Commerce is a Team Sport
What does it take to make it in modern retail?
It’s never been easier to chase your dreams and start something new or at least, that’s the sentiment that’s been thrown around a lot. It takes minutes to set up an online store and find someone to fulfill the orders, and rather than moving to the city to build a network, you can start by posting online five times a week. And while all of this is true, the more time I spend getting new projects off the ground, the more I find myself leaning into the old, not so sexy ways of doing business – befriending professional writers rather than influencers, chatting up gatekeepers and tastemakers, showing up in person, and doing loads of manual research.
A few months ago, I listened to The Cutting Room Floor interview with the founding team of Peter Do. I sound like a broken record talking about Peter at this point, but there is just a certain aura of mystery around someone so young getting so much attention in their industry so quickly. The story of how Peter Do, the brand, came about is certainly scrappy and unlikely, yet surprisingly old school – a group of five founders packing 100+ SKUs of a ready-to-wear collection in overweight luggage and taking a WOW Air plane to Paris to meet retail buyers. It was, of course, the team’s community on Tumblr and a successful e-commerce run that helped secure those buyer meetings and sign retail contracts. But ultimately, getting a couple of big retailers to sign off on that first collection is a major reason why Peter Do ready-to-wear exists today. Can you believe this happened in 2019? Not to romanticize the old guard and their system, but pitching your work to only a handful of people sounds weirdly comforting compared to constantly putting your work out there on the internet to be picked apart by anyone who comes across it.
Digital burnout aside, it’s legitimately hard to tell a cohesive story and get people to care about anything new in a giant crowded room where everyone is screaming over each other. And yet we keep at it because that is what we think we have to do, and that is what everyone else is doing. It feels like a breath of fresh air in that dark, sweaty room to see someone like Alissa Zackary at High Sport launch a brand with just five small independent retailers and old school PR gifting – no DTC e-commerce site or expensive marketing rollout. With the amount of buzz and sales the High Sport Kick Flare Pants alone generated, it’s safe to say that getting validation from the experts in your industry, especially the ones that work directly with your target customers is still worth a whole lot. The only hiccup is that the old school system and talent are going through their own rebirth.
Major fashion e-tailers, Farfetch and Matches, are in a tight spot, while the rest of the industry is running all year round sales. Lots of independent retailers across industries are turning into “shoppy shops” that stock premium tinned fish next to pearl necklaces and Regime Des Fleurs fragrance. But maybe the toughest part of the past few years in retail was watching retailers with a significant brick-and-mortar footprint and cultural significance, like Barneys and Opening Ceremony, close their doors. Those weren’t only shopping destinations but in a lot of ways, also museum-like displays of culture and playgrounds for creatives.
Despite the overall lack of enthusiasm around retail on the surface, there is still a handful of really smart independent retailers who are pushing it forward and building the type of retail that can flourish and support emerging talent in the volatile, fast-paced economic landscape. While staying true to the core foundation of the retail business — smart buyer decisions, inventory management, and magical customer experience, they are also staying flexible and pushing boundaries of what retail is supposed to look like. For Tal Silberstein at Colbo NYC, that means hosting popups in LA and Paris, throwing community events for artists and brands at their permanent LES location, and creating a comfortable space for their local community and visitors to not only shop but also hang out and connect with like-minded people. Lucy Weisner and Vita Haas at Cafe Forgot opted out for a gallery-like setup and sublet their first permanent retail space in the East Village part-time to community groups, gallerists, and brands before they could afford to operate their current shop in LES full-time. Carmen Atiyah de Baets has built a whole Carmen universe in Amsterdam, complete with an online store, a brick-and-mortar shop, a kitchen, and a guesthouse that hosts both tourists and artists in residence.
Rather than operating exclusively with a buyer mindset, these modern retail leaders are leaning more into one of a stylist, a storyteller, and even an art curator, all at the same time. Not only are they always on a hunt for good product and interesting talent, they are also working hard to meet modern shoppers where they are, ease them into discovering new brands and products, and help them connect with their brand partners’ stories. At L'ENSEMBLE, a newly opened retail store in Dumbo, Brooklyn, this mindset translated into buyer-style shopping appointments designed to help customers explore their personal style, build a functional wardrobe, and understand the ethos behind the pieces they purchase. For Colbo, it’s about a strong editorial platform that mixes their in-house capsule collections together with pieces from a tight curation of brand partners and vintage. At Tangerine, a small retailer based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it’s about placing a shop in the middle of a residential neighborhood rather than the Bedford Ave shopping strip.
The more I dug into what it takes to make modern retail work, the more nervous and overwhelmed I got. Not only do you need to be a smart buyer and an expert salesman, you also need to be a part-time stylist, a brand marketer, an event producer, and a community manager or have the money to hire a team. It’s one thing to take a risk and start a venture in a troubled industry, but it’s a whole other story to be essentially running several new ventures alongside each other — a store, an editorial platform, and a community hub. Maybe this is why despite all the great developments in independent retail in the past few years, there is still an air of uncertainty around it, and saying “retail is back” feels like a hot take.
The thing is, making each one of these part-time ventures work separately may be even harder. The power dynamic in commerce has shifted, and complicated symbiotic relationships emerged in place of gatekeepers and clear hierarchies. Small brands exist in proximity to large brands to facilitate an exchange between distribution and culture. Retail benefits from its partners’ existing communities while also acting as their ambassador in front of newcomers and initiating new people into their cults. Store owners are keeping their local communities entertained and happy while also building a global brand for their e-commerce sites. Every single partner in the funnel has to work together, and work really, really hard, for everyone to succeed.
There is a difference between running ten projects at once in the name of hustle and in the name of ego though. When I wrote about retail last summer, I questioned brands, like Sporty & Rich, that are trying to run three separate businesses at once out of their brick-and-mortar store - a shop, a spa, and a smoothie bar, not because that’s what the consumers wanted but because it’s the founder’s dream to build out a lifestyle brand universe. But if done sparingly and strategically - a little popup in LA or Paris, a capsule collection, and a seasonal event, it’s both fun for shoppers and beneficial to brand partners and retailers. The lines between the old guard and new guard are blurry, and it takes a village to make something new work.
IN THE MARGINS
In the process of writing this week’s piece, I curated a list of 20+ independent brick-and-mortar retail stores that carry fashion, beauty, jewelry, and home objects across US and Europe on Busy Corner. No "shoppy shops," overpriced "vintage" stores, or pretentious sales people. Only great selections, beautiful spaces, and hardworking owners. Check it out if you are looking for retail partners, hosting an event, or just looking to browse! Will keep it updates as I come across more nice stores and smart shop owners.
I also worked on a thoughtful reference bank that will help you get out of creative funk — 30+ links to cool brand campaigns, articles, visual inspo sources, fun product design, and more. My goal is to add new links weekly, but also keep it tight and curated.
Last but not least, The Newsletter Guide is now updated with a pitch guide for creatives and newsletter writers who want to pitch partnerships to brands, and a list of brands that are familiar with the platform and open to newsletter sponsorships.
This was a great read. I would love to see a rebirth of retail. Not only on the product and vibe side of things, but people too. Finding good things is such a struggle now, and having someone at the store who knows their stuff is invaluable I find. That however is barely happening anymore.
Loved this one!