Making The Canyon - Pt. 1 - Location!

Finally! We’re looking forward to seeing a draft lease on our Hollywood location. It’s been a long time coming. We looked at locations in Auburn in Northern California (yes we thought about relocating – whatever it takes – but figured the market there wasn’t ready for our vibe). We were ready to sign a lease on a place in Echo Park when another tenant came in at the last minute whose dad had offered to pay a year’s rent up front. You can’t compete with that. We were about to close a deal on another place on Sunset Blvd. in East Silver Lake when the landlord told us a custom made shoe store they’d talked to months ago and had been waiting for a Small Business Admin loan - their loan was approved. Turned out they were friends of the landlord’s partner anyway so we were aced out again.

Cyn had a sudden burst of intuition that I should ask a local landlord if she’d like to rent the small rare book store she ran adjacent to her main used book and record store. Just a hunch. We talked and it seemed to be something in line with her business goals. Coincidentally I’ve known the owner since 3^rd grade which helped the trust factor. So here we are a few months later waiting to get a look at a draft lease. If there’s a lesson in all this it’s that you may have a sound business concept but if it’s dependent on finding a great location, you can wander in the wilderness for months and be disappointed to the point of losing hope you’ll ever find a place But DON’T GIVE UP! The right location will make itself available eventually. It may not be what you envisioned but a big part of developing a business is about staying flexible and adapting to new conditions. Patience, grasshopper. As it turns out, our current location is by far the best of the 4 we’ve looked closely at. “Everything happens for a reason,” Cyn says. I’m not sure we'll ever know what those reasons are but that’s a topic for another conversation.

Ironically landlords for both of the places we’ve looked at here in LA have come back to us asking if we’re interested – both of their deals fell through.