We’ve talked before about the benefits to your business of becoming a specialist – identifying areas where your business excels and marketing yourself as an expert or specialist in that field. On a recent trip to New York it quickly became apparent that it has a thriving community of small businesses and many of them are successful because they have become specialists. So many that I can’t talk about them all, but I have picked out a few of my favourites to look at with you.
The first is a shop called ‘The Lost World’ in Greenwich Village, which specialises in The Big Lebowski merchandise. For those who aren’t in the know, The Big Lebowski is a 1998 Coen Brothers film that has a dedicated cult following. As a big fan of the film I couldn’t pass this place without making some purchases, and as far as I could see, I wasn’t the only one. The Lost World is fully decked out with props related to the movie, right down to the owner dressing as the main character, ‘The Dude’, every day (i.e. he wears pyjamas and a bath robe)!
The business started out as a gift shop and as it struggled through the difficult economy the owner, Roy Preston, noticed that the only things that sold consistently were some Big Lebowski t-shirts that he put in the shop as a joke. That was enough to spur him on to specialise as a Big Lebowski store and turn things around for his business.
You can read more about The Lost World here and if you haven’t seen The Big Lebowski you should buy it here