10 SMALL BUSINESSES

10 DESIGNERS

10 MAKEOVERS

10 DAYS

MAIN ST MAKEOVER

Gone 2 the Dogs 306 E. Grand River Ave.

My name is Elisha. I'm a decorator for IKEA.

I've been assigned to do Gone 2 the Dogs for the Main St. Makeover.

Gone 2 the Dogs is a dog boutique. It reflects Jana's personality because she loves dogs.

I decided to start my own business when I had a midlife crisis at 40.

I was tired of working for other people and decided to do my own thing.

Gone 2 the Dogs is actually a couple of things.

It's a store selling dog accessories, but also her creative hub for the dog clothes that she designs and dog portraits that she paints.

And I'm sure there'll be another project tomorrow.

The best thing about being a business owner is that if I get an idea I don't have to run it by anybody. I can just run with it.

Which I do. They always tease me about coming up with a crazy idea.

I've done a dog wedding. And I do a fundraiser calendar called Bark & Buff. It's nude people and dogs, and it's for charity.

My favorite thing about Old Town is the unique mixture of people.

It's a funky, quirky, unique place that my business seems to fit into.

We won!

The contest has been good for the community because we lost a community member to a tragic death in February.

That was really hard on all of us.

It cast our area in a negative light. Winning brought positive attention.

- Lansing, Michigan.

- Old Town Lansing.

I don't think I've ever been so broke, but I've never had so much fun.

I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm having the time of my life.

PLANNING THE MAKEOVER November 2007

Hello again! Hello. Hey.

I'm going to give you a hug. I've brought Elisha.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

She's going to do all the detailing because I'm a more superficial guy.

What Jana needed was structure in all those things going on.

And to merchandize her products more clearly. And clear the clutter.

It's about creating a visual structure, so your stuff is the thing that pops.

Your shop shouldn't take over. It should be a backdrop to merchandize your funky things.

So I saw a totally different thing. I'll show you.

Don't take the picture too literally. It's like an old country store where you have a long counter that has all this stuff that is on good racking on the walls.

This used to be The Crescent Tea Company.

- It was like a general store.

- Isn't that spooky?

This place has that kind of aura about it.

Then you have your old ladders that kind of add to that.

That's what I felt. I want to create more of that store feeling.

The racking will go on the ledge that goes all around the store.

They're just plain black. And the area behind the counter which is now quite small ...

I thought we'd make that bigger by making your counter here.

It's how the structure of the store is.

- I like that idea.

- Yes, you're selling stuff for dogs.

But you also do calendars, sewing, and you have people coming over.

Jana, we would see this dark grey ... It's melamine and easy to care for.

When the sewing machine is not on the big table it goes there. It has the same surface as the counter.

- It's solid beech.

- Great.

- Over there is your bookkeeping.

- Desk area.

This is your crazy artist, and this is your shop.

I like it.

I'm most excited about having my desk area reorganized.

And closing off the back of the shop as a creative space.

Cool. I have to rush to the next business. Busy man!

- Good luck. See you on Friday.

- See you later. Bye.

I wonder about moving merchandize out to the front of the floor.

I'm anxious to see how that will happen.

I think I'm going to enjoy merchandizing.

Because that's what I do. I'm a visual merchandiser for IKEA.

I'm excited to see the space and also to help Jana with her store.

I'm excited. I don't want to wait till January. I want to do it tomorrow.

THE MAKEOVER January 2008

We decided to do the entire space of Gone 2 the Dogs but broke it up into three areas. We had the actual store.

Then an office space for her and a creative studio.

Where I'm standing now will be a creative studio for Jana where she can do her watercolor painting, create dog coats and clothes.

Looking at the architectural space, it has a lower ceiling at the back and higher at the front, so that's a natural division.

Before the makeover, she made the coats on a table that barely held her sewing machine.

So we wanted to get her a bigger table where she can cut fabric and create these dog coats.

Right now the guys are building the interior of the storage cabinets that separate the creative studio from the store.

She needed back-up storage. Her counter can act as a counter and as a barrier between the two sections. It's full of drawers.

For extra merchandize, for Christmas decorations, etc.

To the right of me will be an office space where she can do all her bookkeeping and custom orders.

Her desk will face towards the front of the store so she doesn't have her back to customers.

If someone wants to get the door, we'll get the old desk out of here.

Hi. You scared me.

We're getting her desk out, so we can set the file cabinets here.

- One here and one here?

- Ooh. No. Hate. Not like.

We have an issue with the filing cabinets.

There isn't enough space for both to fit flush against the wall.

- And the floor isn't level.

- I suggest we put the shelves there.

So the cabinets go against a different wall.

Then the issue is that they're going to lean this way.

Plus it's three file drawers. Six files drawers in all.

That's going to be heavy when she opens it.

It has to be level. First we level as much as we can with the feet.

If we need to level even more, we can do that at the front.

- Because this is not good.

- That's 67.

- Do you think that's 67 inches?

- It looks like it would fit.

It's too high here.

You know what? I saw this thing ...

It works.

You don't always have to stick to the paper plan.

There's always a piece of architecture that you didn't count on or something that looks different on a plan than it does in reality.

So you have to be open to adjust to what looks better in reality.

We flipped out the desks. Swapped her old desk with a new one.

She put her files in the new cabinets.

We got her desk in here.

- She officially has an office space.

- I love it.

We lined Jana's shop with shelving units along the wall so that it would create more selling space and more merchandize could come to the front of the store.

These shelves are movable. If she has something four inches tall she can move the shelf lower, so it's not all wall, but product.

It's not easy to make bold decisions, to think bigger to choose one type of shelving. It's easy to go into small solutions.

And add a lot of small solutions next to each other.

But the totality then is just an array of different solutions.

Instead of trying to create one system that can solve everything so that's what we managed to show her and hopefully others as well.

We also going to merchandize the shop.

Grouping all of her products and merchandize that she sells together.

So she can have a more productive and effective business.

In visual merchandizing, it's better and more clear for the customer if the product is organized by function.

For example, I did this yesterday.

I merchandized collars on both the ladders.

I'm doing them by color. If a customer is looking for a certain color she can direct them to one spot.

You can apply that in any store. If you're looking for a condiment you go to the aisle where all the condiments are. Ketchup is there.

So is mustard. Right?

This store is so much Jana and her personality.

I think it was painful having somebody moving and editing her stuff.

You used your merchandizing skills.

Elisha doesn't give up. She wants the perfect spot for every single item.

I took a step back to see what she sells and broke them into groups.

Before

And then you kept the old ladders, but we added the Ivar shelves to give a basic structure to everything.

And then using more of her wall space versus the floor space.

And then have more merchandize on the walls.

We put lighting on each of the Ivar shelves at the top.

It looks like much more stuff for sale than before but it's the same thing. Just organized.

I've seen a difference in the customers, too.

They are purchasing more because they can see what she has.

Things they had been interested in, but didn't know were there.

The bins were there from the beginning.

We just stained them to work with the black Ivar shelves.

So these clothes are readymade, but she's also making clothes.

I merchandized it, so it moves into her creative space.

My desk area is my biggest problem. I do a lot of bookkeeping here and my sewing and filing, and it's just a lot of chaos here.

The fact that she makes custom-made clothes for dogs is now more evident.

Because her sewing machine is always there. We used the space effectively.

Designating enough space for her creative activities.

Giving her a big table for projects, creative stuff and meetings.

I think she loves the handles most and having so many storage drawers.

The most difficult part in the back area would be Jana's office space.

She had to be reorganized since she runs three different businesses there.

- And she's organized now.

- Yes, she is.

She's come through and started filing all her important papers.

- And that's her TV, coffee ...

- It's like her break room all in one.

A better life at work is very much about being decisive in where do I put certain things or functions.

This is where I keep this, that is where I keep that.

I don't do everything all over and keep everything all over.

That's my advice. Damn it.

IKEA BUSINESS A better life at work