Fashion Is Freedom by Tala Raassi

Author:Tala Raassi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2016-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Fashion in the Haunted Town House

The energy between us—the three musketeers—was high. We were on a mission and shared the same passion, which created a highly motivating situation to feed off of. As the days went by, we continued brainstorming and worked tirelessly to solidify a business plan (which is, as you know, my absolute favorite thing to do in the world!).

Our plan was to put enough money in the company’s bank account so that the business could operate for two years without making a profit. We needed to cover rent, utilities, inventory, and staff, along with costs associated with building a corporate identity. An exact figure for the budget was difficult to determine until we knew how much we needed to allocate for rent.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that when it comes to a boutique retail business, it’s all about the location. This principle was crucial for us to follow, and my new partners felt the same way. We found a real estate agent to scout a location for us in Georgetown, a neighborhood in DC that’s popular for its high-end shopping, dining, hotels, and invite-only lounges. It’s a quaint area filled with Victorian-style row houses and cobblestoned roads lined with lush trees, which adds to the picturesque neighborhood. The most stylish people in DC walk along these streets, so it would bring the right clientele, and being one of the nicest areas of the city, it also attracted loads of tourists. There wasn’t a better location to fit our vision for the boutique.

Real estate in such a prime location doesn’t stay on the market for long, so when we heard a space was opening up we had to act quickly. As soon as I walked through the front door, I immediately fell in love with the vintage feel of the three-story brick-walled building. The stock room in the basement was spacious, and there was even an office on the top floor. Pinch me, please!

But before we could sign the lease, Faisal broke disappointing news. He had been offered a fantastic job opportunity in Dubai that was too good to pass up. Are you fucking kidding me? I was devastated. We were on the verge of signing the lease, and I had already told everyone I was opening a boutique in Georgetown.

Moe and I discussed the possibility of moving forward with the store without a third partner. Even with Eric, who was still my business mentor investing in my share, there was no way we could afford to pay the operational expenses for that location in Georgetown. Was I really left with Capri Pants?

A few days later, Moe called me with a “brilliant idea” and wanted to know whether I was interested in hearing him out. I thought long and hard about the different possibilities he could propose, and what I was and was not prepared to accept. I was skeptical about his potential in the fashion business, but I was also beginning to feel for the first time that my dreams had an expiration date on them.

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