Country Club Prep is bringing its preppy aesthetic to the Hamptons.
The Atlanta-based company will open a pop-up shop in Southampton next week before Memorial Day weekend. The 500-square-foot shop will be located at 64 Jobs Lane.
Country Club Prep, which has an e-commerce site and two freestanding stores, calls itself “the Zappos for preppy clothing,” according to cofounder Stephen Glasgow, who started the business with his law school buddy Matt Watson. It carries more than 100 men’s and women’s apparel and accessories brands and its top labels include Jack Rogers, Southern Tide, Southern Proper and Lauren James.
Glasgow said he and Watson met in law school and were both practicing in Atlanta when they realized that thirtysomethings like them with a classic sensibility weren’t shopping in malls like they had in the past. “Their needs weren’t being met,” he said.
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So they created the Web site in March 2012, running it at night after leaving their corporate jobs for the day. The business took off, Glasgow said, and they quit their law jobs at the end of 2013 to run Country Club Prep full time.
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They opened their first store in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2014 and a second unit in Lexington, Ky., in November 2014.
Although Country Club Prep’s mix is targeted to the Southern lifestyle, the New York City area is its fourth largest market, so it made sense to seek out a spot in the city’s tony beach community.
“But this one is a little different,” Glasgow said of the Southampton store.
The idea is to offer one men’s and one women’s brand each month. In June, Southern Tide men’s wear and Lauren James women’s wear will be the featured brands. “They’re strong in the Southeast and we think they’ll also do well in the Northeast,” he said. “There’s no reason they should be confined to one region.” These brands will be complemented by “beachy accessories,” he said.
In July, Mahi Gold and Sail to Sable women’s wear will be featured along with Castaway Clothing’s men’s wear. In August, the same two women’s brands will be joined by Southern Proper men’s wear.
Glasgow said the store has a courtyard in the rear and there will be a happy hour every Friday night. On Sunday, there will be flash sales in the afternoon offering discounts on unadvertised pieces.
Glasgow said the store will remain open through Labor Day and “our goal is to keep it going on weekends at least through the early fall. We’ll see how it goes.”