Impressions - April 2014 - 58

tS

Embroidery Production

Absolutely Specialties, Snellville, Ga., has grown from a basement location
to a standalone building with embroidery, screen printing, direct-to-garment printing
and an extensive retail showroom.

so it took time to read each one to ﬁnd
what you were looking for.
Next, there were no cars in the parking
lot. I looked at the other businesses and
saw a landscaper, pest control service, mobile car detail service, land surveyor and
carpet cleaner; the rest of the spaces were
empty. None of the other businesses had
trafﬁc, so there was no way anyone would
even know the embroidery business was
there unless they heard about it some
other way.
I saw a similar park across the street
and asked the embroidery shop owner
why he hadn't moved there. He said it was
because they wanted $1 more per square
foot for rent. I talked him into revisiting
the industrial park to see if the offer had
been updated. The rent still was more expensive, but the other businesses included
a deli, coffee shop, hair salon, liquor store,
ﬂorist, tax service, pet store, printer, personal mailboxes and convenience store.
The parking lot was full and there was a
trafﬁc light for entering and exiting the
premises. As a bonus, each business had a
custom sign out front that was lit at night.
A deal was made on the spot and the
embroidery shop owner moved within 30
days. By adding a small area in the front
of the store as a gift shop with both embroidered and non-embroidered items, he
attracted customers needing last-minute
gifts. He even started embroidering shirts,
aprons, smocks and hats for the other
businesses in the park. One year later, he
added screen printing and sales have continued to increase.
Don't settle for the ﬁrst thing you ﬁnd
58

Impressions | April/May 2014

because what you need may be just across
the street or down the road.

SHOPPING MALL SOLUTIONS
The most demanding location is a large
shopping mall. You will be open seven
days a week and you must participate in
mall promotions and sales. This sometimes
requires extra employees to cover sidewalk sales, or late-night/all-night sales. The
rent is by far the most expensive and the
better the location, the more it will cost.
Another option, especially for startups,
is a kiosk. The downside is that there is
no space for storage and everything has to
be put away each night. Many malls offer
holiday space and if there are stores that
have been empty for a long time, you can
get a good deal. But there usually is a reason for lots of empty stores.
The hardest thing to gauge is when or
why to move or expand. Nearly 20 years
ago, I got a call from Elaine Hayward, who
was based in Snellville, Ga. She was selling
ASI items and outsourcing her embroidery and screen printing. She was tired of
her suppliers missing deadlines and doing
sub-par work, and she needed help setting
up her embroidery business. I trained her
on a singlehead machine and she started
doing her own orders. She worked from
her basement and was on the run going to
see customers.
It wasn't long until she moved into
a new home with a larger basement. At
that time, she added someone to help
with sales and running the machine. She
slowly added more machines and help,
and she did things the right way by en-

suring she didn't go into debt by adding
equipment too quickly.
A few years ago, she bought a freestanding building, remodeled it to ﬁt her
needs and added screen printing. Again,
she added employees to help with customers and run machines.
Absolutely Specialties now has several
multihead embroidery machines, screen
printing, engraving, a gift shop and -
most of all - loyal employees that have
been with the company from the beginning. Knowing when to grow is important.
Treating your customers and employees
honestly will enable your business to grow
and expand at the correct pace.
Remember, if expansion feels right, go
for it. If you are not 100% sure, then slow
down and wait until the time is right. Do
your research and make sure you have the
right location, proper permits and licenses.
Don't go into debt if you're not sure you
can make your payments.
I know a lot of people who have made
a small fortune in the embroidery business. The problem is they started with a
large fortune.
Don't let that be you!
Connie R. Smith has been in the embroidery industry for more than 30 years and has
been an industry speaker and consultant. She
also is an award-winning digitizer. For more
information or to comment on this article,
email Connie at lickatstitch@yahoo.com.

Suggested

Reading

Like this article? Read these other
embroidery articles at impressionsmag.com:
* "Small Space Embroidery
Solutions"
* "Trouble Ahead, Trouble
Behind"
* "Pricing Embroidery"
impressionsmag.com
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Impressions - April 2014

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