Soap Queen reader and commenter, Goat Lady Soap, asked about our Otion Store II location.
I am disappointed to report that our lease negotiations broke down. Or rather, the property management company decided that Otion couldn’t afford the space. We disagreed based on our 4 years of financial history in Bellingham and our conservative budget for the Seattle II store. But still, they cut the space in half to lower our rent, thus making it too small for Otion’s needs. I understand. The property management company doesn’t want stores that they don’t feel can adequately make a go of it. Doing leases and due dilligence is labor intensive and they only want to do it once in five years.
It’s okay. I still love the location and the neighborhood. When we have a 2nd store in Seattle that’s doing well, we can always go back to them with our hard numbers to show them that we really can afford 1200 square feet plus common area rent at the boutique prices this spot commands.
So, we’re back to the drawing board. If we don’t find a space by July, we’ll be looking at a 2009 opening rather than a 2008.
I’m a little disillusioned but trust that a new space will be easy to find and even better than the one we were looking at.
