HOW ROBS GOT ITS NEW GROOVE
What’s the pull factor of the new Robinsons Orchard? Ask the two masterminds behind it. By John de Souza
The pull factor of Robinsons Orchard.
“Creating a department store is like creating a dish. You need all the best ingredients, and a sprinkle of this, a sprinkle of that to spice it up. You can tweak it to play it safe or do things that are fresh and different. That’s what made this such fun.”
Franz Kraatz, the dapper managing director of Robinsons and no mean cook himself, is talking about the making of the new six-floor flagship store that opened at The Heeren last November after a $40 million, year-long makeover that has made it the store on Orchard Road.
Arriving in Singapore in 2012, he found the local retail scene “very vibrant, but it needed a change, an upgrade”. Something new and visually different, because Singaporeans are sophisticated and well-travelled, after all.
“We aimed to give them the kind of hip store you’d find in London, New York or Paris. A store that would excite them,” says the 49-year-old of French-German descent, who joined Robinsons after seven years as senior vice-president of sales and operations at Hong Kong store Lane Crawford.
Is the new Robs modelled after that store? “Not at all,” Kraatz says.“Lane Crawford is pure luxury. We’re affordable luxury. Lane Crawford is 80,000 sq ft, lots of marble, bronze, glitzy materials. We’re 186,000 sq ft and decidedly Singaporean. For example, we used materials that reflect the country, like the black and white flooring throughout that references the traditional black-and-white bungalows and the terrazzo tiling that references HDB flats of old.”
Another local element: home-grown interior design firm Designphase DBA, who designed the floor layouts to create “open, friendly, accessible spaces”.“We want people to shop in a casual, nonforced flow so they can access and discover various areas in the store easily,” he says.
And there’s lots to discover on each of the store’s six floors. To be exact: a total of 380 new brands, sourced from around the world, of which more than 280 are exclusive to the store. “As Franz said, our aim is affordable luxe,” says Teoh Boon Hock, 42, general manager of merchandising, who has worked in merchandising at Robinsons (here and Malaysia) and Tangs since 2000.
The most challenging departments to set up were “the women’s and men’s because we had to convince key brands to come on board with us”. Take the women’s floor, for example. It’s like a cool multi-label shop, with brands you wouldn’t usually associate with a department store – from slick preppy clothes to diffusion labels by the likes of Maison Martin Margiela and the Olsen twins.
The store approached many brands not available here so that the merchandise would be unique. “Contemporary, up-and-coming brands that are strong in their country, but not represented in Asia,” says Teoh. Like French hipster label The Kooples.
Other labels range from new-to-market names like cult British beauty brand Illamasqua and Tory Burch Beauty by the billionaire fashion designer; deluxe makers like Italian women’s footwear label Sergio Rossi and Brazilian fashion-forward shoe label Schutz; to quirky offerings like Les Benjamins, an Istanbul-based label that designs only T-shirts with graphic prints and slogans.
In a brave move, the entire Level 2 is dedicated to women’s shoes, bags and costume jewellery. That’s not unusual, says Kraatz. “Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Dubai Mall all have dedicated floors. Selfridges in London has 50,000 sq ft. Women love shoes and bags. Through them, they can touch base with designers without having to fork out for their clothes. And women tend to buy a few pairs, not just one.
“It was a calculated risk, but it’s paying off,” he says, though he declines to reveal any figures. Teoh points out: “We’re very careful with price points, not pitching them too high. We want shoppers to have an ‘elevated’ experience.”
Part of that experience: pockets of sheer indulgence. There’s the vintage designer accessories section on Level 2, where items that are at least 10 years old are sold, including pre-loved Hermes bags with $23,800 price tags, Chanel totes and costume jewellery. “Customers mix and match old and new, so we mimicked how people shop,” Kraatz says, adding that “the section is doing very, very well, so much so that we’ve already had to reorder”.
There’s the personal shopping gallery with three personal shoppers. It offers one-stop shopping to customers who don’t have the time to shop. Make an appointment, tell them what you like and they will put together an assortment for you to try at one go. There’s no obligation to buy. It’s also a way for shoppers to discover things they may not have thought would suit them, says Kraatz.
There’s the men’s grooming alley, where categorised, free-to-try and easy-to-shop skincare and fragrances share
space with shavers, pots of potions and other grooming tools. Kraatz says men make up 35 per cent of the store’s customers – “much higher than we had expected”.
And there’s the taxidermy. It comes in the form of colourful preserved butterflies and crustacean carapaces enclosed in glass by the 183-year-old Parisian institution Deyrolle (the late Salvador Dali was a fan), costing upwards of $2,500.
The ultimate quirk? Not so, Kraatz says, who looks for “authenticity and newness” when he shops. “If you look at decor trends internationally, it’s totally on trend. These are beautiful objects that celebrate nature and are not made of endangered or protected species. Just the other day, we had a customer who bought five pieces.
“We brought what we felt would be new and exciting,” he adds. “We want our customers to constantly discover fresh, new things when they visit the store. We will continue to bring them what’s hot and we will take away what’s not. If brands don’t click with customers and don’t sell, they will make way for new ones. It’s the customers who decide, not us. But we will certainly keep the brands our loyal customers love.”
The store also provides convenience for shoppers by putting several brands in one category together. For example, at the men’s shirt bar, shoppers can zero in on a colour or style and choose between the three or four brands offering it, rather than hunt through brands spread out in different areas.
The new Robs is “not a traditional department store”, says Kraatz, whose favourite stores are Le Bon Marche and
Merci (a three-storey store with eclectic mix of merchandise) in Paris, as well as his former employer Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. “Rather, Robinsons is a lifestyle store where a shopper can happily spend a whole day.
“Start with breakfast at Costa Coffee in the basement, go for a facial or manicure at one of the treatment rooms on our beauty floor, have lunch at one of our eateries, then try on items chosen by one of our personal shoppers… Basically, have everything under one roof.”
Eventually, the store will have six F&B outlets – sushi and ramen restaurants in the basement, a French cafe on Level 2, a New York-style restaurant on Level 3, another cafe on Level 4 and a yet-to-be-confirmed eatery on Level 5. Also coming up: a flagship Chanel beauty counter and another for Bulgari perfumes in the soon-to-be-completed Annex on Level 1, and an extended luggage department.
“So far, we’re extremely happy with the response,” Kraatz says, again declining to reveal any figures. “We’ve been able to attract a new customer – younger and more fashion-forward – that Robinsons didn’t have before. But we’re a department store first and foremost, so we’ve also been able to retain those who love what’s been in the store all along, like bedding.
“We’re not exclusive,” he concludes. “We’re democratic, and we welcome all.”