All Aboard in NYC

Please join us in welcoming three new members to our NY team, Robert Holub, Marshall Shuster, and Stephen Mullins. All three bring a vast amount of experience and talent to our already creative staff.

2010: Year of the Retailers

Things are looking up for retailers as the National Retail Federation predicts an upbeat forecast for 2010. January 10-12th marked the NFR annual Retail’s Big Show at the Javits Center in New York City. A panel of industry leaders moderated by Stacy Janiak, Vice Chairman of the US Retail Practice at Deloitte, asserted that Christmas 2010 sales are looking favorable with prospects of 3 to 4 percent increases compared to the better-than-expected 1 to 2 percents sales gain for Christmas 2009. To understand the magnitude of this predication, flashback to Christmas 2008 as just a year ago, sales were at negative 3 to 4 percent and retailers were hosting record-breaking fire sales. Allen Questrom, the former Chairman of Barneys New York, commented that retailers were prepared for this holiday season by focusing in on expenses and better strategizing inventory operations.
It’s a new year and a fresh start for retailers to provide a mix of innovative and conventional tactics to lure back hesitant consumers. For instance, traditional retailers like Niemen Marcus and Intermix are adding flash sales to their e-commerce sites for 2010 to compete with the popular online sample sale sites such as Gilt, Rue La La, One Kings Lane, Ideeli and HauteLook. Meanwhile, Target Corp. is about to launch an event dubbed "The Great Save," which will feature competitive deals on a variety of products, bulk-packaged items and designer brands in a warehouse-club-like setting--minus the nuisance of membership fees or ID cards. Retailers are pulling out the bells & whistles to regain market share and make their brands relevant in today’s ever-changing retail landscape.
Marketing guru, Peter Fisk, has predicted that 2010 will be the year of engaging niches (think: Starbuck’s new coffee & tea concept called 15th Ave), simplistic lifestyle brands (think: Muji), concept spaces (think: Nokia pop-up stores), and a mix of both luxury and mainstream fashion (think: Carolina Herrera and Forever 21).
Only time will tell, but for now, GET SHOPPING!

Store Opening: Michael Kors Collection & Lifestyle 900 N. Michigan Ave

New Face of Times Square To Wear MAC & Forever 21

New Additions to KPA!

Please join us in welcoming Jose Achi and Kate Ryan to our firm. Jose is a Senior Design Manager and Kate a Senior Architect. Both will be based out of our Los Angeles office and we look forward to them contributing immediately to our already talented team.

By X for Y -The Method behind the Madness of Co-Branding

From Yves St Laurent to Ralph Lauren, many fashion designers' personal names (and personalities) have become synonymous with the fashion houses they represent. Anything associated with them often becomes more coveted. These days a designer’s name is his/her most valuable asset and designers are lending their names and skills to mass-market retailers for exclusive and temporary collections. Cole Haan for Nike, Alice & Oliva for Payless, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, Anna Sui for Target, and Jimmy Choo for H&M are just some of the unexpected concepts as well as names that are not only gaining instant buzz, but are shunning convention and breaking down the usual rules of fashion. Co-branding allows elite fashion-houses to crossover a brand into new markets and attain instant credibility. These partnerships create affordable luxury. While the prices are thrifty, the apparel's designs remain on-trend and true to each label's aesthetic. The irony is that often these pieces are more exclusive than the designers primary collections and end-up on eBay auctioning off for exuberant prices (re: studded leather jacket from Alexander McQueen for Target) or they are sold out in a matter of minutes (re: fashionistas swarmed H&M's Manhattan flagship and gutted the store in under 30 minutes when Roberto Cavalli designed for H&M). Check out KPA designed Adidas for Stella McCartney designed kicks, Lesportsac for Stella McCartney luggage line, and Forever 21 for Fifi Lapin’s exclusive T-shirt collection.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Food has an expiration date, films have limited engagements, and vacation hot spots have seasonal restrictions, but this year’s latest recession trend of pop-up stores seems to put retail in the same category of here today gone tomorrow. Pop-up stores are literally as the name suggests, temporary stores set up by retailers either in unconventional locations or in a vacant established retail space. Retailers are catering to this new concept off mass-clusivity and using impermanence as a marketing tool. These fleeting stores are used by retailers to introduce themselves into new markets where they have not yet established a real estate presence or to generate publicity for an already accepted brand through a new medium. A driving force behind this trend lies in increasing retail vacancies. For landlords, the temporary outposts offer much needed income when a space is languishing between leases. Opportunistic leasing in today's marketplace offers maximum return for a limited investment. Mainstream retailers such as Target, The Limited, Gucci and Brooks Brothers have been pioneering the pop-up retail front since 2004. Target has no brick and motor presences in Manhattan proper to date, but time after time, has set up temporary outposts throughout the city selling their well sought after merchandise. Often these stores open in tandem with industry events such as Fashion Week and/or to celebrate the launch of limited designer collections. Moreover, pop-ups are proving to be beneficial opportunities for young designers (whose only reach to customers is through e-commerce and wholesale) to play hardball with the 5th Ave big shots. New York Magazine recently examined the economics of guerrilla retailing to see if this new trend could turn a profit for an up and coming designer. Using Lyz Olko’s line, Obesity and Speed, as a case study, they found that a lifespan of 60 days earned this rising designer $11,050 in the bank. Expenses for such stores include: set-up, marketing, opening party (optional), garment production, transporting merchandise, and staffing. Cost can be kept to a minimum as most pop-ups are taking a barebones approach to décor and focusing energy on the merchandise mix. This “movement of the moment” has opened the door for online operations such as BlueFly.com to step out of their comfort zone and gain some real-world experience. Ebay used popup’s to combat their flea market image and showoff a more upscale and innovative image.
Always on trend at Kenneth Park Architects, in addition to standard build-outs we have been working with clients such as MAC, BCBG, and Adidas from TX to CA to VA to NC to create temporary spaces that are consistent in design with their current stores. These shops provide the opportunity to offer "hot" trend items, seasonal products, and to test new products in the marketplace. Your favorite retailers are becoming more accessible and are giving you the opportunity to shop in a new light. This intentionally temporary style of retailing is sure to make a permanent dent on today’s retailing landscape.