Des Moines, IA (October 20, 2020) - RAYGUN, The Greatest Store in the Universe, will be moving to a larger, more centrally-located warehouse space by early 2021 in order to expand online operations and production fulfillments.
As of late September, Mike Draper, owner of RAYGUN, solidified nearly 20,000 square feet of space off of SW 9th Street along the Raccoon River. Draper, who confirmed in store operations will still continue at all six of the current retail stores in the greater Midwest, cited the need for more space to fill online and e-commerce demand from shoppers around the world.
“Closing for three months during a pandemic was less than ideal, but during that time, our web sales moved up, as well as demand for online fulfillment for custom prints. Oddly enough, our national presence has gained major ground as well with recognizable brands like CNN and NPR,” said Draper.
While many may cite the upcoming political season, Draper believes online shoppers and those working remotely are discovering the company’s website and efficient shipping has become a must have. The new warehouse space will house almost all of RAYGUN’s printing, woodworking, display construction items and warehouse inventory for online shipping and product transfers.
“This space will be, pretty much, the machine that runs RAYGUN, outside of our stellar team members, of course,” chimed Draper. “We will refocus on in-store sales again in 2021, but this is where we’re at given the climate we’re in: re-shifting efforts to consolidate production and streamlining our systems.”
Per the CBRE |Hubbell Commercial September 2020 Recovery Indicator report, shopping center foot traffic has decreased by 37% from early 2020, or pre-COVID-19, levels including grocery stores, malls and power centers. Over the past two weeks, mall and power center foot traffic declined slightly after a moderate rebound.
“It’s no surprise that we’ve witnessed a decline in the foot traffic at major retailers and at locally-owned businesses and instead have seen a heavy shift to e-commerce during COVID-19,” said Zach Scheckel, Research Analyst with CBRE | Hubbell Commercial. “While the rest of 2020’s outlook looks fairly unchanged, we’re optimistic the next 2-3 quarters may show accelerated demand and renewed interest in these retail hubs.”
RAYGUN will slowly begin the transition from its’ current space into the SW 9th warehouse over the course of the next 2-3 months with hopes of being completely in by 2021.
