NEW YORK — Shoppers didn’t just come for the blue martinis and blue M&Ms.
More than 300 people came to preview Bluefly Inc.’s second retail store for deals on designer apparel and accessories.
For shoppers, it was a chance to touch and try on designer clothes before buying — something the online, off-price retailer normally doesn’t offer.
For Bluefly, it was a chance to take advantage of holiday shoppers eager for high-end bargains at its temporary shop at 102 Wooster Street in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.
It was also a chance for Bluefly to test whether or not a physical store location would be the right direction for the company, said Melissa Payner, chief executive officer, at the shop, aptly named Bluefly.store.
“This was also a vehicle to show customers that what Bluefly sells is high quality,” Payner added.
Bluefly opened the store on Nov. 18 to its best area customers, inviting them by e-mail to an evening preview of the store, which officially opened on Nov. 19. There, shoppers found Marc Jacobs shirts for 40 percent off, for example, and Ralph Lauren Collection skirts for 50 percent off.
As previously reported, the estimated 4,000-square-foot store — Bluefly’s second in a row opened in time for the holiday season — offers in-season designer merchandise updated daily, as well as items at a discount of as much as 65 percent. It will be open through February.
The store, however, contrasts significantly with a location the firm opened last year: the roughly 7,500-square-foot store on West 24th Street that was essentially a liquidation outlet, offering merchandise previously for sale online at an 80 percent discount.
Unlike last year, which Payner called a test “to see if we could liquidate in a store,” this year’s store was opened to gauge the viability of offering the same products as on the Web site, bluefly.com. Combining what was learned last year, the company will consequently decide if a physical store is better as a liquidation outlet or as a liquidation/in-season merchandise shop.
Payner declined to comment on whether Bluefly expects to open a permanent store location in the future.
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With neighbors such as Barneys Co-op, Patagonia and a Chanel boutique, traffic at the Wooster Street location will likely be up from last year’s levels. Subsequently, Bluefly expects to do at least as well as last year’s store on a sales basis, even with the smaller amount of square footage and less inventory. Sales at the 24th Street store from November to December 2003 totaled $465,000, according to Bluefly chief financial officer Patrick Barry.
Already, “sales [over the Thanksgiving weekend] were actually almost the same as last year. However, our square footage is about 40 percent smaller….We think that’s a very good sign,” Payner said in an interview Monday, adding that Bluefly is optimistic that sales momentum will continue to build and perform strongly through the holidays.
Online, Payner said the amount of visitors increased in the double digits over the holiday weekend compared with last year, helped by a Jimmy Choo shoe promotion.
Promotions are expected to be a part of the new store’s atmosphere, too, some of which will tie in the online store with the SoHo location. Customers who buy in the SoHo store can receive a coupon for 15 percent off online purchases, which could conveniently be made right in the store, as Bluefly plans to implement computer terminals, Payner said. The company also is planning other events, such as raffles, to continue the customer flow into the new store.