Cool. And now, a recent crisis has sent this couple reeling. Robbie i get a phone call from my doctor. The doctors like, come in immediately. Lemonis like that day . Robbie that day. Lemonis putting even more stress on the business. Julie that looks terrible. I never knew how much debt we were in. Lemonis . And their marriage. Robbie i get frustrated with you. Julie what do i do . Robbie the micromanagement. Do you not think i know what im doing . Lemonis if i cant get them to rethink their partnership and their business practices. Julie, i dont know that youre a good buyer. The future will be very bumpy. You dont trust him . My name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not going to wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were going to wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everything is going to change everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. The idea of investing in the kidsapparel business is enticing because its recessionproof, but not only that, robbie, i think, emailed me over 300 times, and perseverance by the Business Owner is one of those important factors because it shows me that no matter what, theyre not gonna give up. Robbie hello. Lemonis im marcus. Robbie hey. Robbie allen. Lemonis robbie, nice to meet you. Robbie so nice to meet you. Lemonis you have reached out to me 1,000 times . Robbie 1,001. Lemonis 1,001 . Robbie yeah. Julie hi, how are you . Lemonis im marcus. How are you . Im a hugger, too. Robbie oh, i wouldve hugged you, but its lemonis you want a hug . Robbie no, yeah, lets hug. Lets do it. Lemonis so, when i saw baby bump, i thought youre a maternity business, but all i see is baby clothes. Julie its stuck there. Robbie we initially opened for maternity. 2008, we opened our doors, and we were maternity, and childrens mightve been as big as this wall. Julie we figured to put kids in the front because everybody can buy for kids. Not everybody can buy for maternity. Excuse me one second. Lemonis yes. Robbie we have a lot of different sectors in this business. Lemonis Revenue Streams . Robbie yes. Lemonis okay. Robbie so, we have social media. Lemonis so, instagram. Robbie instagram all day here now. Julie a large . Okay. I have one left. Lemonis so, whats happening here . Robbie this is either they saw something on instagram and theyre calling for sizing to see if we have it still. Lemonis people call . Robbie all day. Lemonis if you like the product, you have to pick up the phone and call the store and hope they have it and go through that process as opposed to just pressing a button and going to the website, picking the item, checking out, and getting it delivered. I dont understand. You have an Inventory System . Robbie yes, we have an Inventory System. Lemonis and is it tied to your website . Robbie no. Lemonis do you have a website . Robbie like, a landing page just showing who we are. Got burned on three website developers. We dont have deep pockets. Lemonis when you post something, dont you know the style and the sku . Robbie no. Pos stands for two things in this store points of sales system and piece of [bleep] lemonis oh, okay. All right. I think the second challenge is that the way theyre Marketing Online today doesnt necessarily tie to their pos system. They dont have an accurate inventory. They dont know what they have where, and if they wanted to actually find it, the solution is to. Rummage through the shelves . That doesnt seem very userfriendly. So, if you come into your store, immediately its a baby store. Who does all the buying . Robbie julie does the childrens. Lemonis some of the stuff youre buying i mean, thats just a white tshirt. Whats your style white . Wheres the personality . What would you call this area here . Julie the local section. Lemonis alligators. Thats really cute actually. This is a new orleans thing. Julie yeah, thats our symbol. They buy a lot of the stuff because theyre like, i want to bring Something Back from louisiana. Lemonis i feel like the baby bump store is nice enough. Its got some great local flair to it, but it seems like everything is meant for something very formal. Like, people like to buy things for the kids where they can just roll around in the dirt. Julie this is the maternity section. Lemonis who buys all of this . Robbie me and julie do maternity. Lemonis who merchandised this . Robbie julie does the merchandising, but i used to do more. Lemonis did you ever get any training in merchandising . Julie no. Lemonis when i went up these stairs, i literally felt like i went back to 1984. Robbie okay. Lemonis when youre merchandising your product or apparel, the most important thing is to do it in a way that engages the customer. It requires them to actually want to participate in the process, and unfortunately, this place doesnt accomplish that. Oh, the monogram . That is cool. Julie we monogram everything. Lemonis and what do you charge for it . Julie 12 for that. Lemonis what does it cost you to do it . Julie 50 cents maybe. Lemonis the margins are huge. Julie theyre great. Robbie the machines at our house. Lemonis you monogram at your house . Robbie yes. Julie i start in the morning. Im monogramming pieces, get the kids off to school. Lemonis and how old are your kids . Julie 6 and 2. Lemonis okay, thats awesome. Julie so, we rush here because we have to open the store. Lemonis youre here all day working, hustling. Robbie one of us is in baton rouge. One of us is here. Lemonis store closes. What happens next . Julie go home, cook dinner, monogramming, emails, instagramming. Lemonis and what time is that at . Julie oh, 11 00, 12 00. Lemonis youre monogramming at 11 00, 12 00 at night . Robbie oh, yeah. Shes doing too much. Im trying to. Lemonis help. Robbie weve tried several times to say, this is all youre gonna do, and this is what i will do. Because i dont want her doing all this. Julie i feel like im running around with a chicken like, my head cut off. One of us has to pick up the boys, so its always an argument. Okay, whos staying dadadada, and then, like, i always feel like i have to stay here because i feel like i can do it a little better. Robbie what does that mean . Julie yeah. Robbie i dont know if youre referring to sales or merchandising. Sales, i mean, i thats what i do. Lemonis the idea of running a Family Business is tough to begin with, and when you add the layer of complexity that its a husband and wife, it makes it even more difficult. Its become obvious to me that theyre troubled. What is the percentage of business here between baby versus maternity . Robbie maybe 6 of sales are childrens. Lemonis so, maternity went away . Julie its just evolving a lot. Robbie its evolving to where, like, women can go anywhere and just find something looser, maybe go up an extra size. Lemonis and what will you do on a typical day here . Robbie 1,000. Julie 1,000 is about normal. Robbie 1,000 a day. Lemonis so, does this store break even . Robbie good question. Lemonis well, i dont need you to tell me that its a good question. Robbie oh, well, okay, yes. Were we are breaking even, yes. Were out of the negatives for now. Yes. Julie right now, were, like, at 6,000 each month for profit. Lemonis okay. How come she knows that clearly and you are a little fuzzy about it . Robbie i used to do the finances. She took that over. Lemonis what are you nervous about . Robbie she just knows what weve been through, and 2017 was a really hard year. Um. So in 2017, i get a phone call from my doctor. He goes, we need to immediately get you in here. Looks like you have testicular cancer. Lemonis im really sorry about that. Unexpected. Robbie very unexpected. Im sorry. Its hard seeing her hurt. Lemonis you okay . Julie im fine. Lemonis okay. Robbie the doctors like, come in immediately. Lemonis like that day . Robbie that day. Julie that hour. Robbie so, im, like, there, and, you know, shes trying to comfort me, and im like, no, i got to comfort you, and it was a mess. Lemonis yeah, a perfect storm. Robbie man. Julie its a whirlwind. Robbie yeah. Lemonis how long ago was that . Julie a year exactly. Lemonis are you clear now . Robbie so, im clear. I went through radiation. The results came in, and im good. Yeah. So, its gone, but julie but the bills are still there. Lemonis the medical bills . Julie yeah. Robbie yeah, and then, you know, the store, it took a hit because of all of that going on. Julie we put in probably robbie our whole savings. Since 2008 to 2017, i did everything. I really did. I kept as much away from julie as possible. Before 2017, i was really good at all that stuff. Julie saw what it was doing to me. She came in and saved us. Lemonis thank goodness that julie was able to rise to the occasion to take care of her family, her husband, their kids, their business, but with robbie coming back in to her system, to her process, to her way of thinking, i worry that thats gonna be a big hurdle. You okay . Julie 2017 sucked, so every time we think about it, it just. Robbie shes tough. Lemonis you went through a lot. Robbie yeah. Lemonis and you are here on the other side. You seem like youre kicking ass. Julie trying. Lemonis you dont feel like youre getting there . Julie mornings im working. At nighttime, im working. I just feel like im a hamster in a wheel, like, just spinning, but i want to, like, get out of that wheel. Lemonis how to reacclimate yourself to a working relationship thats built on equality with everybody contributing isnt gonna be as easy as everybody thinks, and i have to figure out how to rebuild his confidence slowly so that he can stand on his own two feet. So, ill meet you guys at baton rouge . Robbie baton rouge. Yes, sir. Lemonis okay, ill see you there. Robbie welcome to baton rouge. Lemonis yeah. Robbie this is maddie, our store manager. Lemonis nice to meet you. How are you . Madison doing well. Thanks. Lemonis who do you report to . Madison there it really is both of them. Julie i would say me, yeah. Robbie yeah, julie. Lemonis okay. Im marcus. Allyson im allyson. Lemonis nice to meet you guys. So, when people walk in here, do you have any repeat customers . Madison oh, 75 is regulars. Lemonis and do you know exactly what theyre gonna buy or not buy . Madison yes. Lemonis okay. Madison i know their style. I know their kids. Lemonis thats clienteling. Like, oh, my gosh. This came in. I know suzys gonna love this. And then youre putting it in a box. Youre calling her up and be like, i know youre a working mother. Im sending you the most amazing box, and youre gonna love everything. Youre gonna wish i sent you more. Julie i never thought of that. Thats a good idea. Lemonis do you have a database that puts peoples information in . Julie no. Lemonis how do you communicate with them once they leave . Brenna i tell them i say, hey, guys, follow us on instagram. Heres our number. Normally we have business cards that we i think we have to get some more made. Lemonis today with webbased technology, you can input customer information in a database and send them offers based on the size they wear, the kids they have, their birthday, their anniversary, the colors they like. Its the very specific targeted marketing known as modern day clienteling. The good news is this market is wideopen. Doesnt matter about the economy. Babies are born every day, in fact, one was born a second ago, and a community of people are gonna buy a gift for the person that had the baby and the baby themselves. Im gonna head back to new orleans, i learned a lot, and then maybe we can catch up a little later. How are you . Robbie how are you . Lemonis this is a busy place. Robbie this is a busy place. Lemonis do you have the financials . Robbie yes. This is a 20162017 comparison. Lemonis 2016 857,000 of revenue. 2017 801,000 of revenue. 2016 431,000 of gross profit and a 50 margin. 2017 396,000 and a 49 margin. So, in my opinion, your margins are at a minimum of 12 . Julie 12 . Lemonis yes. I think you need to be at 62 , not 50 and 49. 5 . In this particular business because the volume isnt as big as a traditional retail store, youre going to have to have perfect execution on the margin side because theres very little room for error. 5 or 10 points across a couple hundred thousand dollars is the difference between going out of business or being able to pay your light bill. Lets look at the Balance Sheet. So, right now, 27,000 in cash, 31,000 of inventory in new orleans, 42,000 in baton rouge. So, 100,000 of assets that are tangible inventory and cash. Come down to liabilities. 170,000 in bank loans and 40,000 in credit cards. 210,000 in liabilities. What about personal credit cards that are not on the Balance Sheet . Robbie we have one personal card that weve used, and its got a 5,000 cap, and its capped. Lemonis how much money have you invested in the whole concept . Robbie id say itd be close to almost 20,000. Lemonis thats 235,000 invested, and theres 100,000 of cash and inventory. Youre upside down 135,000. Robbie thats a lot. Julie i never knew how much debt we were in. I dont like loans. I dont like owing people money. I dont i just im not raised that way. Like, i dont like it. Lemonis how did this happen . Robbie you know, i tried to solve things, so i go out and get a loan, and it would make it go away, and wed have to slowly pay it, you know . But the problem was, it would snowball. Wed pay wed get a loan, and then the credit cards would get tapped out again. This is my flaw. Julie its hard trust. Lemonis you dont trust him . Julie i was just ready to sell the car, sell the wedding ring, like. Lemonis i asked you if you trusted him. Julie oh, my god. This is stressing me out. I feel like i could do this in, like, 5 seconds. Robbie julie. Julie youre, like, giving me anxiety. Im . Julie i was just ready to sell the car, sell the wedding ring, like. Lemonis i asked you if you trusted him. Julie i never knew how much debt we were in. To me, im like, that looks terrible. Lemonis did he mislead you . Julie not mislead, but i dont think that it was robbie i just never told her. When you have any type of cancer, it scares the crap out of you. I went into, like, survival mode with my family. Like, i need to be the provider. You know, am i gonna die from this . And i felt like at times, i was failing. It was hitting us hard at night with bills and her not knowing how were gonna, like, keep our house, and those things killed my soul. And then after im healed, theres this big relief, but then now i got to get back to work and things are still not right, and im sorry. I feel like we me and her have lost, like, our dating, you know, and i miss us sometimes. Lemonis this is nothing more than a Health Report on your business. And the nice thing about a Financial Statement is it tells you where the problems are. I like the business that youre in because i really belive that the babyinfanttoddler business is somewhat recessionproof. I like the fact that you guys are doing the Million Dollars with no Inventory System, with no website, with no real buying plan, with no real merchandising, but those are things that are fixable. And so, my offer is to put 100,00 of cash into the business to bring in the right inventory and the right systems and the right merchandising, and to bring in all of my resources, as well. Julie wow. Lemonis but for that, im gonna want to have 50 of the business. Robbie with all that, will there be a system in place to get this debt down, too . Lemonis some of the money can be used for that, but what i want to do is i want to keep the pressure on you to learn how to find the margin, cut the expenses so that business can pay its own debts back. And youre not gonna lean on her, and youre not gonna lean on me. Youre gonna solve it. Robbie i want that. My passion is with this company. I will work my ass off. Im good with the deal. Lemonis we got a deal . Julie im excited to have you to teach us. Robbie yes, sir. All right. Lemonis yes. Julie yummy, yummy, yummy. Lemonis all right. You want to hug it out . Robbie i want to beignet it out. Im gonna show you what we do in new orleans. Lemonis okay, show me. Julie dont do it. Robbie there you go. Cheers. Lemonis good morning. Julie morning lemonis before we get started, i just want to make sure that you guys understand what exactly is happening and how the process is gonna work. Last night, we made a deal. I agreed to invest 100,000. Its gonna go into the business for working capital. The way that i would have you think about the Business Today it has store revenue, it has socialmedia revenue, and it has no online revenue. Julie right. Lemonis and so, we want to have three distinct channels of revenue. I want to renovate one of their stores so we can begin to think about expanding into other markets, but i also want to work on improving their socialmedia game as well as launch a website. Were gonna do digital imagery so that when you go online, youll actually see lots of photos of the products. Robbie whoa. Julie wow. Lemonis yeah. The other thing that we learned last night is that this store has awful margins, and so right now, the margins are 49 . Not acceptable. We need to get to 62 margins minimum, and so were gonna look at the products that we dont sell, get rid of those, and then were gonna go find new, innovative baby products. Something thats gonna add a sense of color and fun. This store needs a lot of work. Make sure that theres a color scheme and that theres a product assortment and that the Customer Service is clear and that the inventory is clear. Ellie fantastic. Madison that would change, like, the whole look. Lemonis lets go. Thanks, guys. The first thing i want to do is help them find new resources for new apparel and merchandise to diversify the product offer. And so, ive asked them to come to los angeles to see can i start to change the way they think. The clothes that you guys carry are nice, but theyre not. Cool. But i feel like we need to young it up a little bit, and so im gonna take you to a couple places, and were gonna talk about how to change the perspective of the store. Lauren moshi is one of those fun, contemporary brands that truly understands how to bring color and energy to garments. Lauren, how are you . Lauren hi, how are you . Lemonis affordably priced, and michael and lauren, who are the founders and owners, theyre also family working together. Why dont you pull stuff and put them on the racks of things you like . Why dont you do the same thing . Robbie okay. This is cute. So, i think of both boys. I feel like i need to pull for them. Julie yeah, i mean, just you make the decision. Yeah. Robbie what do you think of that . Julie geez. Robbie julie . Julie oh, my god. Youre, like, giving me anxiety right now. Like, i feel like i could do this in five seconds. Youre kind of stressing me out, like, all this. Robbie okay, do it. Show me. Juli