Cheese Shop Opens to Rave Reviews

Jill Erber contacted Alexandria SBDC in January 2004 to get a Startup Packet for the cheese specialty shop she hoped to open in Alexandria. Counselor Gloria Flanagan provided the packet and talked about some of the issues of starting a business. Gloria urged her to put together the basics of a business plan and then return to go over it with Business Analyst Jack Parker.

Jill had her draft plan ready for an early March meeting. Her focus was to open an international cheese shop in the Del Ray area of Alexandria. She chartered Cheesetique, LLC as a woman-owned and operated business to not only sell this high demand product but also to educate her clientele on the relative differences in cheeses for both hors d’oeuvres and recipes. She had to prove the concept and feasibility of offering cheese as a single product in a metropolitan area where no other cheese-only shop existed. She completed a comprehensive business plan in about 45 days of dedicated work and was ready to approach a lender. Through the SBDC she met a lender at Virginia Commerce Bank and she was approved for a $50,000 secured line of credit.

Jill identified her geographic target market zones and determined that she might be able to publicize the opening with a newsletter directed to a list of food reporters that she had acquired. The Washington Post and The Washingtonian Magazine picked up on the opportunity and the resulting promotion created such interest that she completely sold out the original inventory over the opening Labor Day weekend. Jill has continued to manage the promotional aspect of the business as effectively as the store operation itself, and Cheesetique has become a shopping destination in the Washington Metropolitan area, with sales for the first four months of operation exceeding $150,000.