January is synonymous with fresh starts. It’s when we make our New Year’s resolutions, promising ourselves we’ll do everything from eating healthier to budgeting our money more wisely. But resolutions aren’t just for our personal lives; they can also guide our professional goals. As we begin 2025, it’s the perfect time for retailers to think about the ways they want to improve or even expand their businesses.
To help inspire some New Year’s resolutions for your business, DRN spoke with dance retailers nationwide to find out the key areas they’re prioritizing for the year ahead.
Diversify Revenue Streams
Kristin Ruggieri, owner of Attitude Dance & Active Wear in Norwalk, CT, is planning to use the new year as a time for refining her store’s e-commerce operation.
During the COVID shutdown, Ruggieri and her store manager quickly “threw together” an e-commerce site to make up for lost in-store sales. “I wanted to have something on there so customers could still shop,” she says. Last year, however, she realized that she needed a more sophisticated online operation and made the transition to Shopify at the end of summer. Since then, Attitude has been doubling e-commerce sales each month, and Ruggieri sees 2025 as an opportunity to increase online sales by 15 to 20 percent.
While Ruggieri is focusing on online expansion, Amber Wisniewski is doing the opposite. Her boutique, Relevé Dancewear in Monroe, MI, started off as an online-only shop in 2022. “We were DoorDash for dancewear,” she jokes, explaining how she’d make some house calls to do shoe fittings and even personally deliver orders to customers. In March 2024, Wisniewski opened her physical store. This long-time goal of hers was spurred on by the requirements of big-name suppliers, who mandate that retailers must have brick-and-mortar locations before they can open accounts.
Now Wisniewski is planning to ramp up in-person efforts to generate new and repeat business. This will include going directly to dance schools and college programs; setting up pop-up shops; and ensuring she’s physically in spaces where she can meet dancers and their parents to forge in-store sales. “We already travel to venues and theaters…to deliver items so [dancers] can focus on performing,” she says. “This is a service that parents and dancers truly love, and I’m glad we can accommodate their needs. For us, [2025 is] going to be more personal outreach,” she says.
Expand Inventory
The bread and butter of Wisniewski’s business is pointe shoes and tights. In 2025, she wants to expand her current inventory to include more styles and brands so she can offer customers a diverse selection. This has meant, and will mean, conducting a fair bit of on-the-job research, she says. “I’m learning what the majority of students are using and liking.”
Not only is Wisniewski planning to carry brands and styles that her customer base wants, she also wants to offer less familiar alternatives. “New shoes are coming out every day,” she says. “I have a good understanding from learning my target market what brands I should go to next.”
Meet Customers Where They Are
Small businesses’ success, especially in the dance industry, relies on repeat customers. Many retailers will be keeping that top of mind in 2025. As a result, Bellissimo Dance Boutique, in Franklin, Tennessee, is making its concierge service—which encompasses studio house-calls for recital basics, special product orders, and pop-up shops—one of its top priorities for the new year.
“The key to growing our concierge business is making connections among studios and dance teams and spreading awareness of the services we offer,” wrote Bellissimo’s owners, Patrice Powell and Kelley Descher, in an email interview. They previously did this through an annual fashion show, but for the past two years it hasn’t happened due to extenuating circumstances. So, finding another way to connect directly with current and potential customers—and to bring back their fashion show—will be a priority for Bellissimo in 2025.
Branch Out Into Different Marketing Tactics
In 2024, Bellissimo hired its first social media manager, who has made “great strides” in transforming the store’s Instagram. Now, the plan is to grow profiles on TikTok and Pinterest. “This will help us expand our audience [and] efficiently communicate with our current customers,” say Powell and Descher.
Ruggieri is also planning to increase her store’s use of TikTok to reach new audiences. Currently, she leans on Attitude’s more than 28,000 Instagram followers to drive social media engagement.
Focus Internally
In the frenzy of managing a business, it can be easy to forget that its strongest assets are its people. That’s why, in 2025, Powell and Descher want to make a conscious effort to ensure its employees are as knowledgeable as possible. They’ll do this by continuing to provide them with ongoing product and retail training through the store’s managers, who attend business and retail seminars. Providing pointe shoe education and training opportunities for their fitters is also of the utmost importance. “Keeping our staff well versed in up-to-date products, procedures, and business growth tactics will always be a priority for us,” they say.
Powell and Descher also want to more intentionally recognize Bellissimo’s employees’ efforts inside and outside the store by celebrating accomplishments, milestones, and birthdays. “We are so proud of them, and they should know that.”
With a new year comes plenty of new aspirations. Above all, it’s important to remember that 2025 is more than just January. Even if it takes all year to achieve them, setting meaningful goals will only strengthen your business in the long run.
Erica Iacono is a writer living in New York City who often writes about marketing and small businesses.