DALLAS — In a competitive environment that is white hot, luxury retailer Stanley Korshak has turned up the heat.
Barneys New York, Intermix and Scoop are invading the Dallas market this fall, where hometown retail icon Neiman Marcus, as well as Nordstrom and dozens of independents such as Tory Burch and Calypso, all vie for the contemporary fashion shopper.
Stanley Korshak’s in-your-face response is The Shak, an 11,000-square-foot temple of trendy fashion with a young, sexy attitude and lower prices than its parent. If Korshak owner Crawford Brock and his minions are nervous about the newcomers, they’re not showing it.
“A lot of people have New York attitudes, and if they come to Dallas with a New York attitude, they will find that is not where they want to be,” said Rose Clark, general merchandise manager. “We know our girl. We have the service and clothing, and we have the Dallas attitude.”
With the addition of The Shak, which opened Aug. 1, Brock forecast total store sales would grow about 15 percent from a base of $35 million.
Located across a courtyard from the main store in the Uptown neighborhood, The Shak cost $1 million to build. Sales have been more than double expectations with top performances by Castle Starr, Ports 1961 and See by Chloe. Leading trends include oversize sweaters and sweater dresses, leggings, skinny and straight-leg denim, and feminine dresses.
“Dallas is definitely over-retailed, but it’s a great community with a lot of money; it’s hip to retail and has so many good-looking people,” Brock said. “The bottom line is the customers are going to decide as they leave their homes what kind of experience they want to have. Some people want malls, and some want a quieter environment.”
Barneys New York is to open an 88,000-square-foot flagship at NorthPark Center mall on Sept. 29. Intermix is aiming to launch at NorthPark this month and Scoop plans to open at Highland Park Village in October.
In contrast, Stanley Korshak is a 65,000-square-foot standalone in the Crescent Court office and hotel complex, where Korshak also has a Pratesi linen shop and a bridal salon. Brock has cultivated a loyal clientele among Dallas’ moneyed set and visitors with a designer mix of fashion, jewelry, accessories and shoes for men and women as well as home decor. He began running the store in 1988, and bought it from Caroline Rose Hunt in 2002.
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The Shak targets fashion-savvy women and men aged 18 to 45 who are willing to spend $200 to $500 for a trendy item. That represents the bulk of prices in a mix that ranges from $35 for a Three Dots T-shirt to $2,500 for a Trelise Cooper coat. The ground floor displays clothing, jewelry and accessories, 75 percent for women in sizes 2 to 10, and the expansive balcony houses men’s sportswear and denim.
The two-level space has a sleek decor with white walls, polished sand-hued concrete floors and stark, distressed metal and glass fixtures.
“It’s all about what’s the hot trend right now,” Clark said. “Our girl is sexy and young and fit and likes bare, not covered. She’s about looking hot. It’s not your mother’s store.”
Brock said he also intends to increase the main store’s women’s designer sportswear business by expanding it into space formerly occupied by resources that have been shifted to The Shak. The first Bogner boutique in the country opened in August, and Nina Ricci and expanded Carolina Herrera and Valentino shops are on tap for spring.
The Shak will stock four women’s labels exclusively: Sweetface, Jenni Kayne, Blue Deep and Trelise Cooper. Other key resources from a roster of 50-odd women’s labels include Alexander Wayne, Catherine Malandrino, Diane von Furstenberg, Joystick, Louis Verdad, Lucien Pellat-Finet, M. Missoni, R.E.D. Valentino, 12th Street by Cynthia Vincent, Vince and Ya-Ya.
Denim makes up 20 percent of the inventory, featuring 10 heavy hitters, including Earnest Sewn, Habitual, Seven For All Mankind, James Jeans, True Religion and A.G. Adriano Goldschmied.
Men’s labels include John Varvatos, Joystick, Ted Baker and Etro plus 18 denim brands.
Jewelry buyer Melissa Geiser plans to display a few key resources from the main store at The Shak, such as Dana Kellin and Miguel Ases, and introduce some emerging designers, including Thea Grant and Giles & Brother by Philip Crangi. Most jewelry is $100 to $500.
To set the store apart, Clark intends to mine markets in Paris and Milan for labels that aren’t sold here.
“We must be different, and I am making every effort to find new resources in Europe,” Clark said.
Sales associates at The Shak are trained to sell men’s and women’s merchandise. The team is a reflection of the target customer, she noted.
To give the store vitality, a DJ will sometimes spin tunes from the balcony on Saturdays — as well as at special events and trunk shows — and provide customers with free CDs of music mixes as an added service.
“This gives us an opportunity to get real creative with lots of things that we’ve not done,” Brock said. “The space is great for parties, and we have runway videos and music videos playing on two walls.”
To attract a hip crowd, The Shak staged a fashion presentation at W Hotel’s sleek Ghostbar, which has been a lively scene since it opened, with the hotel, in June. Marketing director Elaine Raffel was also the host for a screening of the finale of HBO’s “Entourage” at Park Place Motors. Last month, more than 2,200 people attended a combination 21st anniversary Stanley Korshak celebration and a launch party for The Shak.
Raffel is coordinating fashion shows with the Slipper Club, a social group of twenty- to thirtysomethings, as well as the exclusive Greenhill prep school and style-savvy Southern Methodist University. And to keep in touch with the mood of the target shoppers, Raffel is setting up “The Shak Pak” advisory committee.
The Shak is reaching out to the design community by launching a fashion competition with the Dallas Fashion Incubator on Sept. 15 for Texas designers. Judging is set for Oct. 21 and the winner, to be announced Nov. 30, will receive a yearlong business assistance package valued at $20,000.
“It’s a retail spin on the TV show ‘Project Runway,'” Raffel said.