How I Put My Lab in the Public Eye

When I started looking for a new location for Cosmetic Creations, the Boynton Beach Mall was not on my radar. I visited many locations and industrial parks over a six-month period but every place was the same: small and stuffy and looked exactly like our existing 1,000-square-foot lab. We wanted something different: a modern, studio-like space that would allow our nine-person removable operation to grow into the digital world and expand our services.

It wasn’t until I had the chance to occupy a vacant store at our local mall that I realized how advantageous it could be to have a lab located right in the public eye and create consumer awareness of dental technology. It was an opportunity to educate people about our profession and to potentially draw interest from young people who may be attracted to dental technology as a career.

We decided to lease a 1,657-square-foot unit that had been a popular specialty shoe store; it was the perfect layout, but...