by Peter Bruce
So here is the story behind the Anna Bruce shop on Abbott Kinney in Venice, California… the “smallest shop in LA”
My sister, Anna launched a line of embroidered 100% organic cotton t-shirts, baby clothing, and not-quite-organic hats about two years ago. Her line consists of animal and plant patterns (and even surfer) stitched onto colorful and very soft cotton. She started small, mainly giving her work away as gifts to friends and family – with the occasional sale generated by word of mouth. She soon realized she had something pretty special with more and more people asking to order merchandise. I came on board to help her spread the word and we worked to get her line into shops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Marin County in Northern California.
One day this summer as I was biking along Abbott Kinney Blvd – the main drag in Venice, CA – I happened upon a very small “dollhouse” with a for rent sign in the window. This space was so small I had to bend down to enter and could not stand up inside. The woman renting the little shack has a sculpture garden on the larger property bordering the street complete with grass, mature palm and banana trees and even a small grass-covered amphitheater where people can come and watch bands play and/or aerialists perform during one of the regular shows she puts on.
Being interested in small buildings and the efficient use of space, this structure got me thinking. I realized it would be fairly easy to raise the structure and give it a more recognizable shape as an actual “building.” The shape of the roof-line was a plus that would offer me room to install upper shelves for storage and a place to set up some lighting. The next thing to consider was the actual dimensions of the space – which measure just 5′ x 6′. At the same time, I also looked at this as a fun project that had the potential to be a perfect fit for my sister’s small/emerging line of clothing. It was also a unique opportunity to open a small space on a street in Venice that has become known for expensive boutiques.
I realized it would be a squeeze to make it a fully-functioning shop with a desk for a computer and all that, but I also saw in it the potential for a extremely efficient and fun space. So after a bit of discussion with the property owner, we decided to go ahead and lift the building 3.5 feet and cut a new door on the garden side with a window while enlarging the door opening onto the street. Then it was onto “polishing” up the outside and filling in holes, gaps and spaces in the structure to make it a bit more weather proof and aesthetically pleasing. Then came several coats of paint and a sign I had custom ordered.
[nggallery id=5]
For the inside, I hit Home Depot for plywood and everything else. I cut shelves to size, installing four, at differing heights and locations in the structure. The two longest, lowest ones would be used for displaying merchandise; a smaller one in the opposite corner would hold business cards, my iPhone/credit card machine, a mailing list, etc. An upper shelf would be used for storage and lighting. I also cut and installed two wooden poles lengthwise across the building just a bit above eye-level for the hanging/display of Anna’s embroidered shirts and baby clothes. A finishing touch was throwing down some artificial grass to the make the floor a bit more attractive and the hanging of a curtain under one of the lower shelves to hide additional storage space.
As you can see from the pictures, it is a tight squeeze, but it is also a squeeze that seems to delight all who enter it. Passersby are intrigued and, with large smiles, enter the little space and/or stop to take pictures outside. Not all make purchases, but I am getting a kick out of seeing how happy the shop makes them just based on its small size alone.
Visit the Anna Bruce website here.
looks like a brilliant idea, small and bijou describes this small shop
It’s amazing how people can make do with less, isn’t it? It’s like there’s a switch in people’s heads.
yes it is true.. and more and more people are stopping by and that switch is getting turned on.
You’re a visionary! I would never have seen potential in that space and you did. That’s pretty great. The colors are lovely, it’s just nice all around.
Does Anna have a Web site for her items? They look pretty from the photos you have provided. Thank you!
Thanks so much! We are so glad you like it. 🙂 and yes, our website is http://www.annabruce.com . We will be updating the page regularly with new designs and products — so please check it out!
How does ADA accomodation work when it comes to “tiny businesses”? I don’t think you could get a wheelchair in there, both because of the space and the gap between ground and floor.
I imagine a person in a wheelchair, or pushing a rollator like I do for that matter, could see just about everything well enough from the doorway and ask for particular items to be brought down for a closer look. Not a perfect situation, but definitely workable.
This is great. I’m pretty sure it’d never pass code here in Upstate NY but at Christmas I see similar for the Christmas tree sales when some use the little Victorian playhouse as their office and place to keep warm. But this might work great for someone’s shop on their private property! Of course, only in LA would you be able to expand the shop to the street and outdoors unlike up here where we get about 2 weeks of summer before winter hits.
yes … the weather here does make having a partially outdoor shop a bit easier — as does the fact that we are on private property. good luck up there as winter approaches!
Does this meet all applicable fire codes, land use codes, building codes, business license use restrictions, zoning codes, accessibility codes, etc.?
It looks like the answer to all of those is “no”. I am shocked anyone would try this in any major city, let alone LA, she’s just asking to have the whole thing bulldozed by the city.
Government at all levels is a grave yard for small businesses these days. Personally, I feel we need more tiny businesses liked this. If they make a profit it will help the economy. Every person off the jobless rolls is a plus. Isn’t that how our country got started? I recently filmed a very old early American water powered grist mill operation that ran successfully for 125 years. I’m sure the government did not micro manage small business in those days.
I wish them all the best!
Walt Barrett
we are hoping they do not allow bulldozers on our street. and if they do, that they all run out of gas before they get to our little shop!
plus.. a bulldozer might be overkill with a building this size. 😉
Reminds me of Sgt. Schultz’s guard hut from Hogan’s Heros.
At my girth, the only thing I could try on is the shop itself….a perfect fit.
Seriously, I’m all for this stuff. It can’t be any worse than street vendors. But the code Nazi’s will come harass sooner or later (hate to think).
I really enjoyed this post. Smaller Stores are going to be a wave of the future and a movement just like the small house movement. There are some other small stores that are really cool that are on the web. One is in Vancouver British Columbia called “Smoking Lily”, another is a jewelery store in a small New York City alleyway called “Laura Lobdell”, and one on a rural Utah Highway called the Smallest Store in Utah.
Thanks again for the great post, and all the best in your business.
thanks so much for the support… i’m with you and think tiny stores are awesome 🙂
I can’t wait to visit next time I’m in Los Angees – and thank you TINYSTORESROCK for noticing 183 1/8 West 10 Street.
Cheers, Laura
Cute, quirky, and the ‘total package’! It’s as ‘organic’ (as in repurposed, less-is-more, etc.) as the clothing she creates!
I have to, sadly, agree with Drue, though… ;-(
The working class ‘everyman/woman’ is not SUPPOSED to get away with realizing their innovative, cost-saving ideas: we’re ‘supposed’ to be money-makers for THEM, the governing bodies, the big business and politicking types, not SAVING money by cutting them out of the loop!
Someone (or several) will find their way to this little shop and, for whatever reason/law/code, it will either be forced to close down if it doesn’t conform, as in… pay up. Regardless of how cheap her ‘rent’ is, I’m sure the business bureau has a nice idea of what they expect to receive in TAXES, whether per square foot or simply some kind of ‘business license’ for the typical revenue produced on that particular street…
Kind of like whenthings started getting rough on a lot of us back in the 70’s: we couldn’t afford meat cuts like steak, roast or chops, so our creative parents learned to make a good pound of hamburger do. Hamburger prices immediately went up, WAY up… We found 101 ways to cook a chicken, then. Now chicken is one of the most expensive meats one can buy! So I learned to live on Ramen noodles and peanut butter crackers. Have you looked at the cost of PEANUT BUTTER these days?? Or plain old red potatoes? Mac n cheese? And yesterday, I paid almost a dollar for ONE PACKAGE of Maruchen Ramen noodles (yes, the kind we were able to buy at 10 for $1.00, or 5 for $1.00, as recently as last summer!).
Why is this? Because business is about marketing, supply and demand. And when the poor start eating cardboard for breakfast because they can no longer afford FOOD, watch: the price of cardboard will go up. It’s really looking more and more like a flat out ATTACK on the poor and prudent of America.
The old American ‘can do’attitude, our current American spirit of ‘use less’, are to be punished severely BECAUSE we have/are trying to cut out the middle-man, the expense, the frass.
So though I LOVED this article, I, too, like several others, are already bemoaning its possible fate. Business-America feels THIS way about our ‘cost-saving’ ideas, innovation and ‘green’ lifestyling: okay, as LONG as it doesn’t interfere with them getting THEIR same pound of flesh.
“It’s not NICE to play with ‘Mother Business / Father Government!” (cue the crackle and flash of lightning)
Kudos to both ladies for going for it, though, and for not letting the more jaded of us (myself included) talk them out of it… 😉
Not all cities are anti-small business. In San Francisco and Berkeley, for example, there are many sidewalk businesses. Artists sell their wares from tables and racks set up on the sidewalk.
There are also carts on the sidewalk, and some food trucks that move around from place to place.
I think there are businesses like this in Portland and Seattle too.
I’ve been to bars, grocery stores, and clothing stores this size in the Bahamas. I love it. I was born too late. I would be happy with the peddler’s wagons rolling through town.
I love the types of small shops you find in indoor bazaars and flea markets and farmer’s markets. We lose something as a society when we create restrictive rules that prevent these small entrepreneurial activities from sprouting up. I am surprised that this building didn’t run into some kind of zoning problem, but I am delighted it did not. Good luck.
thanks for the good thoughts!
Small shops and portable shops are becoming the “new thing.” Anyone heard of vintage mobile shops? Yeah, there ARE such things. These people buy small vintage trailers (teardrop, etc.), transform them, and then viola! It’s a shop. Most sellers sell vintage items and clothing. Haven’t found one yet them sells anything “modern.” Plus, the whole food truck trend taking everything by storm. Small and/or mobile seems like the way to go these days, which I think is great!!
That reminds me of one of my favourite books, Parnassus on Wheels about a mobile bookshop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassus_on_Wheels
I love that she went through with this. Great post, thanks for sharing Peter. Would be cool to see more and more little businesses open up like this.
Back to grow your own (that is—veggies) garden. Yum! Yum! Yum! Organic too.
Hello Tiny Store Owners! I’m located in Gloucester, MA. I’m working to get my website back up soon. Nice to meet you! People are always saying “This must be the smallest store in the world”. Now I know it can’t be but it’s comparable. Feel free to send me an email! tinyislandbeachglass@yahoo.com or friend us on facebook! Thanks!
This article would also be a great post if there were a tinystoreblog.com
The woman renting the little shack has a sculpture garden on the larger property bordering the street complete with grass, I truly appreciate your great post!