Retail is Theater 🎭

My favorite part of the Dream Space Accelerator comes at the very end. Without fail, right when we’re finally done with the Powerhouse Business Plan, I get to hear some version of this: 

🤯 I am so grateful that I did this, because there was so much I hadn’t thought about. I had no idea how much I had to consider, and I was sure I’d covered everything before we started.

And then I respond with some version of this:

🎭 How could you have known? Unless you’ve opened a retail business before, you’d have zero reason to know 75% of this stuff. Retail is theater!

And it truly is. What we experience as consumers – picking up a latte, going to a yoga class, ordering a beer – is the stage performance. There is a whole orchestration behind the curtain ensuring that you like the show and want to return. When you’re in the audience, you just don’t know what you’re not seeing. 

Can you guess what I watched recently that illustrates this point perfectly? 

The End of an Era. Yes, the 6-part docuseries about Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

        🎤 Sidenote: If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. Even if you’re “not a fan”, or if you “hate” Taylor Swift, I don’t care. The Eras Tour is the highest grossing concert tour ever, and if you value things like hard work, excellence, or achievement (which I know you do since you're reading this), you’ll at least tolerate episode one.     

Now I didn't watch the docuseries because I'm such a huge Swiftie. I was a grown adult running my own restaurant when she shot to stardom in 2008, and I didn't know most of the songs prior to last year. So what I really loved about the docuseries was the behind-the-scenes footage, because the scale of the production is absolutely mesmerizing. 

When her (enormous) audience watches the show in person, streamed, or recorded, we see:

• Taylor 
• 16 backup dancers
• 6 band members
• 4 backup singers 

…singing, dancing, and giving tens of thousands of children the idea that international entertainment is an achievable career path. 

At each show, the troupe performs 45 songs over a span of about 3.5 hours. They put on 149 shows in 51 cities on 5 continents over the course of 21 months. 

How do they make it look so easy? Obviously they are very talented and they rehearse a lot, but importantly, it looks easy because there is an enormous amount of planning, labor, expertise, and activity behind the scenes. Also probably a little bit of amphetamines. Probably. 

At any theater or concert performance (be it a fourth-grade play or The Eras Tour), we see the show, but we don’t see: 

• Production crew (lighting, sound, video)
• Stage managers and operators
• Wardrobe, hair, and makeup
• Riggers, pyrotechnics and special effects
• Logistics and transportation
• Security, catering and hospitality
• Merchandising teams
• Physical therapists and support roles
• Tour management, accounting, human resources, and marketing

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the production happening behind the curtain before, during, and after each performance. All the stuff we don’t see is what makes the show work -- not just once but over and over and over again.

✨ Just like retail.

In retail business, when customers walk through the doors, they walk into a live show. They’re usually not expecting you to entertain them for three hours, but they are expecting to get (a) whatever you’re selling and (b) an experience that matches your brand. So in a way, they’re expecting your song and dance to meet or exceed their expectations.  

By the time we're old enough to listen to the "E" version of The Life of A Showgirl, we've been in the retail audience a million times. So it would follow that when we start a new business, we’re usually thinking about what’s happening on stage…

🐱 It’s a home and gift store for cat lovers

🩱 It’s an apparel boutique for women who love sequined bodysuits

🏈 It’s a Kansas City Chiefs themed sports bar

And when we are the Executive Producers of our own businesses, it's our vision that sets the direction for the customer experience. But unless we’ve had a management role in a very similar business, there’s really no reason we’d know everything that has to happen backstage in order to execute on our vision. There’s no reason we’d know much or anything about: 

• COGS and inventory management
• Open-to-buy planning and discount strategy
• Staff onboarding and training procedures
• Labor rules, scheduling and management
• Liquor license regulations
• Ventilation and health department requirements
• Facilities management
• QuickBooks and financial reporting
• Seasonal sales fluctuations
• Working capital 

…I could go on, but you’re bored just reading that list, right? That’s the point. This is the non-negotiable and critical, sometimes annoying and repetitive, behind-the-curtain work that powers each and every sale. And don't even get me started on all the missteps and drama that has to be kept behind the scenes like staff callouts, missing deliveries, and backed-up plumbing. 

Great retail businesses work hard to ensure that customers can’t see the off stage operations. So it’s normal to start your business journey with only the on-stage vision nailed down. 

🔨 But when it's time to look for the right space? You’d better have a clear understanding of everything that has to happen both on and off stage for your business to function well enough to succeed.

This is why we work so hard on the Powerhouse Business Plan in Dream Space. Both the financial framework and the writing force us to look at the business from every angle, to construct the operational and financial structure of the business, and to define our real estate criteria. All of that work is what creates confidence. Ultimately, it’s that confidence that allows you to say, Yes, I am ready and committed to doing this show every day for the next five years. 

Naturally, there’s a momentary letdown when we pull back the curtain – the luster and magic of our dream starts to fade, but that’s when we can see reality and begin to develop a deeper commitment. That’s certainly the point of a six-part docuseries, right? The more we learn about everything that went into this record-breaking tour, the more it means to us.