Growing Up

For retailers with one location, opening a second store is usually the most logical path to growth. Although they had always planned to open multiple locations, the Gibbses investigated other growth options, too. They decided against franchising because they felt the costs would be too high for potential franchisees. They also ruled out distributing other lines of pet products because they feared they'd have trouble selling to their competition. After weighing all their options, they decided opening another store was the way to go.

If you take this route, you need to open your second location far enough away from the original site so that new customers will shop there. After all, you don't want your second location to cannibalize your first. For the Gibbses, that meant opening their North Kansas City, Missouri, superstore 20 miles away-and across the state line-from the original store. Their third location, in Eastern Kansas City, is also about 20 miles away from its nearest sister store.

"Finding locations that are in the right areas has been a [concern] for us," says Carolyn Gibbs. At approximately 30,000 square feet apiece, sufficient distance between locations is a prominent issue.

Another concern is hiring a good manager for your second location. As an entrepreneur, it will probably be hard to relinquish even a little control over your business, but you can't be two-or more-places at once. The experts say it's important to find a team player who shares your vision and enthusiasm for the business. Look for someone with creativity, innovation and problem-solving abilities.

When you decide to open a second store, sometimes it makes sense to change the focus of the products you carry. For example, if you own a dress shop, you might consider having your second store specialize in related accessories. This will expose your first store's product lines to your new shop's customers-ideally without negatively impacting the first store's sales.

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Growing Up.