Rayela Art grew out of over twenty years of retail experience, mostly in Chicago.  (See About)  Now the business focuses mostly on online sales and has moved into providing technical assistance to other small businesses and retailers.  I currently have a booth space at Antique Galleria, 212 Broadway, downtown Paducah.

My focus there: ralli quilts, suzani, tribal textiles and fair trade gift items.  You will also find incense and soaps!

The largest retail space I had was Dara Tribal Village with former partner Abdul Wardak of Afghan Tribal Arts. 

A gorgeous 5,000 square foot space, full of life, events, a great community, yet the store could never meet its financial commitments adequately.  A brick and mortar store has a much higher overhead than an online store.  Our rent was $4,000 a month, plus utilities, banking fees, supplies, product purchases, marketing, and so on.  We loved our business, but closed because of the financial stress.  A concept might be wonderful, but it might also be a white elephant!

However, some of the same tools that have become important in promoting online stores can also be used for brick and mortar ones.  Social media platforms can create community for your business and bring in the needed support.  Do you have a blog?  Think about how photographing areas of your store and telling stories about those products might generate interest in surrounding communities.  Products sell for many different reasons (color, age, provenance, artist, etc.), but they will not tell their own story.  How about facebook?  Create a business page and get your people together to celebrate your business.  Or, how about your displays?  Maybe they need rethinking...

Are you stumped and depressed about your business?  I can help you brainstorm about some solutions that might work for you.  email me

$35/hr or a flat project fee.

Holiday sale at my Rayela Art Booth!

2010

Print out the coupon below and take it with you in order to get the discount.

Here is the shop on Etsy.  Click on any item to get there.  Enter the coupon code at check out to get the 25% discount.  Etsy will figure it out automatically.