Meet Ian Winterbotham of Open Market OC in South Orange County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Winterbotham.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2009, I started a furniture business and grew it from a small side project into a large furniture store doing over $4 million annual sales out of a single location. As e-commerce grew larger and larger, increased competition and thinner margins made it nearly impossible to compete given all of the expenses of running a brick and mortar retail business.

In 2018, as brick and mortar retail seemed to be imploding everywhere, I decided to close the store and look for some way to re-invent retail for the small business owner. I was intrigued as to what could be done with all of the empty malls and large department stores so I put together the idea and model for Open Market OC. It was pitched to the owners of an empty Macy’s location and they were all for it.

The 150,000 sq ft location was much more than I could handle alone so I partnered with another furniture entrepreneur and we split the venue where he runs the home furniture and design center on the first floor and I run the marketplace and event center on the second floor.

The first floor opened in June and we are currently filling the marketplace with awesome artists, designers, jewelers, boutiques, and other creative small businesses with an opening date set for late summer.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Open Market OC has been very exciting yet challenging at the same time. Being such a large scale project, there has been nothing really like it in this area to compare to.

With the amount of space we have and such a prime location, we can do pretty much anything.

Our new vendors have so many great ideas for the marketplace, events, promotion, etc. that every day we seem to be adjusting and expanding the business model.

When so many artists and creatives partner under one roof, it’s kind of overwhelming…but in a good way.

Please tell us about Open Market OC.
Open Market OC is a unique marketplace that will be open seven days a week. We provide full sales support to our vendors so they do not need to be onsite to sell.

Vendors can have anything from a small jewelry case up to a full storefront with attached private studio or office space. We have onsite meeting rooms, classrooms, workshops, a coffee lounge, music stages, a fashion runway, private event spaces, and more. Once a vendor partners with us, they have access to all of these amenities.

We have social media and promotion staff constantly promoting all of our vendors and helping them with whatever they need. Our vendors are partners where our success is based on their success so we support them every which way we can.

What sets us apart from others is our size and location. We are surrounded by major restaurants, we have unlimited parking, and space to do pretty much whatever we can think of.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
After closing my furniture store, I pretty much did start over with Open Market OC and this concept. So far so good.

Contact Info:

• Address: 24100 Laguna Hills Mall
  Laguna Hills, CA 92653
• Website: www.openmarketoc.com
• Phone: 949-485-0322
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @openmarketoc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/OpenMarketOC

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