Canadian Retailer - Store 2014 - 43

plays an important part in employee job satisfaction and, of course, financial gain."
She says that retailers thinking about expansion should, "prepare for the ups and downs of
buying and selling, always have a positive outlook and roll with the punches."
A Special Find at Caravan Found Objects

On St. Clair Avenue West in Toronto, shoppers can find Gypsy Found Objects, a bohemian-inspired vintage clothing shop. If the overflowing shelves of vintage goods isn't enough,
they can walk a block west to Gypsy's sister
store Caravan Found Objects.
Owner Donnetta Galloway opened the two
stores so near to each other because she wanted to give customers a more complete shopping experience.
Gypsy opened first in 2012. The store is dark,
almost gothic and brimming with scarves,
blouses, denims, skirts, boots and everything
else you might expect to find in a magical
wardrobe. Soon after Galloway opened the
store, she had men entering her store to ask
if she sold menswear. She also found that she
didn't have enough floor space to showcase her
selection of hard-to-find one-of-a-kinds.
So in 2013, she opened Caravan. It shares
the shabby chic vibe of Gypsy but it's a bright
store, airy, full of pastels and home décor. It
also has a men's apparel section in the lower
floor. For a strip in Toronto with only one men's
clothing store, it's a boon to men who like vintage clothes.
Serial Retailing

"I swore I would never do it again," says Galloway about her decision to operate two stores
at once, something she has always done. In her
first foray into retailing in the 1980s she ran
a three-store vintage clothing chain. Her next
venture took her to Stratford, Ontario, where
she ran an apparel store and a bridal boutique,
and not far away, a bed and breakfast and a
custom design studio in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
When the leases expired, she decided to give it
up...until she opened Gypsy and Caravan.
She says that retailers who want to expand to
a second location need to think carefully about
their time. "Be prepared to do a lot of running
around," she says. Running down the block between two stores isn't so bad. But how many
retailers can replicate the one-of-a-kind retail
synergy of Caravan and Gypsy?

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DONNETTA GALLOWAY'S ADVICE ON MULTISTORE RETAILING

* Know where you are in your career: Before retailers
expand the business to a second location, they need to ask
themselves two important questions: At what point in your
life are you? And, where do you want to put the focus of your
time-on management activities or floor retailing? "I'm at
a point where I want this to be fun," says Galloway, and she
spends her time trying to make shopping at her stores a
unique experience. .
* Think security: Galloway says that theft was the biggest
deterrent to her opening a second store. "It's very violating,"
she says of having merchandise taken from her store. She
decided to protect her store by installing cameras, a move
she calls "the best thing" because she caught staff stealing
from her. The second store made her think about store
security in a way she hadn't needed to before.
* Know what you need: In a single store, the owner-manager
fills a variety of functions. That can't happen in a twostore situation. Galloway advises retailers to look at what
skills will help the retailer succeed in two places. She
puts her focus on task management-she hires people
with an aptitude for staying on task and puts her focus on
developing tasks to build the store's success.
* Learn how to delegate: Hire the right people-a huge
challenge on its own-and trust the staff to carry out their
work. Galloway says that one of the tricks to her success
with so many boutique chains has been an ability to pick
up on people's strengths and build on them. Find what
they can do well and delegate responsibilities to the staff-
because it saves time and gives staff a reason to care and
to grow. "You have to learn to let go and you'll reap more
from it," she says.
* Use the new time conscientiously: By delegating tasks and
trusting the staff, retailers will discover they have more
time on their hands than they did when they ran the daily
operations of a single store. But that's an illusion. Galloway
advises retailers to use the time previously spent on the
floor to advance the business. Take on new retail projects,
develop strategic marketing, strengthen relationships with
suppliers, master social media, focus on buying the best
products and more.

"Understand where you need support.
You have to know where your strengths
are and bring in help for the places
where you need support."
- CARLO COLACCI
Drake General Store

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Canadian Retailer - Store 2014

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