LOS ANGELES — The Real Real’s take on retail really puts a new spin on what a consignment experience can be in real life, with the opening of its first West Coast concept shop on Melrose Avenue.
The outpost, totaling 12,000 square feet, now gives The Real Real a store presence on both coasts, with additional locations throughout the U.S. offering consignment services to clients. Melrose Avenue represents the first time the company has built out a men’s store with its own separate entrance in a space totaling 5,500 square feet and boasting a watch bar, tailoring and sneakerdome with the best of the best in selects for sneaker heads.
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“The storytelling piece is always really interesting in the store,” said chief merchant Rati Levesque of what physical retail has allowed the San Francisco-based company to accomplish versus what can be done online, where the business was first born.
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“There’s a credibility aspect that was important to us because when you’re selling second-hand goods you don’t always know what kind of condition your items will come in,” she said, adding the words “very good condition” don’t always mean much when reading such a description online. Seeing what “very good” means in real life in a store is a whole other matter, she pointed out.
There’s also the ability to meet face to face with the company’s experts when a customer wants to drop off an item for consignment, which can’t happen online.
Los Angeles follows the opening of the company’s first store, located in Manhattan. While that space also has its own men’s department, the Melrose location represents an expanded version of that space.
Melrose also opens with free valuations from gemologists, horologists and other specialists; personal stylists; ceramics and other home items for sale from L.A. artists; repair and alteration services; workshops with topics such as the history of Cartier to how to know whether a Chanel bag is real, and a café. Customers looking to consign have the option of doing so in the store or curbside.
The inventory represents just a sampling as hundreds of items are expected to move to the floor every few days given the door’s role also as a pick-and-pack play for online orders. Store employees have iPads that allow them access to inventory available for sale that may not be at the location. While there are dedicated employees there to handle pick, pack and shipping, other employees outside of the team of experts offering services such as valuation or authentication are also trained in assisting with the picking and packing, helping the company to continue to refine and also make the process more efficient.
“We’ve become super efficient over the last few months,” Levesque said. “The whole idea of a single sku item can get so complicated in retail when you’re shipping thousands of items a day.”
The key reason for continued refinement of these back-end processes is to grow the business, which is what these stores and pop-up locations have helped do as well.
“We’re finding that the stores in general are accelerating our growth,” Levesque said. “We really are seeing that the regions are growing faster when we have a store in them.”
The finding is just one part of a growing business that received a boost earlier this month when the company confirmed the close on a $115 million Series G round of funding, boosting its total raised to date from private equity investors to $288 million. Part of that capital will help to continue building out the store fleet, where it makes sense.
“I don’t think we’ll have hundreds of stores obviously, but we’ll have some in major markets for us,” Levesque said.
The chief merchant went on to say markets such as Los Angeles or New York could very well benefit from a second door in the near term.