sna ps h ot: C e ntre S t a g e D a n c ewe a r
Meet
Centre Stage Dancewear Franchisor
Kassandra Stewart
Centre Stage Dancewear (CSD) has been a recognised name in the dance world for more than 20 years and now they are offering an exciting opportunity to franchise their unique pop-up dance shops across Australia!
Business Franchise Magazine caught up with franchisor Kassandra Stewart to discover some of the perks of owning a pop-up franchise store and what it takes to become part of the CSD family.
Kassandra, tell us about yourself and how the Centre Stage Dancewear franchise began? As a hairdresser of 28 years, I had always worked for myself but I needed a new challenge and a new career, so when the opportunity to buy Centre Stage Dancewear came about, it was perfect for me and allowed me to work around the needs of my family. While I was learning the ropes in the shop, I started visiting different dance schools in my local area and offered them a pop-up shop at their dance studio. I organised a date and time and they would let the parents know. A lot of the studios would rebook three or four times a year, so it was very successful. I knew that there was a good business opportunity there and so I decided to engage a company who helped with the process of starting a franchise and that is how we started.
Why is there a demand for your service in the dance community?
What training do you offer your franchisees?
I know how time poor parents are and with all the activities kids do these days adding going to a dance shop is just another job. They have to drop their children at the dance studio anyway, so a pop-up store solves the problem. A lot of regional areas don’t have a dancewear shop or they might have a small one with a limited range, so by bringing the pop-up store to them it solves the problem of them having to come all the way to us. We have no competition terms of pop-up dance shops.
We do a week-long training session at CSDHQ. We teach you how to fit dance shoes, what they are made of and the dance genres they are used for. We are available 24/7 and I personally attend the first couple of pop-ups with the franchisee so they can find their feet. I try to do as much as I can to make it a seamless process for the studio and the franchisee.
To open a bricks and mortar dance shop and stock it would cost more than $400,000. A Centre Stage pop-up store is just $34,990 and $20,000 of that is stock.
What type of person would ‘fit’ your franchise profile? You definitely need to be self-motivated. You don’t necessarily have to have a business brain but if you want a business where all the hard work is done for you, this is the perfect opportunity. It enables you to work part time around your family with the financial freedom of a full-time job. We are quite selective who we take on board, you have to be a team player, friendly and fun. It’s an added bonus if you are member of a dance community and you love immersing yourself in that culture.
How has your business model changed over the past 12 months and what does the next 12 months look like for Centre Stage Dancewear? I think the pandemic changed the way we do things and the way we look at work. When you have your own business, you are your own boss and so you have that job security. You can utilise that down time to reassess and operate your business to suit you. Yes, the sales are going to take a dip at times, but I think most importantly the dance world is going to come back stronger than ever. It’s actually the perfect time to get in to one of our franchises because by the time you are trained and ready to go we will be heading into that peak time in the dance world. After a year with no concerts everyone is busting to get back out there. For all initial enquires contact Kassandra today at: kassandra@centrestagedancewear.com.au www.centrestagedancewear.com.au/
62 Business 62 Business Franchise Franchise AustraliaAustralia and Newand Zealand New Zealand
CRT
