.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} So far, Tanya Keith’s business model has been to open a new store every time she has a child. Though this hasn’t exactly been a part of her formal plans, the natural growth of her children’s store, Simply for Giggles, has created a need for the business to expand along with her family’s growth.

Last month, she opened a second store in West Glen Town Center, three weeks after her second child was born and two years after she moved the business out of her basement and into the East Village.

Like Keith, other local business owners have made the leap from one-store operations to multiple locations, creating new opportunities for their companies as well as new challenges.

For Kristen Severs and Dawn Angus, opening a second What’s for Dinner, Des Moines? location was not something they expected since they opened the original store at 800 S. 50th St. in West Des Moines. nearly three years ago.

But when two former employees approached them about licensing the company’s name and recipes to open another meal-assembly site in Ankeny, they found it was a great way to expand their business without having to spend more time managing two stores. Both are parents, with Severs expecting her third child this fall, and Angus still works at another job full time.

With an upfront licensing fee and ongoing royalty payments, the new owners – Kristy Kelderman and Wendi Lanning – have access to nearly 300 recipes, and the What’s for Dinner name, logo and Web site, while maintaining the freedom to make their own business decisions. However, a few requirements in the licensing agreement ensure that the new owners uphold a certain standard. “They need to meet these standards to make sure they’re putting out the same quality product we’re putting out,” Severs said, “just to make sure our name is protected and represented well.”

The Ankeny store, located at 802 S.E. Oralabor Road, differs in appearance from the original West Des Moines location, Severs said, because it replaced a former Super Suppers franchise. It also will have a slightly different logo.

However, the new owners will share the Web page and advertising expenses, helping build a stronger What’s for Dinner brand.

Severs and Angus chose the licensing option over franchising after consulting a lawyer, because it required less paperwork and upfront expenses. Rather than spelling out details down to the tile needed for the floors, with the licensing agreement, “you give them the general idea of what you do and say, ‘Good luck. Yell if you need anything,'” Severs said. “And it’s great because then we’re getting our name out there. … It’s a great way to provide the service to another town without having to own the store.”

Still, Severs said she and Angus are working closely with the Ankeny operation, and she now documents any changes made at the West Des Moines business to pass on to the other owners. They also have been revamping the Web site, www.whatsfordinnerdm.com, to be more generic. Already, Severs said some people have been confused by advertising for the Ankeny location, which directs them to a site featuring What’s for Dinner, Des Moines?

Now that one additional location is open, Severs and Angus are considering expanding the operation through more license agreements. This expansion would help them better compete with franchised operations similar to their meal-assembly business, which have opened over the past couple of years. They have already expanded their South 50th Street location to serve more people, but have yet to completely fill all of their sessions.

“We just need to figure out how to expand the market share,” Severs said. “Right now this market is divided among all of us and I want to figure out how to make that market bigger.”

Like Severs and Angus, Keith of Simply for Giggles has been approached about expanding her business by selling the rights to other owners. But for now, she has decided to grow more slowly under her own management.

After two years of being in a small storefront, she decided she needed more room. “We kept bringing in new products and really were merchandised to the rafters,” Keith said. “We just wanted to have more space, wanted to show our customers a wider variety of products and we wanted to be able to stock more things so when people came in looking for something, we had it in stock.”

Married to a technical engineer “who is tougher than any banker,” Keith said she began researching which ZIP codes her customers came from. She found a lot of them lived west of Des Moines.

She decided to open a second location, rather than relocating to one larger store, choosing the former Touch of Italy storefront in West Glen, which was already set up for retail. The process, Keith said, was easier than opening her first store. “You already understand the expenses involved and more accurately are able to budget for what you need in financing and stock,” she said, “so it’s easier the second time around.”

To ensure that revenues from both stores remain strong, Keith is planning on having a few products be exclusive to each store and has expanded her merchandise with a few new items. “I actually think it will be good for the East Village because it’s more exposure and what we’re doing is a big push of information and advertising at the store, reminding people we’re here and telling them about the new location.” Keith said.

The main struggle has been to keep staffing levels up. The manager of Keith’s West Glen store recently gave notice she is leaving. Keith expects to have about four to six people working at both stores.

“We’re looking for a few more people,” she said, “but fortunately I have some flexibility and a son young enough to take with me.”

Though Keith has a three- to five-year plan, she said she has been infamous for exceeding the goals set in those plans much faster. “We’ll see what happens,” she said. She already has had requests from people in Kansas City and Milwaukee and on the East Coast to franchise.

Though many small businesses have grown substantially by expanding to multiple locations, not all have met similar successes.

Paolo Bartesaghi and Mark Pritchard closed A Touch of Italy in West Glen this spring to focus on their two stores in the East Village and have more time to care for family members suffering from health problems.

A Touch of Italy was the business partners’ first store, which they opened 10 years ago in Valley Junction. Eight years later, they decided to open Accenti and Arte Gallery a month apart in the East Village, and those businesses soon began to do better than their Italian gift shop, even after they relocated it to West Glen. Running the three stores also required more time than they could devote.

However, the owners have kept the rights to use the Touch of Italy name, with the intention of looking at opportunities in the future. “It’s possible we will reopen another Touch of Italy store,” Bartesaghi said, “but at the same time, the decision we took was a really good decision.”

Rather than opening similar stores, the partners have focused on new concepts for each location, striving to reach different niche markets. Accenti sells scarves, bags, ties, belts and other accessories, while Arte Gallery features artwork from around the world, with a focus on Midwestern artists.

“We try to touch different niches,” Bartesaghi said. “You can reach more people. Not everyone has the same tastes, but you can try to reach different clientele.”

Bartesaghi said it was harder to open the second and third stores because at the time, the dollar was weak compared to the euro, which made it more expensive to import items from Europe. Rather than adding more stores, the owners have chosen to expand lines within their existing stores, such as adding women’s accessories to Accenti.

“Specialty stores are not too simple,” Bartesaghi said. “You have to really try to understand the clientele. You have to give your clients your taste, but at the same time, you need to find what they’re searching for.”