Business owners should know their costs and start small before they turn their home-based ventures into brick-and-mortar stores, say St. Albert experts.
About 25 people were at the NABI Business Incubator May 14 for a free sold-out workshop on expanding your home business. The talk coincided with Economic Development Week (May 12–16) and was the first in a series of talks organized by the City of St. Albert’s economic development branch.
City of St. Albert business retention and expansion manager Dan St. Pierre said a recent survey found that about 30 per cent of home-based business owners in St. Albert were thinking about moving into a physical storefront in the next three years. That prompted the city’s economic development department to organize a workshop series to help entrepreneurs looking to make that jump.
Many businessowners move their companies from their homes into commercial spaces to expand or cash in on foot traffic, St. Pierre said.
“There’s also still a perception element to this as well,” he continued, as people who can afford a storefront are seen as credible and successful.
When to move out
Wednesday’s talk featured presentations from three St. Albert entrepreneurs who had either had or were about to make the jump from home-based to brick-and-mortar businesses.
Speakers Nicole Kluthe and Lyndsay Bourdeau said they met years ago through their work with local children and families. In 2024, they teamed up to create the in-person Carepath Collective partnership in the NABI Business Incubator. It’s now a one-stop-shop for pediatric care where different practitioners can team up and bounce ideas off each other.
Speaker Priya Windsor said she started Compass Chocolates in her home five years ago, adding a commercial kitchen to her house to do so. Starting off online saved her money that she could put toward improving her products, but she’s now looking for a storefront, as you can only grow so big in a residential area.
Windsor, Kluthe, and Bourdeau said it was vital for business owners to understand their costs and cash flow before making the jump to a physical storefront.
“It is a big jump, and a lot of businesses may jump into that prematurely and find themselves underwater very quickly,” Windsor said.
Kluthe and Bourdeau said physical storefronts were way more expensive than home-based operations, with prices varying considerably from location to location. They checked out five different locations before settling on the NABI Business Incubator as it was the only one with the parking and price point they needed.
Kluthe advised new business owners to be conservative when decorating their new storefronts. She and Bourdeau relied heavily on donated, thrifted, and Ikea-brand items to save money when decorating the Carepath Collective, for example; their clients say the place has a homelike atmosphere as a result.
“We’ve repurposed and we’ve up-cycled, and it’s beautiful,” Kluthe said.
St. Albert Economic Development and NABI can both help you plan your storefront transition, Kluthe and Windsor said. Kluthe said she also worked closely with a commercial business coach and her bank.
Kluthe said having a dedicated storefront makes her business seem more legitimate.
“The amount of clients I get now is so much more because I have a physical space.”
St. Pierre said the city will host free workshops on marketing, commercial leases, and other concepts in the months ahead. Visit stalbert.ca/dev/business/stalbert/home-based-business-resources for details.
