diff --git a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
index ce7710981..2381f3943 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/app.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import datetime
+from pathlib import Path, PosixPath
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
 from celery import Celery, group
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ class CondaStore(LoggingConfigurable):
     )
 
     store_directory = Unicode(
-        "conda-store-state",
+        str(Path.home() / ".conda-store" / "conda-store-state"),
         help="directory for conda-store to build environments and store state",
         config=True,
     )
@@ -201,7 +202,7 @@ class CondaStore(LoggingConfigurable):
     )
 
     database_url = Unicode(
-        "sqlite:///conda-store.sqlite",
+        "sqlite:///" + str(PosixPath.home()) + "/.conda-store/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 741a31d26..13807b44a 100644
--- a/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py
+++ b/conda-store-server/conda_store_server/server/app.py
@@ -183,6 +183,8 @@ def initialize(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         self.conda_store = CondaStore(parent=self, log=self.log)
 
+        self.conda_store.ensure_directories()
+
         if self.conda_store.upgrade_db:
             dbutil.upgrade(self.conda_store.database_url)