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I have already had people reaching out and saying they want to start a boutique in 2026,

whether it's earlier in January or later in the year.

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So I want to go through in this video what I've been talking to them about and the

conversations we've been having about what needs to really happen to be successful in

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2026.

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So stay tuned.

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I'm going to give you insider tips and things you're not hearing anywhere else on the

internet all about starting your own boutique or retail store in 2026.

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If you've just landed here for the first time, I'd love to introduce myself to you.

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Hi, I'm Emily Benson.

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I am a retail consultant.

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I own a company called Boutique Training Academy where we've trained over 15,000 retailers

and boutique owners just like you to be successful, to make money, to have a career with

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their boutiques.

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That's what we're doing here, okay?

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Career, boutique.

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If that's you and you fit in here, you're a smart person.

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I'd love to have you and I'd love to have you start your journey with me.

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Honestly, we find that people that use my methods and my frameworks that I lay out in my

courses and the work that I do, they're more successful.

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They're not worried about sales right now.

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They're flying, doing their thing, doing pretty well.

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So I'm assuming that because you're here, you're in that same situation where you wanna

start off on the right foot.

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You've been thinking about it.

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You're someone who says, Emily, I really wanna start a boutique, but I don't know where to

start.

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The first thing I'm gonna tell you is that no matter what, retail is retail is retail.

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It's fundamentally always basically the same.

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I will say that year to year though, a lot can change.

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We have trends that come in and out.

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We have tariffs that happen and then don't happen.

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We have a lot of things happening in our world that you're going to have to stay

knowledgeable about.

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And so I'm hoping that I can be that person for you.

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So I'll teach you.

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the fundamentals and the structure and how to start that retail business.

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And in a video like this, I'm gonna give you those insider tips and tricks on how to kind

of beat the system.

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I have the view of so many different types of boutiques and retail stores right now from

baby stores to gift stores to home stores, online, brick and mortar, pop-ups, mobile, like

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you name it, and I have worked with it, okay?

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A lot of people come to me and they say, you, you I know you're just like boutiques, it's

just clothing.

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Yeah, but I also have a lot of other stores that work with me and frankly, they see

success too because the method works no matter what you sell.

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So let's talk about those types of boutiques because I think there's a lot of myths around

what the right thing is, where the opportunity is.

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And if you've ever heard me talk before, I just cut to the chase.

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I'm gonna tell you what's true and what's not because I see the numbers.

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A lot of people are saying right now, business is down, business is bad.

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I think it depends on where you are.

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I think it depends on who you're selling to.

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I think it really depends on that customer and that niche.

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And that's really my first tip here for going into 2026 is that you need to have a very

clear cut customer.

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It's more important than ever to cut through the noise that's happening out there.

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Okay.

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We are seeing a focus on the over 50 customer.

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We're seeing a focus on the Gen Z customer.

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We're seeing millennials and Gen X's get

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sort of marketed to a little bit together.

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There's a little bit of crossover, but I would say between Boomers and Gen Z, there's

about three other generations kind of sitting in that pool, right?

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So I want you to think about generationally, who are you gonna target to?

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And then in that generation, what is that person doing?

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What is she or he doing in their lives?

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And how are you gonna provide your service, your product to them in a way that feels

affordable, fun?

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just for them.

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This is the trick.

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If you can start a boutique or retail store that caters to a very specific customer, you

will always win.

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Okay, we are seeing surf shops do well, we're seeing outdoor stores do well, we're seeing

running stores, craft stores, these really specific niche interests, and then they're

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catered sort of to the customer that is doing that most.

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Right now I'm working on a couple different projects behind the scenes for my business.

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And one of the things that I've kind of been thinking bigger about from just saying, okay,

who's your ideal customer is how big is the addressable market?

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That's like a little bit more business school like lingo for me.

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But what is the size of the addressable market makes sense to me because it is really like

this group of people you can put together and say they're X big and they live in these

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places.

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and socioeconomically they exist in these areas.

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All of that actually is becoming more and more and more important.

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And part of that is because of marketing.

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Marketing has gotten more expensive, more nuanced.

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And I think that's the big part is that you're not gonna cut through the noise if you're

not being specific about your customer.

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If I'm being so, so honest with you though, what I find is that most people are selling to

themselves.

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They're selling to a version of themselves.

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right now.

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mean, honestly, I'm looking for more clothes that work for me, that work for my body.

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And when I don't find them, all I can think is, I wish I could find them, make them, sell

them, help other women like me, right?

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I bet you're in the same spot.

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And so I think this is where we have to say, it's okay to sell to ourselves.

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Like it's okay to be sort of the muse for our own store.

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I do think that there is an honest understanding of who can afford what you sell and

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what the purpose of it is.

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I think you want to be clear about that.

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Part of that will just come through defining that customer and speaking directly to them.

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If you made it this far and you're like, Emily, I want to know more, comment below the

word start.

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We have a great free webinar called how to start a boutique business.

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go into even more than this and actually a little bit more of like the fundamentals of

starting a business.

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This is a very right now timely topic for the channel.

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But in that webinar, I teach you like step by step, like how much to buy, what to buy.

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how to bring it in, how to price it.

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It's like really specific and we have people that absolutely rave about it because it's

free, but it's so valuable.

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So like I said, just comment, start below and we'll comment back with the link to sign up

for that free class.

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So if we're talking about things to know, one of the biggest myths that I wanna share with

you is that online is not the answer.

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It is not the opportunity that you think it is.

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Is it an opportunity?

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Yes.

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And so if you're like, wait, Emily, I wanted to start an online boutique.

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It's okay.

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When you're online, it can take a longer time to connect with the audience.

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That's why I'm saying your customer has to be so specific so you can cut through the

noise.

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When you sell something for everyone or I have a little bit for these and then no, you

have to be so clear.

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Think about Haley Bieber.

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She's such a good example of like selling one thing.

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Someone mentioned that her business exists in a mirror.

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world, meaning all of the products that she designs, develops, sells are meant to

literally be in the picture as you like take a selfie in the mirror.

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So when you think about that, that's a whole world and there are people that love that

world.

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And so she is catering to those people, giving them a product that makes sense.

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And now she sold that company for a billion dollars.

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So think about who your market is.

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Think about who she is, what world does she live in and how do you fit into it?

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That is going to be how you cut through the online noise.

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And I say that because Hilary Bieber's entire business has been online.

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The clearer you are with people about who you are, what you sell, what you're doing, the

faster they're going to trust you.

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There's a lot of distrust on the Internet.

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And one of the things even to know that we see happen sometimes in the online retail world

is someone from another country outside of the U.S.

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will take a United States based boutiques.

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website, basically just copy it, put it on a very similar domain.

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So let's say your store name was uniqueboutique.com, they'll buy uniqueboutique.com.

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Like, right?

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It's like a little bit different.

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Or sometimes they will literally just take the name of the store and say that that's their

store.

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This can happen.

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And because this happens, people don't always trust what's going on on the internet.

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So the more that you can show your face,

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You can have a real about me.

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You can have maybe some influencer type posts influencer, meaning you being the influencer

showing up as the face of your store.

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This is for online and honestly brick and mortar.

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I think you can do it less when you're in brick and mortar, but I think online it's good

to show, hey, I'm a real person.

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Hey, this is what's going on.

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And just be so clear that, you know, this is how you operate your business.

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Cause you want to be able to ship.

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all over the country, all over the world.

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There's two other pretty important things I wanna talk about around starting an online

boutique.

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So I hope you're still here with me.

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I'm like trying to give you as much as I can and be succinct, but also I wanna explain so

that you understand what you're getting into, okay?

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So hopefully I'm striking a balance with that.

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So having an online boutique is really the combination of trust, great photos, great

storytelling, and consistency.

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People want to build a relationship with you, but if you don't actually

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put yourself out there and show up for your business, they're not going to show up for

you.

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I had someone say to me, I don't want to post a picture of me in an outfit.

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Like it feels like I'm looking for attention.

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And my response was like, yeah, of course you're looking for attention.

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You want to sell it.

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Like that's okay.

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Like when did wanting attention become bad?

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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If it fills your ego.

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That's one thing, right?

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Obviously, I don't think any of us are in this like post cute pictures and like we're

doing it for bigger purposes and it can feel uncomfortable to post pictures or film or

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whatever, but you have to do it.

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If you don't get attention, you won't sell things.

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And I think the whole attention economy is really hitting a nerve right now because people

are starting to distrust social media now.

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Social media is the main...

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driver of traffic to an e-commerce website.

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So what are we doing there?

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Right?

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Are we moving to Substack?

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Are we starting YouTube channels?

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How does the boutique industry actually evolve and retail stay online and be able to sell

online while still having your own customer base?

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We're seeing a lot of retailers who are creating their own affiliate apps.

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So someone like Sephora, they've created their own affiliate app.

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So let's say you're a beauty influencer.

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You don't have to basically have that third party in between you, where you

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promote a brand, they click through another traffic website to the Sephora website.

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Sephora's saying, no, no, no, just like come here, Link will pay you more money as an

affiliate.

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So we're seeing tactics used for online spaces that we haven't quite seen in the past.

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And I think that big brands are getting creative and smaller brands are going to have to

too.

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I think the old model of like live selling and...

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You know, being a QVC star, I don't think it works for everyone.

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I don't think everyone has to go live.

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I don't think everyone has to constantly be on Instagram stories.

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I think that if you set up your business in a way that works for you, then people will

sort of fall in line.

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If you say we're launching once a month on the first of the month, and that's our

collection, we're gonna sell it, we're gonna promote it all month, that's how you work.

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And that's totally fine.

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I actually have clients that do that.

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I have clients that will launch every week at the same exact time.

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same exact time every week, it becomes predictable.

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And then I have clients who do what they want.

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They want whatever they want, but they have the right to do that because their people are

okay with it.

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Their customers are okay with it.

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So, you I would recommend always getting consistent, building that audience, and then

maybe you play with it a little bit more, but decide how is it going to work best for you

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to balance social media, promotion, maybe some other forms of content and...

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Community building that you didn't think of like a sub stack or a WhatsApp group, like

something that feels a little bit different, but still personal, but still getting you out

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there, right?

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We still want to drive traffic to your website and we have to find other ways to do that.

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How does the boutique industry actually evolve and retail stay online and be able to sell

online while still having your own customer base?

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So I think what I'm really getting at with this whole conversation about online boutique,

like online is not the answer.

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whether that's how you're gonna start out or how you're going to like scale up, it is a

choice.

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It is that's how I'm going to open my boutique.

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It's not like, I'm gonna start online and then open up good morning and then just start

online.

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Just like do one thing really well.

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You we're gonna talk about breaking orders here in a minute, but I think it's really

important for you to remember having an online boutique looks easy.

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It looks like you can sit in your PJs and just post things and sell things.

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That is so not true.

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The most...

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casual looking boutique owners out there who you think like, oh, their stuff looks so

organic.

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They are working so hard on the lighting and the imagery and they have a photographer,

right?

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You have to put in the time and the energy to build a brand around you.

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And I think sometimes that also means getting out of the house, doing a pop-up, doing an

event, doing something in person, even if it's a private party at a friend's house,

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getting out of the house.

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is a huge part of having an online business as well.

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So remember, starting a business is never gonna be easy.

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Starting a boutique is never gonna be easy.

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There are different challenges with different ways of operating.

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We're gonna talk about brick and mortar next, because brick and mortar is still alive.

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Before I get into that though, I do wanna just remind you that I would love for you to ask

questions below.

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What do you need help with?

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Where do you feel stuck?

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What kind of content do you wanna hear from me about starting your boutique?

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Like where have you stalled out?

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I wanna know, comment down below or send me an email always at hello at

boutiquetrainingacademy.com.

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We'll put that also down below in the notes.

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You know, I'm here to help you.

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I don't judge anything.

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I think anyone can start a boutique.

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I think it can be your career and I can show you how to do that.

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So, all right, let's talk now about brick and mortar.

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So, brick and mortar, I think a lot of people think is dead.

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Like what?

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No.

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Brick and mortar is not dead.

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You have to do brick and mortar right though.

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And that's where I think that a lot of people are getting confused.

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A lot of people think, oh, I can have a store, people can come in and it's going to be

great.

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Again, it's going to take work to drive traffic into a physical location the same way it

does on your website.

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So again, it's pick your sort of struggle, pick your challenge.

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With a brick and mortar, location is everything.

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Not going to lie.

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I have a lot of people that have emailed me where they're

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you know, putting a structure on their property and they're like out in the middle of

nowhere.

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It's a destination.

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They're open Saturdays.

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Like I love that.

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I also have people who are in a downtown area of a great community in a thriving city and

state.

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And I'm like, yes, pay that little extra rent to be there.

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Sometimes it's a little more than, you know, we think it should be, but

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Pay that money to have that good spot location really is everything.

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Parking is everything.

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Does your person need to be able to park a car?

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they need to be able to like walk on a sidewalk into your store when it snows?

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Think about all these details before you go sign a brick and mortar lease.

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But brick and mortar is doing so well right now.

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I have so many stores and even if they're not doing like.

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bigger than last year, they're still maintaining.

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They're becoming a community space.

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They're becoming an event space.

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They're becoming spaces and places where

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There's more local influence, whether it is from selling the local high school team name

sweatshirt to having local influencers or local clubs come into the store.

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We have local authors showing up, local painters, artists.

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My point is you have to drive the traffic, whether it's through events, whether it's with

direct mailers, whether it's with billboards, team sponsorships.

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There is so much you can do.

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I have to be honest, every time I get a direct mail piece in my mailbox, I'm like, this is

such a good idea.

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I look at all of them.

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I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I still think that's a great way to advertise.

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So if you want to open a brick and mortar, please don't be scared.

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I think you have to do your research on the location and if it's the right location for

you and what you're selling and, you know, what are the demographics like where you are.

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But I think you can build a business no matter where you are because people need clothes.

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And unless you're really competing with big guys that are, you know, right near your

store, you just you don't have a

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clientele in that area that will pay the price that you need to like charge to cover your

rent.

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Like the math doesn't work, right?

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You have to have the math work, especially for the location.

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So I think brick and mortars are still on the up and up.

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And I still think you want to do your math behind them because they can be so great.

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And you don't want to get yourself in a situation.

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where the rent is too high or your renovation cost was too high or uh some sort of fixed

cost, some sort of loan is like so high that it really stresses out your cash flow.

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That's the biggest problem I see with people who open brick and mortars.

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They tend to like spend a good amount of money that feels like it's actually too much to

pay off.

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With a brick and mortar, you have to be more disciplined with how much you buy, how much

you spend on that build out, how much you spend on employees.

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The math can work.

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but you have to finesse it to get it to work depending on the space and the rent and all

of those additional costs.

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So those are things that I teach all the time.

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I love talking about costs actually inside my book called the ultimate boot camp book.

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I actually have charts that show you how much certain things cost.

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They have a whole chapter chapter five called money matters and inside of it, it says

ongoing costs running a brick and mortar ongoing costs running a mobile boutique.

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I also have startup costs in here.

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So this is a really nice resource.

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It's available on Amazon.

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We'll put the link below.

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But all of those costs in a brick and mortar, I'm going to tell you, feel like more

pressure than when you're in e-commerce because you're out in public.

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It's just a different kind of pressure.

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And so I want to let you know about that because do I think brick and mortars work?

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Yes.

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Love it.

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I'm like always looking at spaces and calling on spaces for myself.

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OK, because someday it will happen.

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I'll open a store someday again, probably.

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My point is, is that I would not spend too much on the build out.

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I would keep my numbers tight.

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And I think 2026 should still be a good retail year.

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We still love to consume things.

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We still love to have new clothes.

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That said, make it sustainable.

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Be careful with the money that you're spending and that you're investing in your future.

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And have a plan.

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All of the things that I say all the time, if you go back to my videos about how to start

in 2025, my advice for 2024,

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All of that is still so relevant.

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This is like your 2026 update.

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What I teach is forever.

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And so I hope this has helped you sort of get in the space where you're like, all right, I

could maybe do this or ooh, I should research that a little bit more.

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I'm always happy to have you around here.

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I love talking about retail.

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No question is too silly or dumb.

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So please, again, post them below.

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And if you love what you watched, go ahead, like and subscribe to my channel.

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I come out with new videos all the time.

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I'd love to have you join me in boutique land.

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So here's to making lots of friends and making lots of money.

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See you on the next one.