Cover Story: Apparel and the City
This isn't to say that Brooklyn Industries wasn't affected by the recession — original plans to open 50 stores in five years have been scaled back. But the company made a strategic decision that in order to keep on track with its growth path, and keep the same amount of people employed in its back-end office and design, production and merchandising teams, it needed to expand its top-line revenue.
Knowing that same-store sales growth wasn't likely during the recession, acquiring more stores and modes of distribution (i.e., investments made online) became the answer. In addition to growing retail sales in new marketplaces, Brooklyn Industries forecasted online sales spiking in those cities due to increased brand exposure.
"As Brooklyn Industries grows to markets outside of New York, its e-commerce site is the No. 1 marketing tool it has to educate potential customers about its brand and merchandise," says WebLinc's Hill.
With a strong presence already established in New York, Brooklyn Industries looked to other marketplaces to set up shop. By tracking where internet activity — i.e., sales, email and e-newsletter sign-ups — was occurring on a weekly basis, the retailer was able to identify marketplaces where it felt it could be successful. That's led Brooklyn Industries to the Pacific Northwest and Midwest with stores in Chicago and Portland, Ore., as well as strengthening its presence in the Northeast with stores in Boston and Philadelphia. And its expansion isn't done yet: Other markets that show potential include the Pacific Northwest, namely San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia; Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; and Washington, D.C.
The selection process will focus on cities. "That's really where our customers are," says Funk. "Our concept, which is live, work, create, is a lot about living, working and creating in an urban environment. For us, that's our niche: Speaking to that more creative, more artistic customer who's coming to cities."
