theHword.com

This is one of a series of stories on Hastings entrepreneurs that recently appeared in the Hastings Tribune. Thanks to the Tribune for allowing us to share these stories on TheHWord.com!

Enjoy!

The business behind opening a new business

By John Huthmacher
(Story & Photo Courtesy Hastings Tribune)

Starting or re-inventing a business can be a daunting challenge for even the most business-savvy entrepreneur.

With deadlines to meet, permits to secure, and expenses to cover, seldom does the start-up process go precisely as planned. Even the most experienced investor goes through a learning curve as he or she figures out just what it is that will make their business stand out from the others.

Owen Nelson, the new owner of Kitty’s Roadhouse, 1400 E. South St., is striving to get all his I’s dotted and T’s crossed in time to open his completely remodeled establishment in the coming weeks. Nelson has been preparing for the grand re-opening since the first part of August 2009. (Editor’s Note: Kitty’s has opened for business since this story first appeared in the Tribune.)

Teneil, Chad, Owen and Kim Nelson stand behind the newly renovated bar at Kitty’s Roadhouse Jan. 27. Photo by Brent McCown, Hastings Tribune.

“It’s coming along really good,” he said recently. “There are some kitchen things to do and a little bit of fine tuning and I think it’ll finally be ready. It’s been a long project.”

Starting virtually from scratch, Nelson is looking to attract a whole new customer base while keeping the tried and true regulars happy. He has definite ideas about how the place will look, but is all ears when it comes to hearing what it is his customers want. And he’ll be looking to deliver just that, whatever that often evasive X-factor may be.

“We have to perfect the cooking side of it and we’ll be in good shape,” he said. “We’ve got to see what people want that we don’t have and address our inventory accordingly to the wants of our customers.”

For that reason, he hopes customers who drop in during the bar and grill’s first few months will be vocal in expressing their wants and needs to himself and his staff.

“You need time to perfect the service,” Nelson said. “Your people have got to get educated. We’ve got some experience, but again, you need to perfect the thing.”

While he is anxious to show off his new establishment, Nelson said he’ll count on word-of-mouth exposure to generate customer visits at the outset. He’ll look to step up his publicity efforts once the weather turns nicer to give customers the opportunity to try the bar’s casual patio seating.

“We’ll have a grand opening in the summer when it’s nice outside,” he said. “It’s a small facility, so I think word-of-mouth will be a good start. We’ll just kind of go from there.”

Jason Schreiner, owner of Hometown Variety, opened Climate clothing store with his wife, Alex, in December 2009 (check out this post for more). Initially slated to open in Spring 2010, the availability of product enabled the couple to cash in early on the Christmas season.

“I think we’ve had a nice response,” he said in late January. “I guess we got our best-case scenario by receiving product and being able to open.

“We still have a little work to do on the inside of the building, just because we wanted to be open for Christmas season. It was a pretty smooth season for us.”

A 20-year veteran in the retail clothing business, Schreiner is drawing from that experience to determine which attire will fare best in the Hastings market. His connections in the business already have started to pay off in terms of what product lines he’s been able to secure.

By carrying top trendy brands like Silver, Lucky and Roxy, he is looking to tap a niche market he thinks is ripe for the taking.

“They’re unique to Hastings,” he said of his top brands. “That’s one of the things that attracted some of those folks to us. The type of product and brands they sell aren’t available in a town our size that has two colleges.”

Schreiner credits the store’s Internet presence for helping to generate business.

“We did some advertising during the Christmas season to coincide with our grand opening, but we also have a Facebook page that just hit 500 fans this past week,” he said. “So far, that’s probably been our most effective measurable method of advertising.” (Editors Note: Climate’s Facebook page now has 1,000+ fans!)

As the owner of two Hastings stores, Schreiner struggles at times to keep his attention evenly split between the two businesses. He credits his strong supporting cast of employees at both stores with picking up the slack, when necessary.

“We’re still learning how to juggle our time between the two stores and making sure we’re devoting the right amount of time to each,” he said. “The teams we have in place have made that a lot easier on us. We wouldn’t have decided to open the second store if we didn’t have a really good team in place at the Hometown store. We’ve got some experienced folks working that made that decision a lot easier. We also found a very good talent pool when we went to hire for Climate.”

His primary objective in 2010 will simply be to keep the store’s strong sales momentum going, Schreiner said. In addition to putting some finishing touches on the building, he’ll also be looking to introduce a line of popular swim wear to build on the splash of success realized during the holiday season.

“We’ve had some requests for it,” he said. “It’s just another product grouping that people don’t have as much access to in Hastings that they’d like to have.”

Mike Allsman figured his new sports bar, Rivals Bar and Grill, would be readying for its grand opening by now. It seems the weather man had other plans, however. Rain and snow in October and December brought construction of the 3,000-square-foot building to a halt, pushing the new estimated date of completion back to at least March. (Editor’s Note: Rivals is now open for business!)

“We’re still a good couple months out from being open yet,” Allsman said. “There’s a lot of stuff to figure out, little things to do and order … and training.” Mike and his four silent partners aren’t sweating the small stuff, however. The important thing isn’t just opening, but doing so in a way that leaves a favorable impression with customers.

About the author: theHword