'Tis The Season Start planning now to deck the malls with profits as the owner of a seasonal opportunity.

A part-time business racks up full-time profits for CarlWiederaenders of Des Moines, Iowa, who operates his Calendar Clubstores from mid-September to mid-February each year. With 1997revenues of more than $2.4 million, Wiederaenders has alreadymarked his calendar for this year's holiday season.

As a temporary mall tenant, Wiederaenders is part of a growingtrend: entrepreneurs who capitalize on increased consumer trafficduring the winter holidays, October through December. "[Thebest time to] be in retail is when people are shopping,"Wiederaenders says. "And during the holidays, there are morepeople shopping than at any other time of the year."

Such specialty leasing, also called seasonal selling, startedduring the mid-1980s as a way for malls to fill empty storefrontsand corridors with temporary carts, stores and kiosks."It's an inexpensive way to build a store for yourself andput it in the busiest part of a mall, where thousands of peoplewalk by every day," says Tom Vitacco, national sales directorfor retail licensing at Fannie May Candies.

Franchise and business opportunity companies such as Fannie Mayand Calendar Club provide entrepreneurs with a ready-made means ofentry into temporary businesses as franchisees or licensees--andoften make start-up easy by negotiating leases, providingmerchandise or designing business plans.

Entrepreneurs who buy the Calendar Club business opportunity,for instance, use the company's name, operating system,procedures, displays and products. Special cash registers not onlyring up sales, calculate sales tax and run daily register reports,but also dial into the distribution center at day's end soCalendar Club can replenish your inventory and automatically deductits share from your bank account, leaving behind your 16percent.

Calendar Club, founded in 1993, even provides its 90 operatorswith an assortment of calendars targeted to individual regions'demographics. For instance, a Calendar Club near a ski resort wouldstock more ski calendars than an urban location would.

Wiederaenders, who runs a home renovation business the rest ofthe year, joined Calendar Club in 1993 after managing afriend's store for a season. He opened five stores thefollowing year, for a fee of $2,500 each. His revenues frommid-November to the first week of January that year surpassed$400,000. Last year, he oversaw 26 stores in the Midwest. Hetravels from location to location during the week and hiresmanagers to help run his stores.

Sandra Mardenfeld, a freelance writer in New York City, haswritten for The New York Times Book Review and WorkingWoman.

Sweet Success

With a seasonal business, you can capitalize on the sellingseason and run several stores, as Wiederanenders does, or just oneor two. Whichever option you choose, a key to success is choosing aproduct you personally like.

Mike Spehn grew up in Chicago, where Fannie May Candies were apart of life. So when he decided to invest in a businessopportunity, signing on as a Fannie May licensee was a naturaldecision. "I still have family and friends in Chicago, andgoing back to Chicago always means picking up some Fannie MayCandies to bring home," explains the Lake Forest, California,entrepreneur.

So in the summer of 1997, Spehn invested $60,000 to open twoFannie May kiosks for the holidays. (Each distributorship costs$30,000 and includes a custom kiosk, signage, a cash register, aweek-long training program, initial inventory and an exclusiveterritory.) Fannie May's holiday season starts beforeThanksgiving and ends just after Easter. At press time, Spehn wasin the middle of his selling season. He plans to add between twoand five kiosks next year.

Of course, sweet success doesn't come without effort. Spehn,who also manages a children's retail store, works double shiftsand relies on some 12 employees to keep his kiosks running."Even when I go home, I spend a couple more hours on thecomputer [working out] systems, the budget, etc.," hesays.

Founded in 1920, Fannie May began licensing temporary retailkiosks last year, with 25 kiosks in shopping centers in 10 states.The company started its kiosk program to capitalize on theshops' best season; the 340 company-owned stores do most oftheir business around Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter.Within five to seven years, Fannie May hopes to have 400-pluskiosks nationwide.

Sites For Sore Eyes

Location is an important factor in a seasonal business'success. Some companies find locations for their seasonal licenseesor franchisees; others require you to secure your own spot. Beforebuying such an opportunity, make sure the company offers a fullrefund if you can't find a suitable site.

If you're seeking a location on your own, be aware thatrental policies vary from mall to mall. Call malls in your area andask for a specialty temporary leasing application. In many cases,you'll be asked to submit a picture or sketch of the proposedunit. If you're a brand-new tenant, the mall may also request abusiness plan, references, a catalog or samples of yourproduct.

Rental costs--which depend on the size of the property, theamount of traffic the mall gets and the time of year--range from$800 per month and up from January through October. Rent for theentire holiday season (November and December) can range from $8,000to $20,000.

Cost isn't the only consideration when choosing a location.Research several malls, paying attention to the average sales persquare foot, occupancy rates, foot-traffic count and the number ofparking spaces.

Remember, malls seek the right product mix, so look for alocation where your product will be a good fit. "I might have50 people send me applications for gold jewelry [kiosks], but wealready have many gold jewelry stores in the mall. We don'twant [temporary tenants] to be in direct competition with ourpermanent tenants," says Deborah Georgetti-Piro, director ofspecialty temporary leasing for Corporate Property Investors, a NewYork City company that owns and manages 17 mall propertiesnationwide.

Once you've found a mall that fits your needs, don'tdelay. Properties with good markets book fast, and malls givereturning clients consideration over newcomers. To guarantee aspot, apply for your space at the beginning of the year.

What's In Store?

Maintaining adequate inventory can be tricky for seasonalentrepreneurs. Your selling period is short, and you need enoughstock on hand to fill orders--but not so much that items go unsold.Before buying a franchise or business opportunity, ask what kind ofassistance the company provides in selecting inventory, and makesure orders can be filled rapidly.

"Anytime you're in retail, [inventory] is aguess," says Steven Fink, who has operated a seasonal SwissColony storefront, selling gift packages of sweets, cheese andbeef, since 1993. "It's an educated guess, but it's aguess." The Spring Valley, California, entrepreneur bases hisinitial shipping order on his previous season's sales. Histhird year in business, though, sales boomed--and in a last-minuteair-freight shipment, Fink ordered a few hundred more gift packagesthan he needed. He kept his stores open past Christmas to sell themoff and donated the remainder to charity.

With sales increasing 15 percent each year (he sold more than1,500 gift packs last season), Fink is already planning his 1998locations. He initially discovered Swiss Colony's seasonalopportunity through a newspaper ad. He liked the product, and thecompany's November/December selling season corresponded withthe slow season of the three furniture stores he owns. Last year,Fink, his wife, Myrna, and eight employees ran two stores.

Monroe, Wisconsin-based Swiss Colony opened its first retailoutlet in 1962, and its first seasonal franchise opened in 1986."Rents in regional malls got so high, we knew we couldn'tcontinue on a year-round basis," explains Donna Bartley, thecompany's national franchise manager. Because 75 percent of itssales occur in November and December, Swiss Colony began focusingon seasonal opportunities. Today, 32 seasonal franchisees sell thecompany's products from 100 kiosks and storefronts.

Swiss Colony's franchise fee is $500 per location per year.Franchisees must also have working capital equivalent to 60 percentof the store's projected sales. (For example, $60,000 inprojected sales would require $36,000 in working capital.) Beforefranchisees sign on, Swiss Colony finds locations for them and putstogether a financial game plan. It also helps with leasenegotiations, design and layout, inventory selection, laborscheduling and training. Franchisees' gross sales range from$15,000 to $160,000 per store per season, depending on location andsize of the store.

If you're looking for a way to test the waters ofentrepreneurship, a seasonal franchise or business opportunitycould be just what you're looking for. With opportunities asvaried as the customers hurrying through a busy mall, there'ssure to be one that fits your needs.

Next month, we'll tell you how to start your ownindependent kiosk or cart business.

Green Christmas

The seasonal decorations in Tim Hayden's Country Clutterfranchise, a country-themed retail store in Hillsboro, Texas, madesuch an impression that customers mistook it for a Christmasstore.

Apparently, someone at headquarters liked Hayden's idea. In1996, Vacaville, California-based parent company Country VisionsInc. introduced a seasonal-store program called ChristmasClutter.

"[Christmas Clutter] gives people options and creates amore festive, holiday atmosphere in the mall," says KenPetersen, CEO of Country Visions. "That helps get customers inthe mood to shop. Kiosks and temporary stores are the latest retailtrend--and a great way to add `buzz' to a mall."

Hayden, who opened a Christmas Clutter companion store in 1997,used the seasonal store to entice new customers to his year-roundshop. He offered a gift with each purchase of $25 or more atChristmas Clutter. The catch? Customers had to pick the gift up athis Country Clutter store, on the other side of the mall. Haydensays his extra three months' work, along with an estimated$40,000 investment, earned revenues of more than $175,000.

While the Christmas Clutter opportunity is open only to existingCountry Clutter franchisees, Country Visions has also developed anew seasonal franchise program for the general public. CalledSanta's Clauset, the shops, which will be open from October orNovember through the first week of January, have a $2,000 franchisefee and a minimum $34,600 liquid cash requirement. Franchisees aresupplied with inventory and a fixture package. Some 50 Santa'sClauset stores are expected to open this year.

Resources

For more information about the companies in this article,call:

• Calendar Club: (888) 422-5637

• Country Visions Inc.: (888) 599-9685

• Fannie May Candies: (312) 432-3471

• Swiss Colony: (800) 356-8119

• For more information on temporary tenancy businesses, attendThe International Council of Shopping Centers' yearly TemporaryTenant Short-Term Specialty Retailing Conference. For details,visit http://www.icsc.org or call(212) 421-8181 and ask for Member Services.

• To research shopping malls, consult retail-industry trademagazines and shopping-center directories, such as the Directoryof Major Malls (Directory of Major Malls Inc., $449,800-898-6255).

Contact Sources

Calendar Club, lorih@calendarclub.com

Corporate Property Investors, 305 E. 47th St., New York,NY 10017

Country Visions Inc., http://www.santasclauset.com

Fannie May Candies, (714) 951-0444, http://www.fanniemaycandies.com

Swiss Colony, fax: (608) 328-8438