Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Dallas.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started out in retail when I was in college, I worked for a few big box companies and small boutiques.
I moved up pretty quickly and was store manager by 19, I helped travel and open stores and managed my location. All the stores I worked for were so expensive and I didn’t grow up with the money, I never was able to shop in a mall until I was 16 so I really wanted to open an affordable boutique.
At 20, I maxed out my credit cards to buy inventory and open a store. I complied inventory for a year before I opened my first location when I was 21. On opening day, I had $20k in debt and $20 in my bank account, I did $750 that day so I knew I was at least going to be able to eat that week.
I worked every day for 6 months with no employees so I could pay off all my debt. I had Simon Mall reps approach me about opening in the mall and the rest is history. I kept maxing out cards and paying them off to open new stores. Today, I have 13 locations and I started franchising in 2020 so we have 11 franchises.
It’s super exciting to be able to offer other women the opportunity to have their own businesses. Almost all of our franchisees have multiple locations so it’s super exciting to see their success.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
A lot of the struggles I’ve dealt with are related to being young and a woman in business.
A lot of the mall leasing agents are men who see a business run by a 20-something-year-old girl and they laugh.
I wanted to open my first location in Gainesville where I went to college but the leasing agent said I wasn’t qualified, fast forward a few years later they were begging to get me in the mall.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Copper Closet is a women’s clothing boutique.
Everything is always under $45 and our main demographic is 16-24 so mostly high school and college students which are typically the groups who don’t have a lot of money to spend so I’m glad we can offer that option!
We’re also the most affordable fashion franchise on the market, you can open your own Copper Closet for as little as $50,000, and were one of the only franchises in the US that give you the option to pay the initial franchise fee over the first year in business.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Building your credit is so so so important, I tried to apply for a business loan but it’s impossible if you don’t own any assets. I didn’t have help from family and my job only paid $30k/year so credit cards were detrimental to being able to open a store.
Contact Info:
- Website: TheCopperCloset.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecoppercloset
