how big of a town is needed to support a clothing boutique?

Answer 1

Actually, in todays world, you don't even have to be in a town, you can be in an unincorporated village.

Use the web to sell your designs. Catalog sales worked extremely well for years, long before the internet was invented.

You can advertise on Yahoo!, or get your designs placed in their search engines. Or start an egroup or a blog featuring your designs.

Good luck.

Answer 2

It depends on the clothing the store will offer, and the prices in comparison to the average income.

You would have to look at the demographics to know for sure. Most towns and cities have this information on line. You need to know average household income, population breakdown (percentages of men, women, and the age groups), average housing costs, race distribution, and much more. Then compare it to the kinds of clothing the store would sell: men's, women's, teen's, kids and baby. Also the styles: casual, trendy, urban, punk, goth, prep, high fashion, etc... If the population is manily men, then the women's clothing store won't sell enough to stay in business. If the population is mostly older, then the youthful clothing won't sell. If the average household gross yearly income is under $50,000, then you can't sell high end fashions, like a $500 dress or a $100 pair of jeans. (And so on.)

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
http://www.city-data.com/
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html

I would suggest that if you want to start a successful clothing boutique in your area, you should talk to a business financial adviser and/or planner to help you know where to look. They can guide you in the steps needed to set up a business, what you will have to do for the local and state laws, start up costs, insurance, business license, etc... You will find good help and references at your local SBA. They have offices all over the US, and they will point you to where you need to go, what you need to do, and help you find an affordable professional if needed who will guide you step by step.

http://www.sba.gov/

Good Luck!