RETAIL THERAPY
Boutiques take first tentative steps
When Mavis Bergquist re-opened her west-end consignment shop just before the long weekend, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But if the first two days were any indication, retail therapy was just the ticket for cooped-up consumers.
Thursday and Friday saw a steady stream of customers at Good Stuff, most spending more than $100, with one sale of $600.
“I was thrilled,” Bergquist said Saturday, noting she used the time off during the pandemic to enhance her Instagram profile.
Though the provincial government has given retail outlets the go-ahead to open (with restrictions related to physical distance and sanitation), Bergquist’s move toward a semblance of normal represents but a small segment of the independent boutique market.
Other small shop owners in Edmonton are expressing caution about throwing open the doors. Trepidation is rooted in a variety of concerns — from safety, to coping with a disrupted supply chain and a pile of dated merchandise.
Retailers are also struggling to interpret government rules on trying on clothing and returning goods, including a direction that retailers “consider options that minimize the risk of spread when trying on garments.”
Soft-surface goods that are returned must be quarantined for 24 hours prior to resale. Rules also suggest making purchases subject to final sale to avoid returns.
Kyla Kazeil, for 15 years the co-owner of Whyte Avenue staple Bamboo Ballroom, says if they limit returns or discourage people from trying on clothes, they’ll lose customers.
“We’re such a service-based industry, and being a local store, we go above and beyond for our customers ... it’s not going to work for us to not let people try things on or not return them,” she said.
Across Edmonton, retailers are wondering how on earth to follow the rules and still run a successful business — never mind how to fund upcoming stock purchases and pay next month’s rent.
“It’s never felt riskier than it feels right now,” said Kendall Barber, co-owner of Poppy Barley, the high-profile darling of the custom shoe world with two flagship stores (now temporarily closed) in Edmonton and Calgary.
That feeling comes, in part, from the fact that Barber’s shoe suppliers in Mexico and Brazil are shut down, and she’s low on inventory.
Barber doesn’t plan to re-open her mall-based stores until she can secure supply and feel confident in providing a safe shopping experience in-store.
She says it’s not possible to measure shoe sizes and maintain six feet of physical distance.
Still, Poppy Barley has a distinct advantage during the pandemic. The business began its life online in 2012, opening brick-and-mortar establishments only three years ago. Those digital roots are pure gold right now.
“We’re used to building brand online, and the ability to connect with customers online is something we do very well,” said Barber, noting that the company’s Edmonton warehouse is still shipping existing inventory through e-commerce in a safe manner.
Though crystal balls are in short supply, Poppy Barley may well prove to be a textbook example of what happens during a major business disruption like a pandemic, according to retail analyst Carl Boutet of the Montreal-based Studio Rx. For better or for worse, the pandemic is accelerating trends in retail. Stores that were struggling — including the Bay’s historic downtown Edmonton location, the Army and Navy, and hundreds of Aldo shoe shops — are gone.
“But it’s also accelerating those in a good position, with a good foothold, and a lot of them came from the digital space to begin with,” said Boutet. “Now they are just pushing forward.”
Local fashion entrepreneur Emily Salsbury-deveaux has operated almost entirely virtually since she launched her own clothing line two years ago. The business model for EMMYDEVEAUX sees fashions from hoodies to leggings profiled on her company’s website. But the internationally manufactured garments are not sewn until there are sufficient paid orders, with a three-week turnaround after customers put their money down.
Salsbury-deveaux hasn’t seen a pandemic decline in sales. In fact, the company has introduced six new styles — and seen them funded for production by online customers — since the crisis began.
“It just so happens that about 50 per cent of our products are quarantine-appropriate — high-quality, comfortable pieces,” said Salsbury-deveaux.
Though she reopened her showroom Saturday, by appointment only, she’s not relying on bricksand-mortar to get things done. One of her new tricks is to drop off items at a customer’s door, and then return to her car to conduct a styling session with the new garments via Facetime.
That Facetime innovation is another example of using digital technology to the max — a technique that Boutet says has already boosted pandemic sales for some Canadian fashion businesses.
He points to Knix, a Canadian intimate-wear manufacturer with brick-and-mortar stores in Toronto and Vancouver that are shut down for now. But Knix has charged up its digital presence with a new concept called Virtual Fittings that helps customers buy bras and swimwear via scheduled video chats.
Boutet says software like Livescale, a live-shopping platform, is coming into its own in the retail setting.
“The tools to do all this stuff are very accessible,” said Boutet. “You might have thought that only the big retailers can afford to do this, but it’s very cost-efficient.”
Video technology could also be offered as a pre-shopping experience to set customers up for a smooth and efficient, appointment-based boutique visit. The combination has the potential to enhance the custom experience that has historically been the small boutique’s comparative advantage in a crowded marketplace.
The appointment model is something Kyla Kazeil of Bamboo Ballroom will introduce May 26 so the store can open in a limited capacity. The store, which already has a strong online presence bolstered by Instagram stories to help sell clothes, is offering curbside pickup and a more relaxed return policy to cope in the meantime. Though digital-only sales are half the size of the store’s normal revenue, “that’s so much more than zero,” said Kazeil.
She says boutiques will have to pivot to survive in the future, offering even more “unique experiences” and items to attract customers, and predicts clothing sales will shift toward the current season, rather than offering clothes to be worn at some distant, future date.
“We ordered dresses for weddings, and there are no weddings,” she said. “We are all dressed up with literally nowhere to go.”