WWDMAGIC is a key factor in New Orleans boutique retailers’ recovery plans.
The retail pulse in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and in surrounding communities impacted by Katrina is showing some resilience as the post-hurricane phase hits the six-month marker. While some retailers have closed permanently or shuttered temporarily until the business climate improves, many boutiques that resumed operations are posting record sales.
Inventories depleted by shoppers with pent-up demand and available funds to replace wardrobes ruined in flood-damaged homes are prompting specialty store and boutique owners to head to WWDMAGIC to restock. They are on a mission to infuse their shops with merchandise for immediate deliveries, as well as for the long term.
When an estimated 40,000 people from the New Orleans area evacuated to Lafayette, La., about 120 miles west, Brother’s on the Boulevard boutique was one of the retailers where displaced folks flocked, according to owner Catherine Abdalla. With nearly three decades in business, the store is one of the area’s retail fixtures, with a 50-50 men’s to women’s merchandise mix and emphasis on contemporary and updated better merchandise.
Throughout the fourth quarter, sales rallied by 25 to 30 percent in better sportswear; 50 percent in formalwear; and 65 to 70 percent in jeans. Looking ahead through 2006, and with many of the evacuees resettling permanently in Lafayette, Abdalla expects sales to continue at healthy growth levels.
However, merchandising for the future is not an exact science these days, she said. “We’re in business-as-usual mode, but don’t know if we’ll retain the level of sales increases we had last fall,” Abdalla said. “We picked up new customers and we know we’ll keep them if they stay in Lafayette. But many others still hope to rebuild their homes and move back to New Orleans.”
At WWDMAGIC, she’s counting on its assortment of trend-setting vendors from the West Coast to help stock her shelves. “I’m always looking for new junior resources that fit with the young contemporary customer profile,” she said.
Stranded for weeks until conditions in New Orleans abated enough to allow them back, many Katrina refugees realized that their homes and possessions were destroyed and began to replace wardrobes, Abdalla said.
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Reaching out to the new customers called for out-of-the-box marketing and hands-on communications, Abdalla said. Telephone calls to hotels and advertisements in weekly and daily newspapers alerted would-be customers of extended hours of operation. High visibility in a prominent location along a main thoroughfare also helped draw traffic to the 10,000-square-foot store.
Not all the retailers heading to WWDMAGIC have experienced sales increases. Some, in the midst of what many call the nation’s worst natural disaster, are getting started from scratch. Sisters Linda Larkin and Kate Larkin Chabreck are hoping the post-storm scarcity of shops will provide a boost to the opening of their own store. WWDMAGIC will be a key element in their plan.
Simply Fabulous, located in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell, La., is going to be the sisters’ effort to revitalize their community, they said. They were on the brink of signing a lease for the 1,400-square-foot shop when the hurricane interrupted their timetable. But they were not about to shelve the idea completely. Getting the shop up and running by April 1 is a new deadline for their plan.
The boutique — located in a newly completed strip mall with only five stores, including a salon-spa, wine market, deli and coffee shop — has all the elements to succeed, they said.
“We wanted something so people had an alternative to going to the mall,” Linda said. “Everyone lost so much, and we want to be a part of people getting their closets full and back to normal.”
Its focus is on sportswear from such vendors as Russ Berens, Flax, Cut Loose and denim from Kippy’s, Go Couture and A.B.S.
“We’ve got the feel for the older, 30-plus customer. At MAGIC, we’re looking for things to appeal to college age and teens with more trendy stuff,” Linda said. “We know it’s risky, but it’s something we needed and the word is getting around. We have great expectations, but we see our first year as a trial run to see what customers want.”
While retailers outside the city are primed to flourish, many in New Orleans are also doing well thanks to the relatively minor damage sustained by shops along Magazine Street. The thoroughfare that parallels the Mississippi River a few blocks away is now often referred to as the city’s Main Street because of its concentration of boutiques, galleries and cafes in operation. But, even in this relatively damage-free area, retailers have had to rely on ingenuity to get back in business. That’s what played out at Noel Barras’ specialty clothing store, Winky’s, when she had to consolidate her other nearby retail venture, a toy store.
After the hurricane hit, not only did she lose her home to flooding, the building housing her toy store was destroyed. Rather than close it, she folded the toy store into Winky’s, allowing her to boost inventory levels and make the most of a difficult adjustment.
Today, metal windup toys, stickers, magnets and jump ropes are on display throughout the 1,600-square-foot shop. They add a playful, whimsical note to the racks of trendy, retro and urban-friendly styles and vintage clothing with price points ranging from $90 to $120.
“Joining the toy store with the apparel entices customers to buy from both categories, and has increased sales of both the toys and apparel,” she said, adding that about 70 percent of her customers — from teenagers to fiftysomethings — buy both clothes and toys. “In our fourth quarter, we did as much in sales in one location as we did in two sites last year.”
Depending on WWDMAGIC as a resource for 100 percent of the shop’s apparel inventory, Barras attends the market “religiously twice a year,” she said. Having missed the fall market due to the hurricane, she has increased her budget by 20 percent to make up for lost time and fill out inventory levels.
Being flexible and creative in these tough times has also paid off for Funky Monkey owner Sarah Wheelock, whose 2,500-square-foot store focuses on women’s new and used clothing in a pair of 19th century buildings on Magazine Street.
When the T-shirt shop across the street was forced to close due to flooding and looting, she invited the owner to merge with her shop, turning a one-time competitor into a rent-paying collaborator.
By the time Funky Monkey reopened in mid-October, Wheelock was fortunate to be up and running during the traditionally busy Halloween and holiday seasons, she said.
“We’re almost back to 100 percent. I’m planning on staying in business, unless the current business environment shifts dramatically,” she said, adding that the majority of her clients fall into the 13-to-30 age group. “As the community revives, so will business. New Orleans is so neighborhood-centric.”
At WWDMAGIC, she plans to augment the shop’s array of apparel, which also includes locally designed, costume and resale merchandise.
“I want to go to the Off-Price show, which I haven’t been to before, and I need to buy denim, women’s tops and skirts, and some of the women’s and junior lines,” she said.
Among her bestsellers are items from Picasso, Miss Me and Dollhouse, with price points ranging from $18 to $62. Her normally healthy resale segment — typically representing as much as 30 percent of business, with price points ranging from $12.50 to $42.50 — is down. “People either don’t have anything to put up for resale or they are keeping their things due to their financial constraints,” she said.
Returning to a crippled city, folks were looking for the basics — and that’s exactly what Jean Therapy brother-sister owners Vicki and Steven Adjmi had on tap at their two relatively unscathed Jean Therapy stores. Their 1,800-square-foot store reopened in late October at Lakeside Mall and was followed by the reopening of their 2,300-square-foot store on Magazine Street as soon as power was restored to the neighborhood in early November.
Despite losing two months of sales, business was so brisk upon reopening that sales were 10 percent ahead of last year, Vicki said.
“We often did one week’s worth of business in one day for the first few months we reopened and through holiday,” she said.
With a 75-25 ratio of women’s to men’s apparel, about 70 percent of the merchandise is jeans from about 25 vendors. Prices range from $150 for Citizens of Humanity to $400 for True Religion.
The trip to Las Vegas will be a buying marathon to boost inventory up to normal levels, she said. “We’re anxious to catch up and think MAGIC is the place we’ll get the most variety, and it’s an excellent place to find new vendors. We’re in the market for whatever we can get our hands on now and for fall.”
Getting a sense of the customer in this “renew New Orleans” environment is a challenge many retailers face. In the iconic French Quarter, the 600-square-foot Red Lantern had carved out a 50-50 ratio between the locals and tourists. But as the tourist trade has dropped significantly in the post-Katrina era, owners Michael and Michiko Marryshow are counting on the local trade. They are also hedging their bets by attending WWDMAGIC as exhibitors of their own labels, Soca, a line of Caribbean-inspired dresses, and Dub Wise, a line of Reggae music-inspired men’s and women’s clothing.
One of the first boutiques to reopen after the hurricane, they were touched by the community spirit of hope and commitment to rebuild the city, Michael said. While displaced by Katrina, they visited Philadelphia and Austin with an eye to relocating their operations. But upon reflection, “we feel there’s no place like New Orleans,” he said. “We decided to stick it out.”