diff --git a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
index aa97ac179..fe3a2f8de 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import datetime
 import os
 import sys
+from pathlib import Path, PurePosixPath
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
 import pydantic
@@ -71,6 +72,9 @@ def conda_store_validate_action(
         )
 
 
+CONDA_STORE_DIR = Path.home() / ".conda-store"
+
+
 class CondaStore(LoggingConfigurable):
     storage_class = Type(
         default_value=storage.LocalStorage,
@@ -87,7 +91,7 @@ class CondaStore(LoggingConfigurable):
     )
 
     store_directory = Unicode(
-        "conda-store-state",
+        str(CONDA_STORE_DIR / "state"),
         help="directory for conda-store to build environments and store state",
         config=True,
     )
@@ -200,7 +204,7 @@ class CondaStore(LoggingConfigurable):
     )
 
     database_url = Unicode(
-        "sqlite:///conda-store.sqlite",
+        "sqlite:///" + str(PurePosixPath(CONDA_STORE_DIR) / "conda-store.sqlite"),
         help="url for the database. e.g. 'sqlite:///conda-store.sqlite' tables will be automatically created if they do not exist",
         config=True,
     )
diff --git a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py
index a96857b28..f45198005 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py
@@ -179,6 +179,14 @@ def initialize(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         self.conda_store = CondaStore(parent=self, log=self.log)
 
+        self.conda_store.ensure_directories()
+        self.log.info(
+            f"Running conda-store with database: {self.conda_store.database_url}"
+        )
+        self.log.info(
+            f"Running conda-store with storage: {self.conda_store.store_directory}"
+        )
+
         if self.conda_store.upgrade_db:
             dbutil.upgrade(self.conda_store.database_url)
 
diff --git a/conda-store-server/tests/conftest.py b/conda-store-server/tests/conftest.py
index 4cf9e2bff..927714ac7 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/tests/conftest.py
@@ -22,11 +22,15 @@ def celery_config(conda_store):
 def conda_store_config(tmp_path, request):
     from traitlets.config import Config
 
-    filename = pathlib.Path(tmp_path) / "database.sqlite"
+    filename = pathlib.Path(tmp_path) / ".conda-store" / "database.sqlite"
+
+    store_directory = tmp_path / ".conda-store" / "state"
+    store_directory.mkdir(parents=True)
 
     with utils.chdir(tmp_path):
         yield Config(
             CondaStore=dict(
+                store_directory=str(store_directory),
                 database_url=f"sqlite:///{filename}?check_same_thread=False"
             )
         )