Retail Diary - Week of September 4th 2023
This Week's Topics:
Store Stories
NY Fashion Week Commences
New Launches, Collabs, Acquisitions & More
What else I ❤️️
Store Stories
This article from Vox talks about the decline of in store (in person) shopping at brick and mortar and the poor experience. Think inventory shortages, product locked up (increased theft) and long times to wait for help. I think we need to separate in person shopping into at least two categories. Convenience and Necessity vs Discovery and Pleasure. For every day CPG (consumer packaged goods) items or repeat purchases that I’m loyal to brands for, I prefer to order online via Amazon or do BOPIS (buy online pick up in store) via Target etc. But experiential shopping (retail as theater!) we can still enjoy the emotional experience of discovering new items in person. Trying something on and playing with merchandise.
Along these lines, the number 1 trend in the Robin Report is Experiential Shopping and number 8 are Pop-Ups which also fits into this in-person shopping experience.
Stores opening in secondary markets - this article in WWD really got me excited to talk about the trends we see and putting the puzzle pieces together.
During the pandemic we saw more people moving out of larger cities. We’ve also seen many workers hesitant to return to the office. Making it more likely that people are shopping closer to home and not in major cities.
If you are putting in the effort to open a location in one area, it makes sense to scale and open a few in the same region that can be supported by regional managers, etc.
In this article they mention Marin Country Mart and the new stores opening there. This happens to be in the Bay Area (near me) and a place I love shopping. So much discoverability, similar shops but also each store has something unique, the service is amazing and you can go and have great food too. J.S. Rosenfield & Co has done an excellent job managing this outdoor shopping center and has Brentwood Country Mart, Malibu Country Mart and Montecito Country Mart in Southern CA. I think this is the experiential shopping that is really special (and luxury - but “accessible” luxury) that is the direction we are seeing be successful in shopping and retail.
Fred Segal is being resurrected and a push to grow further post Jeff Lotman purchasing the retailer in 2019. Lotman is friendly with Rosenfield (see Country Marts above bullet point) and Fred Segal will be opening in many of the Country Mart locations. Fred Segal bring lovely memories of being THE PLACE to discover new brands and trends with their cool shop in shop experiences that was always changing and finding the coolest items.
An interesting read on what is next for Barney’s NY now that Authentic Brand Groups has taken over licensing the name. A collection with Forever 21. In this WSJ article two customers are quoted saying while they haven’t shopped Forever 21 this would lead them to shop there, I’m not convinced that is the case for the majority of former Barney’s NY shoppers.
Retail CEO roles and the current trend of Women being replaced with Men in the C Suite. This is an important read on understanding how the greater economy is impacting how boards are making decisions and what is still seen as a risk.
One major brand bucking this trend of male CEOs in this current economic climate is Chanel’s CEO Leena Nair. This WSJ article is a great deep dive into the past year plus with Nair as the CEO and her outside experience - Chief HR from Unilever.
Will they won’t they story. Hudson Bay Co. (who bought Saks Fifth Avenue) on acquiring Neiman Marcus Group.
Back to school shopping is expected to increase by $24 Billion from LY and hit $135 Billion. Top trends include jean shorts and clear backpacks. I’m sad to say that clear backpacks are not due to a cool, nostalgic “Clueless” trend (as in the movie “Clueless”) but related to our clueless politicians that are not doing enough to stop gun violence, especially in our schools and to our children.
NY Fashion Week Commences
Rachel Tashjian interview with Business of Fashion on the changing dynamics of NY Fashion Week. This was a great listen.
Congrats to fashion journalist Becky Malinsky on her new column for Matches Fashion. In my recent Fall Fashion Trends I covered her wonderful work wear newsletters on substack so I’m thrilled to see her dive even deeper into work wear for Matches.
Fashionista’s recap of new designers showing at NY Fashion Week.
Epic J.crew history here (scroll to image 9) - J. Crew celebrates 40 years.
New Launches, Collabs, Acquisitions & More
Launched
Morgan Stewart McGraw announces launch of RTW line Renggli
Hints of Kylie Jenner launching a “quiet luxury” brand with Jens and Emma Grede. I personally have mixed feelings on this. I’m very impressed with the Grede’s work and vision (they are the retail and brand experts behind many of the Kardashian brands like Skims but also denim brand Frame) but Kylie Jenner as a face for quiet luxury? This feels too forced like Kylie jumped on this bandwagon with her summer European tour seeing the $$$ as taking on this trend/category.
Collabed
Lacoste x Bandier (in time for the U.S. Open)
Acquired
Other related topics:
Leonard Lauder steps down from Estée Lauder Board of Directors at age 90
Kate Moss (big name model) being named as the face of Anine Bing (indie accessible luxury brand.) This will be interesting to watch and see how successful this pairing is.
What else I ❤️️
The Lyst Q2 hottest trends and labels with lots of information about each ranking.
The factory and brand trying to make the perfect white t-shirt.
Oy Vey! I loved this movie!!
Hmmm. Jenna Lyons hinting at something? Posting to her grid a photo with the new CEO of Gap. Wonder if we might see a Jenna Gap (or BR or BR Home) partnership.
Sofia Richie Grainge shared her sleek bun tutorial and it looks easy and sophisticated.
Great read on where to find vintage denim and what to look for from an authority on good jeans (it’s in her genes - her father Ron Herman founded the denim brand Ron Herman in Fred Segal.)
Understanding how AI can help retailers and fashion, this NYTimes article on the company LilyAI provides insights and inspiration.
Two books I’ve read and oh my! “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano was unbelievable. Be ready for a tear jerker. I am almost done with “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt and I can’t believe I’m loving a book about an Octopus.
What's Next?
I ordered “Glossy” by Marisa Meltzer and can’t wait to read and review that for Retail Diary: Book Club. More fashion week coverage coming your way. If you are looking for more ways to follow Retail Diary please check us out on Instagram. There you will find the latest updates on the newsletter as well as stories worth sharing in between editions.
I want to take the time to thank everyone for reading my newest additions: Retail Diary Book Club and Retail Diary: Fall Fashion Trends. They were a lot of fun to write and do something different.
Thanks for reading Edition 140.
Sarah Shapiro