear it too.
It's actually cathartic for meto be talking about all of this
(24:14):
because I have to let go.
I think we get emotionally tiedto our business and I haven't
even had my boutique businessesfor 7 years and I still have to
like I'm what am I letting go of?
I'm already done.
But see, you, see how we are.
I mean, you're probably like me, like we just love our
businesses.
I haven't had it for 7 years.
I feel like I just had ityesterday, like it's fresh,
(24:36):
right.
So I know if you love yourbusiness.
I know how it feels.
But we've got to be thinkingabout the future and where we're
headed.
And the resale market is tough,tough, tough.
You can still do it.
You can still do it.
I truly believe that.
But it's got to be with a wholenew spark.
A whole new spark and a wholenew direction.
And I think if you want to havean online store.
(24:58):
You need to bring.
Bring it Solid brand.
I would be a maker If I wasstarting over right now.
I would be a maker and build abrand, and I would private label
something.
It's just my brand and I might.
I would probably have a localstore, like if I had to do some
kind of retail.
I would have a local store withonline, because I think locally
you could get business.
(25:18):
I would do it maybe in a reallysmall way, but I think you're
going to have to be omni-channel.
I truly believe that.
I mean, you could try to justmake it online.
You could just try to make itonline.
It will be harder, though, butyou're still going to have to
show up.
You're going to show up places.
You're still going to have toshow up.
You're going to show up places.
You're still going to have tohave a local presence somehow
where you're sponsoring things,all of that.
So I'm rambling, but see, Itold you I was just riffing
(25:42):
today and we're just talkingabout this, so I'm so glad
you're here.
I hope this sparked yourthoughts.
I hope this helps you thinksmarter about the future of your
business and, again, reach out.
Start with Kimberly Brock.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Okay, have a great day Untilnext time.
Bye now.
Now this episode may be over,but our relationship does not
(26:06):
have to end here.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Head on over to KimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what you don't need togo through this alone.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I would love to help you.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Thank you so much and have a great day.
Bye.
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