Just Be to Close Retail Store [VIDEO]

When Michelle Lienhart first opened her Just Be retail clothing shop on Main Street, it was a bit of a test. Could she take her wholesale and Internet business and move it to the city’s main drag and make a go of it? Could she do everything at once successfully?

At first, sales were good, and it seemed to be working.

But then, before she knew it, the business hit her with another test: she lost her space, formerly where the Cool Moose Creamery and a candy shop were, and couldn’t find another space on Main Street she could afford. So she up and moved to Sheep Davis Road, next door to Butters Fine Food and Wine, and just south of the Steeplegate Mall.

“Everyone said, ‘That’s a great location, there’s a lot of traffic, I’m up there all the time,’” she said of the move, pausing. “OK … Where are you?”

Lienhart said she doesn’t even get the foot traffic from the three other stores in the strip of stores next door to her. And while she does get some customers coming in, and a lot people driving by, most don’t come in. Lienhart said, like any business owner, she sat down and did an evaluation and the numbers just weren’t working.

“If I’m only selling a few hundred dollars a month, it doesn’t make sense for me to stay here,” she said. “I didn’t have big expectations for the store. I just wanted it to sustain itself and it couldn’t even do that. I’m getting out while it’s OK.”

Instead, Lienhart will focus on what is more profitable and what has always worked before – her wholesale line and website. She's working on a new website now that will be up soon and she’ll be moving the business into another location on Old Turnpike Road, at a third of the cost, so she can continue servicing her other clients.

The new location is zoned for retail, she said, so Just Be may open up to customers at the holidays for a few weeks. Also, anyone who puts in an order online, can come by the space to pick up the order, if they so choose, in order to save on shipping costs, Lienhart noted.

“I’m still going to be local,” she said. “I’m still going to be around.”

Through the month of April, Lienhart is running a closing sale with various discounts, including buy one get one free deals, on the retail items in the store. The sale will run through 6 p.m. on April 26.