The not- so- mad hatter
After taking over legendary Edie shop, milliner’s business is expanding
When Rachelle Cashato took over the assets of Edie Hats, the once- flourishing niche business had fallen on hard times and was deep in debt.
Cashato’s unorthodox solution? Open a second store.
Edie Hats was a legendary Vancouver hat store on Granville Island created by Edie Orenstein, a former theatre costumer whose handmade hats and larger- thanlife enthusiasm built what started as a tiny 300- square- foot store into a destination that attracted locals and tourists for 30 years.
Orenstein’s theatrical flamboyance and personal creativity were inextricably branded with the store. In its heyday, she stocked as many as 10,000 hats and brought in almost $ 1.25 million annually from just 750 square feet, Orenstein said. But then she opened three “bohemian boutique” clothing and accessories stores in the space of one year, just as the economy tanked in 2008. She was soon overextended.
Cashato, who started out working for Edie Hats part time and soon found herself managing the stores, took over the company three years ago. “The first year on my own, I cut operating costs by $ 270,000,” said Cashato, whose background included operations consulting with a franchise business. She closed the new businesses, renegotiated her lease, dramatically cut overhead at Edie Hats and kept herself on payroll at the same salary she had been making as an employee.
“We had an established customer base. Had I had to start from scratch, that would have been harder. ... Edie did a fabulous job building the business and that’s why people still love ( the store.)”
At first, Cashato kept the store name, but ultimately rebranded with an almost generic title — Granville Island Hat Shop.
Cashato, 32, had inherited both a retail store and a separate office/ production space on Granville Island. But like a growing number of artisan retailers, she soon decided to try bringing her backoffice activities out front, both for efficient staffing and customer appeal. She has seven part- time employees.
Evidence of production on the retail floor — hat blocks, sewing machines, scraps of felt and ribbons — can draw business, she said. “People become more invested in the purchase when they know the story behind it.”
So Cashato took the bold step of closing her office/ production space and instead opened a second retail store, the 1,900- square- foot Hastings Hattery, on the edge of trendy Gastown earlier this spring.
About a third of her business is sun protection, and 10 to 15 per cent is ladies dress hats for racetrack events. Men and women buy in about equal numbers. Lawyers will buy traditional bowlers, hipsters buy pork pies, and men who sing in choirs over Christmas buy traditional British- made Christys’ top hats.
Cashato also stocks everything from the original Indiana Jones fedora ( an Australia brand called Akubra) to 1920s- style cloche hats, traditional Harris tweed walking caps, Western hats, Greek fisherman’s caps, cocktail hats, fascinators with their chenille veiling, feathers and vintage ribbons, toques, rain hats and soft shaped hats. She will customize hats and fascinators on the spot, and does restoration, sizing, repairs and cleaning.
Unlike clothing, where a retailer stocks a good sized run of each item, Cashato has to offer a large selection. She typically orders just three to six units of most styles and makes sure she covers a wide range of price points, from a $ 29 beret to a $ 300 custom creation.
“From what I was paying on Granville Island, I only have to sell a minimum amount to break even and have a secondary retail location,” Cashato said. “I thought we could maybe attract some locals that maybe don’t come to Granville Island as much as they used to.”
Artisan/ retailer Sara Moshurchak, the owner of Granville Eyeland Framemakers, recently did the same thing and for similar reasons. She moved her store to Gastown after 20 years on Granville Island. She, too, originally had separate retail and studio spaces, but has now incorporated her studio right onto her retail floor so she can function with fewer staff.
“I paid an average $ 115 per square foot ( on Granville Island.) Now I pay less than half that in Gastown,” Moshurchak said. In Gastown, she has found business is evenly spread throughout the week, whereas Granville Island used to be slow during the week but busy with weekend tourists.
Cashato said her Granville Island Hat Shop is turning a profit on $ 1 million in annual sales, and the new Hastings Hattery store is already revenue neutral.
Want to visit Cashato’s stores and just play with hats? Cashato doesn’t mind. Walk in asking for a hat to be stretched? She will likely do the job for free. “It took me five minutes, we had a nice conversation. They say, ‘ I didn’t buy it here.’ I say ‘ You’ll buy your next one here.’ And sure enough they do.”