What would you like to see in a Men's Accessories store?

Maybe you should think of a way to get the young people in your town come into your store. Something like "Buy your first pair of really nice shoes here and get 10% off on any future purchase". The idea with the bar isn't too bad. Have you thought about a cafà /accessories store combination?

Pictorial/multi-colored pocket squares, rather than the agonizingly boring ones you always see with two colors and small pattern.

Ties in every width.

I would like to see the world haberdashery on the window.

Good ideas in this thread, I especially like Stringless's suggestion. An online shop, even an ebay store, would be a good idea too.

Originally Posted by Threak

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I would like to see the world haberdashery on the window.

Good ideas in this thread, I especially like Stringless's suggestion. An online shop, even an ebay store, would be a good idea too.
Unfortunately, shipping to and from Newfoundland will be an enormous overhead cost.

• Decent quality belts
  
• Flashy socks (colours & stripes)
  
• Quality shoelaces & colourful shoelaces
  
• Shoe trees a la Cedarville 'Epic' at good prices ($20/pr)
  
• TOPY, VIBRAM, EMU rubber sole protectors (for those of us who do it ourselves)
  
• Valets
  
• Biltmore & Borsalino Hats (Rotmans in Toronto is closed leaving only 1 store left; The Hatter)
  
• Quality umberellas
  
• Leather soft briefcases & saddle bags, shopping bags, etc.
  
• Horsehair shoe brushes & clothes brushes
  
• Personal grooming kits of decent quality
  
• An online service for above.

• An in-store service of some kind.

Example-
Incorporate shoe repair or some other service that gets men in the store on a regular basis.
Call it 'Born Again Shoe Repair'. Sign in window bears slogan- 'We'll save your soles.'
This will generate walk-in traffic in your store. Younger gents will learn, their women will get great gift ideas while browsing.
Best of luck with the project. We in Toronto await.

You live in a very beautiful city even if it is casual.

I would really, really love to see reasonably priced tie studs. Haven't been able to find any, anywhere :/

St John's? It's going to be a tough crowd for sure. Keep in mind the typical SF'er will by far more demanding than your typical customer who wanders into your store of the street. I think concepts mentioned here like multiple tie widths, pictorial pocket squares and multi-coloured socks will be alien to most of your potential customer base who is only vaguely aware of mens fine clothing.

I'm in Edmonton and I'm trying to figure out what stores would look like here if they were dialed down a notch. Maybe that would be a better barometer of what would sell in in Newfoundland.

I can see potential for 2 or 3 classic shoe lines like AE, Cole Haan, etc and perhaps something italian with a more modern look for a younger crowd like Ferragamo (obviously the cheapest studio line so it's not too expensive for the market.) It would probably be wise to keep the shoe price ranges between $300-$500 a pair.

Naturally you should carry a selection of ties, cufflinks, and a few basic pocketsquares, probably with ties and cufflinks priced $80-$150 dollars, of course recognizable italian names are always a selling point for the uneducated consumer and for people looking to buy something new for novelty.

Of course many people will buy the shirt first and buy the tie and cufflinks to go with it. It's going to be very difficult for you to sell one without the other. I think you might be forced into going into selling suits/shirts/pants to bring people in the doors and selling accessories to augment sales as opposed to a pure accessory shop. It's hard for an accessories only shop to compete with full-service mens clothing stores, that's why they're so unusual and usually targeted at very choosy customers.

Brioni ties with 50% off.
No joke: it happened to me several times that I walk into a men's clothing store during sales, see a sign by the ties telling X% off, choose the one I liked most, just to hear that the X% off does not apply to that one 'cause it is a Brioni tie.
I am no label whore, it just seems that I happen to like some Brioni designs.

I can never find belts I like, I can never find pocket squares period, I like to see some tie bars, tie pins, dress socks, suspenders...

I'll come back with more later.

Nothing against Newfoundlanders, but I just don't see the market for something like this. The stereotype is that most people are poor/on pogey, or worse, taking advantage of the welfare system. We won't even get to my personal experiences with every Newfoundlander I've met (and I've met a lot). While St. John's does boast about its rapidly expanding business economy, it just doesn't have the market to support or appreciate a store like the one you're proposing. As I've mentioned earlier as well, you won't be able to supplement your income by selling online to other Canadians as well. Canada Post shipping costs too much and takes too long, especially from NL. Taxes are too high. The exchange rate is unfavourable to import Italian items from.

I am interested in hearing about your experiences with Newfoundlanders. Please elaborate.

Originally Posted by intent

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While St. John's does boast about its rapidly expanding business economy, it just doesn't have the market to support or appreciate a store like the one you're proposing. As I've mentioned earlier as well, you won't be able to supplement your income by selling online to other Canadians as well. Canada Post shipping costs too much and takes too long, especially from NL. Taxes are too high. The exchange rate is unfavourable to import Italian items from.

I don't know about this. It's more expensive to ship from the states than from within Canada.

The real problem is that it's often worth it given a good exchange rate and markup on goods in Canada (which is not always the store's fault"”the duty on English shoes, for instance, sucks).

As for the Italian thing, if they're not buying Hugo Boss from Harry Rosen Canadians only wear Italian.

You will go broke in 6 months unless you own the building. If your market is petrochemical engineers you have no market.

Booze, drugs, guns, or foods with high caloric and high saturated fat content are your only hope for success.

Seriously.