Photos, Infographic and Reporting by Candice Vialpando and Breanne Standingwater
Britton McKain Murdock, owner and creator of Reno’s first mobile fashion truck, The Biggest Little Fashion Truck. Murdock purchased the truck in June 2016.
Going Nimble on Wheels
Starting a new business can come with many challenges. People starting new business ventures in Reno are discovering that sometimes it pays to start small with a street operation or mobile business.
One of the most common and well known street vendors in Reno is the food truck. Summer food truck events are especially popular. One of the biggest events is Reno Street Food which entered its sixth year in 2016. Every Friday in the summer over 30 trucks will gather in Idlewild park Park to serve gourmet food, desserts, and craft beer to customers. In 2015, Steve Schroeder who helps put on the street food events estimated to the Reno Gazette Journal, that 70,000 food grazers spent more than $1 million over 20 Fridays.
Food trucks dominate, but more and more other business models are going mobile on wheels.
Unique Benefits
Starting a new business venture is challenging and expensive. Having a mobile business plan allows entrepreneurs some unique benefits. The cost of opening up a business can vary, but overall opening up a small mobile business will run someone between $5k-100k according to Food Truck Empire while a brick and mortar storefront can cost on average $13k-600k according to Forbes.
Mobile businesses are able to build their brand and customer base before investing in a storefront. They are also able to test out different locations to see where their customer base is strongest.
In the summer, the truck will park in a driveway or street or wherever is available. Murdock will open the doors and make an outdoor boutique full of racks, tables with accessories, as well as shopping inside the truck. It is a unique and fun experience.
Although food trucks make up the bulk of Reno’s street vendors, the Biggest Little City now has its very own, first mobile fashion truck, The Biggest Little Fashion Truck. The pink mobile boutique is able to travel around the Reno, Carson, and Tahoe areas selling chic clothing and accessories.
The owner of The Biggest Little Fashion Truck, Britton McKain Murdock, 27, is a former athlete turned female entrepreneur.
Britton has always had a love for retail. It’s in her blood too. Her grandfather owned Murdock’s Clothing Store for thirty years in Carson City and Reno. She always wanted to carry on the family tradition but knew she would have to evolve with the times.
Empowering Women
Fashion trucks are huge in big cities like Los Angeles. According to the American Mobile Retail Association, there are a total of 19 fashion trucks in Los Angeles, with a national total of 500.
Murdock said that she is mixing in a lifestyle brand into her company so that she can empower women, and encourage them to find what makes them happy.
Murdock said fashion trucks are out to change the way women shop. They are evolving stores on wheels that can go to just about any location and accompany different types of trucks and events. There is also a sense of urgency when shopping from a truck. An opportunity to buy an interesting piece of clothing may disappear when the truck travels to its next location.
Murdock said that when she was researching the retail businesses, she immediately knew that the fashion truck would be her stepping-stone to one day owning her own store, similar to what Wood and Watnes have done.
“Right now we don’t have the foot traffic for a brick in mortar store, but in the future I would love to own stores as well as a fleet of trucks,” Murdock said.
Inventory for the fashion truck is always changing and there is a wide variety of clothing and accessories to chose from.
Mobility and Versatility
The beauty of a fashion truck event is that they are all different. The clientele changes with the location. The inventory is customized for each event. Murdock sets up in all different venues: houses, front yards, inside homes, outside restaurants, and more.
Murdock is generally known in the community for two kinds of events, a private event and a public event.
“In the summer I will park in the driveway or street or wherever is available. I will open the doors, I have stairs that drop down, and I will make an outdoor boutique full of racks, tables with accessories, as well as shopping inside the truck,” Murdock said.
Fashion trucks are huge in big cities like Los Angeles and New York. Murdock said that when she was researching the retail businesses, she immediately knew that the fashion truck would be her stepping-stone to one day owning her own store.
Sipping Wine and Shopping for Clothes
Women sip on their wine and shop from the truck. It is an intimate, convenient and comfortable shopping experience.
The public events that Murdock hosts are like festivals downtown whereby she sets up in a similar way.
“At those events, I get a different crowd which helps with exposure,” Murdock said.
Murdock said that one of the biggest questions she has asked herself throughout this journey is ‘who is my target market?’ Murdock said that when she opened The Biggest Little Fashion Truck, she was aiming for women aged 15 to 40 years-old. However, her whole plan has changed, as her clothing now appeals to all age groups. “This is an opportune time to be in the Biggest Little City. We are growing and booming. There is an energy in the city that you can feel,” Murdock said.
“I think this is a good time to be in Reno. Having four tires that make you mobile is also a good thing,” Murdock said.
Photos, Infographic and Reporting by Candice Vialpando and Breanne Standingwater