{ 05-01-2010 }

Survival of the Creative, Seattle magazine

From yoga studios to high-end restaurants, businesses are finding new ways to open and stay afloat

By Karen Johnson, online managing editor
Seatlle Magazine

When La Rousse owner Amanda Rosenthal faced going into debt to keep her Belltown women’s clothing boutique in business, her creative wheels started spinning. A veteran of online advertising and a self-taught entrepreneur, Rosenthal opted to take an outside-the-box approach: She closed her storefront in the fall of 2008, revamped her Web site, created a blog and turned the basement of her 1910 Capitol Hill home into a flourishing private studio, where customers, by appointment, come to see and try on merchandise.

The city’s lifestyle industry—once flooded with customers looking to spend—is undergoing a rethink in our downsized economy. Enterprising shopkeepers, restaurateurs and providers of other lifestyle services have entered a survival-of-the-fittest era in which creativity, adaptability and fresh ideas are reshaping traditional business models.

Rosenthal’s embrace of social networking (blogging, tweeting and updating her Facebook page are among her new job duties) is one example of how things are changing for small businesses. She is not alone in using this strategy. Another niche retailer, Ballard’s Blackbird, has also had success using this model, seamlessly incorporating personality-filled blog posts alongside information about products and upcoming events. “Blogs, newsletters, posting pictures…you’ve got to keep up with the marketing to keep people’s attention,” Rosenthal says.  

Technology has also given a boost to the age-old model of the sale. With just a few tweets, a one-person shop can get the word out about an upcoming sale or coupon code. And more and more frequently, retailers are teaming up for group sales, which are also often advertised via tweets and other social networking tools. Fremont’s Boutique Culture (boutiqueculture.com)—launched last year—brings together a complementary mix of vendors, retailers and  merchants for a massive warehouse sale several times a year. It’s been successful enough to take its sale model on the road to Los Angeles, Dallas and Boston, among other cities.

Another iteration of nimble business strategy is the pop-up shop. While the concept of a short-term shop is nothing new, the frequency with which these retail squatters are appearing is. In Seattle, pop-ups have cropped up in several incarnations, with some stores making seasonal appearances (including Doc Martens’ downtown shop and several at Pacific Place), and others appearing within established shops (Rosenthal partners with downtown’s Spa Noir for a quarterly La Rousse pop-up shop). Even Washington State has jumped on the pop-up bandwagon, opening mall-based holiday liquor stores last November and December to boost state revenue from alcohol sales.

The food scene has seen its own version of the pop-up option. Eastlake’s 14 Carrot Café loaned its kitchen to the short-lived gourmet taqueria Tako Truk; the Summit Public House recently became home to Castleberry’s gourmet pub grub; and Wallingford’s Art of the Table hosts Tuesday-night dinners prepared by former Stumbling Goat chef Seth Caswell.

The new economy has also inspired creative financing. Wallingford’s Om Culture, a 3,000-square-foot community dance, yoga and music studio, was opened in October partly with money raised after owner Michael Suzerris put out a “plea for help” to his longtime clients. As a result of his financing call-to-arms, more than a dozen patrons bought $1,000 annual passes good for unlimited use of Suzerris’ three yoga studios, which helped finance construction of the new space. What did Suzerris learn from his experience? To “roll with the punches,” he says. “These days you have to be nimble.”

Famed Chef in the Hat Thierry Rautureau, owner of Rover’s, took a similar approach for his new restaurant, Luc, a casual dining lounge and bar opening this month. Rautureau reached out to his notoriously loyal patrons, offering $1,000 gift certificates good for $1,300 in food over the next three years at either of his two restaurants. In one month last year, gift certificate sales reached $220,000. “I was amazed and shocked by the response,” Rautureau says.

Company owners hope these tactics will help them ride out the rough economy. And when the economy takes a turn for the better? Surely the lessons learned from savvy online marketing, unconventional collaborations and smart spending habits will continue to shape local business.

Photograph by Kyle Johnson

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