I Signed A Commercial Lease For My First Jewellery Studio (Part 2)

If you're thinking about starting your own jewellery business and opening a brick-and-mortar storefront, here’s some of what you’ll likely need to organise BEFORE you are even officially approved by real estate.

I needed to provide:

• Deposit (2 months rent upfront)
• Bond
• Financial information and bank statements
• Trade references from people I’ve worked with in the industry
• Insurance certificates (public liability, contents & glass)

I already had insurance, but I had to organise extra insurance to make sure both the building and contents were covered. This involved speaking with an insurance broker and then providing real estate with certificates showing all my policies.

After that (multiple days later), I was finally sent a lease offer… but legally, that still wasn’t really a firm “yes” yet.

So after paying bond and deposit upfront, organising insurance and providing all my information… someone else technically still could have taken the space.

Which means during this stage you kind of just sit there in limbo with less money in your account.

You can’t really get the ball rolling properly with any fit out planning like painting, internet, electricity, furniture or signage because technically it still isn’t yours yet. You can't plan well either because you don't measurements.

Another thing to note, commercial real estate agents might say: "We’ll get back to you Thursday", but Tuesday can quickly become Saturday.

I was genuinely a ball of anxiety during this stage because I had already mentally moved in. I had dreamt up the studio, half told people about it (probably don’t do that until everything is official), paid money upfront… and it still wasn’t technically mine.

Anyway, fast forward.

After chasing around the real estate agents because I absolutely NEED to know what is happening at all times and whether things are on track, they finally sent me the official lease agreement.

I signed it… and then STILL didn’t really hear much. I just wanted to hear "Congrats, its yours!".

Meanwhile I’m trying to figure out how I'm going to organise electricity, internet and furniture to be delivered in time because otherwise I’m just paying a lot of money for an empty room.

So at this point I’m still thinking:

“Wait… do I actually have it? Or not?”

Because nobody really tells you:

“Congratulations! It's all signed, the shop is yours!”

You kind of just quietly sign legal PDFs and get ghosted until eventually someone replies:

“Yep it's signed, see attached.”

Anyway, eventually I was told by real estate I could collect the keys to my new jewellery shop Thursday afternoon.

Then I got another email asking me to come Friday morning instead because the lease officially started Saturday. Apparently it’s normal to get access a few days early so you can sort problems before the official lease start date.

So Friday morning arrives and I’m told to meet the agent at 8:30am. 

I start driving and realise I’m running late, so I send an email saying:

“Hi! Running slightly late by about 15 mins!”

And they reply:

“All good, I’m not in anyway. Keys are at reception.”

At this point I jokingly said to my boyfriend:

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if the keys were under a doormat with a note.”

Unfortunately… I wasn’t far off (lol, we've gotta laugh or we cry).

I walk into this massive commercial real estate office and there’s just a single key sitting on a table near the front door with my name beside it. Within arms reach of the front door.

No hello.

No support.

No congratulations.

Nothing!

So if you’re expecting some warm exciting experience… you may need to lower those expectations a little. Sorry to tell you!

Anyway, I grab my 1 single key and head to the shop.

Front door key works, awesome!

Toilet key? Nope!

Bins? Nope!

Now THIS became an issue because I’m 20 minutes from home and planning to spend the entire day at the studio… meaning yes, I absolutely need access to the loo.

I also needed access to the bins because all my furniture deliveries were arriving.

So I emailed FOUR separate people from the real estate office and heard absolutely nothing back.

Eventually I contacted the landlady directly. I had to find her detail myself because the real estate didn't reply with any contact details for me.

AND THANK GOD because I genuinely have the loveliest landlady ever. She responded to my email, reassured me the keys should work, and even offered to personally meet me at the studio to sort everything out.

Absolute legend.

As I sit here writing this, I still don’t technically have full access to the building.

I’m sharing all of this because I want people to realistically know what to expect if they’re thinking about opening a studio or storefront one day.

It’s stressful.

It’s expensive.

It’s confusing.

It’s a weird emotional rollercoaster.

But it's an incredible learning experience, stay tuned for more.