> Online retail—including selling through Amazon—has helped him keep the doors open. (He bemoans the fees he has to pay Amazon for the privilege, however.) He estimates that half of his revenue comes from online sales; the other half is a mix of in-store transactions and pop-up sales he does in busy locations like downtown Boston. “I go where the customers are,” he told me. But his Greenfield location produces only a small part of his revenues—if he makes $50 in a day in his store, it’s a good day, he said.
$50 a day at a brick-and-mortar location? That sounds unsustainable, I wonder why even bother keeping it open? Does it help his branding/online reputation?
There are some cities that consider warehouses "Industrial" zoning and retail as "Commercial". Keeping a storefront could help you stay in a commercially zoned area if you prefer it for some reason.
To add to your comment, many if not most municipalities tax industrial buildings at a higher rate than they do commercial buildings. This could indeed be a nice tax saving strategy for the business.
> $50 a day at a brick-and-mortar location? That sounds unsustainable, I wonder why even bother keeping it open?
Well, in some cases, there is always money laundering to consider. Many physical retail locations with seemingly no customers in shady areas exist for nefarious reasons (not claiming its the case here, of course).
I don't get the downvotes for this comment. This is a real issue that I have first hand experience with. The poster even qualified the statement saying its probably not the case for this store but it is certainly true of a number of establishments - these operate in the second and third stages of money laundering also known as layering and integration.
$50 a day at a brick-and-mortar location? That sounds unsustainable, I wonder why even bother keeping it open? Does it help his branding/online reputation?