• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Are brick & mortar menswear stores still viable businesses?

blank

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
2,503
Reaction score
2
I've long toyed with the idea of opening a brick-and-mortar menswear store in my neighborhood, which is gentrifying, evolving, diverse, and also underserved. I know that I can buy the right merchandise to meet the neighborhood's needs, maintain an inviting atmosphere that welcomes customers, think strategically to leverage the storefront and the name on the sign for auxiliary business ventures, and run the business intelligently. PR is simple; there are a thousand menswear blogs that will cover your launch.

But we're in the age of online retail, where East Dane can undercut your price by 25% in a minute's notice and Revolve offers coupon codes that their sales volume affords. I could obviously sell my wares online as well as B&M (e-commerce setups have become dead-ass simple), but I'd be a drop in a large pond. I can style products and take gorgeous photos so that consumers aren’t looking at t-shirts on mannequins (as Fok said, TOJ’s biggest strength is their product styling), but I've been a StyleForum member for long enough to know that informed consumers know their product and first and foremost shop on price.

I’d like to get StyleForum’s take on the state of retail menswear boutiques. Here are a few thought-starters:


  • your personal experience with the market (maybe we can hear from some of the proprietors on the forum?)
  • reasons to enter or avoid the market
  • gaps in the overall market that are worth exploring/exploiting
  • examples of young stores doing it right (don’t say American Rag or another store that’s been around for decades)

Thanks. I look forward to the discussion.
 

Dbear

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
4,207
Reaction score
2,455
FAIK, save yourself the trouble, it's an uphill battle all the way. Largely, it's going to cost you way more money (way more) than you think to start it, that is assuming you can get "SF brands" to even consider supplying to you.
 

ter1413

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
22,101
Reaction score
6,033
You considering doing this in NYC?
The rent alone will kill you.

I shop in brick and mortar stores all the time. Probably 98% vs 2% online. I like to physically see/feel/try on items before purchase.

I was looking at a mason's bag(I would use it as an overnight bag) recently and saw that it was on sale online. I actually went to the store to see what it looked like close up and intended to buy it. It was the display model and was a little dusty so I passed and bought online(it was also the last one in the store.) One of the rare instances that I went online vs in store.

Clothing....I actually can't remember the last time that I bought online. I mean...it helps that I live in NYC where just about everything is a subway ride away.

I think there is definitely a place for them..but doing it in NYC is very expensive.
 
Last edited:

blank

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
2,503
Reaction score
2
assuming you can get "SF brands" to even consider supplying to you.

I've thought about this as well. Does anyone have experience with manufacturers who won't sell to certain retailers?

You considering doing this in NYC?
The rent alone will kill you.

I shop in brick and mortar stores all the time. Probably 98% vs 2% online. I like to physically see/feel/try on items before purchase.

I was looking at a mason's bag(I would use it as an overnight bag) recently and saw that it was on sale online. I actually went to the store to see what it looked like close up and intended to buy it. It was the display model and was a little dusty so I passed and bought online(it was also the last one in the store.) One of the rare instances that I went online vs in store.

Clothing....I actually can't remember the last time that I bought online. I mean...it helps that I live in NYC where just about everything is a subway ride away.

I think there is definitely a place for them..but doing it in NYC is very expensive.


Is $4K/mo too high?
 

ter1413

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
22,101
Reaction score
6,033

I've thought about this as well. Does anyone have experience with manufacturers who won't sell to certain retailers?
[COLOR=FF00AA]Is $4K/mo too high?[/COLOR]


You mean for rent? In nYc? Too LOW!
 

Portland Dry Goods

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
590
Reaction score
313
We've been primarily brick and mortar for the greater amount of our life at PDG. even now with an online shop 95% of our business is done in house or over the phone.

I can elaborate on what I think it takes to run a successful physical shop but I can also boil it down to a few key questions;

"where are you?"
"who are youre neighbors and what are they doing?"
"what unique service do you provide to this neighborhood?"

NYC is a daunting market mainly because of these questions - there are a hundred places to shop and you have to stand out. Portland, on the other hand has only a handful (though the market is growing and new friends and competition are sprouting up!) so we're able to bring something special to the table.
 

ter1413

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
22,101
Reaction score
6,033

JezeC

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2013
Messages
2,050
Reaction score
176
"examples of young stores doing it right (don’t say American Rag or another store that’s been around for decades)"

The first vendor that came to my mind is EP. I think they're staying away from carrying other brands and focusing more on their EP brand (which is probably a lot higher margin) - walts, driggs, shoes etc...

They focus on creating similar or better quality products at below respective designer price points - their in-house pants are the perfect example.
 

SirMeowly

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Messages
160
Reaction score
659
Hey blank. Longtime SF lurker... never really felt the desire to post though until this.

Your situation is a bit different, being in NYC. I live in Seattle and would love it if there were a couple more brick & mortar menswear stores here (the only non-online one is Jack Straw). The prices are indeed usually a bit higher than online (partially because of WA's sizable sales tax), but I shop at Jack Straw a lot because I like the owners and enjoy buying from a local shop. Without them, I wouldn't be able to try on EG (and other brands') pieces before buying, so I'm willing to pay a bit extra on a few pieces every season in order to support them.

If you want to do it and you think you can make it work - do it. New York is competitive, but if you provide something different than the other shops there, you could make it work. (Don't open a shop if all you're creating is another version of a shop that already exists). By the way, 4k rent sounds insanely cheap.

re: market gaps, maybe not applicable to NYC, but in Seattle the buys of summer items are always minimal because of the weather here (never many shorts or short sleeve BDs). Same thing with shoes... there are no places to buy the shoe brands I like (what I wouldn't give for a local Tricker's, Viberg, or Visvim stockist). If you're thinking about opening a shop, I'm sure it's because there isn't already a store in your area that's exactly the way you'd like it to be. So, make it exist.
 

Bam!ChairDance

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2007
Messages
6,115
Reaction score
15,332
Plant your store in DC! Tons of young dudes with $$$, but the retail scene blows.
 

Distorbiant

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Messages
4,497
Reaction score
3,244
@Distorbiant never been there... or even knew it existed. Thanks for the info. Just took a look at them online and it seems nice enough, but they don't really sell the brands I'm into right now. We also have Totokaelo here, which is nice, but their inventory in-store is the exact same as online. A store called Blackbird that was great also used to exist, but closed about a year ago.

Understandable. Blue Owl is very well known in the online raw denim community.

It was a shame that blackbird closed down. I always had great customer service experiences with them.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 45 40.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 44 39.6%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 5 4.5%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 18 16.2%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 25 22.5%

Forum statistics

Threads
504,424
Messages
10,573,951
Members
223,692
Latest member
AyalaDaniele
Top