The RealReal, Brooklyn
The luxury consignment retailer has opened its third store in New York: a 230sqm brick-and-mortar store located in a trendy shopping district Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. This is the company's second core store. The "Core stores" are small format stores that focus on one category. A first core store opened in Palo Alto in November 2020 and focuses on menswear and men's bags.
The core store's central themes and locations are determined by the retail team, the merchandising team, and the data team. They choose areas where there are a lot of customers with an interest in one particular category. In the case of Brooklyn customers, Vintage is a popular category. Each store is singular and fits the community it is in, and it highlights customers preferences by adding in the store's design local, original art pieces to give a more classic and traditional feel.
The Brooklyn store's appeal is meant to come from the services it provides, including two luxury consignment offices where customers can get free valuations on handbags, jewellery, and watches. The stores will not only provide an extra value to existing customers, like in-person valuations and kerbside drop-off, but they'll also serve as a way to introduce the company to new customers.
For the first time ever, the store will feature a dedicated vintage section with certified-old and "vintage-inspired" pieces. "We see stronger demand for casual and bohemian styles from our millennial and Gen-Z shoppers in Brooklyn," said Sasha Skoda, head of women's merchandising. The store features both vintage and vintage-inspired clothing and handbags from designers such as Gucci, Chanel, Christian Dior, Akris, Issey Miyake, and Missoni.
The RealReal also has years and years' worth of data at its disposal regarding what, exactly, its customers are buying and selling. As an e-commerce venture and app first, they can now track trends and implement them in their business strategies. "Brooklyn shoppers gravitate towards ready-to-wear, particularly compared to our Manhattan shoppers," Skoda noted, therefore the store stocked casual and warm winter pieces for its opening.
The RealReal's has 12 physical locations, and eight more are planned to open this year. It opened three new stores in 2020 — in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Chicago — and plans to open ten more in the coming quarters. The Chicago Flagship showed how to address new retail trend and consumer behaviour by mixing e-commerce, boutiques, food and beverage at the same time and space.
It may come as a surprise to hear of a store opening, not closing, right now. The success of the physical expansion lies in the fact that, even though online shopping can be convenient, it will not overcome the immersive experience of being in a store and giving customers a physical touchpoint, which is why physical retail is a "competitive advantage" for The RealReal.
The RealReal expands its physical footprint with new Brooklyn store