Retailers That Emphasize Community Will Boom After Social Distancing Is Over

As anyone in the retail industry knows, there’s been a lot of hype over new retail formats in recent years. A quick Google search for “lifestyle retail concepts” turns up a number of results for allegedly cool stores around the world. More often than not, these are shops that are meant to have a lifestyle theme, but actually just sell an assortment of fashion items.

There’s also been a proliferation of stores with built-in coffee shops. At best, these formats had lost some of their novelty, even before COVID-19 prevented such gathering. At worst, they can seem like a retailer needed to fill unproductive space and was in search of anything to drive traffic. 

However, more retailers are figuring out how to do mixed-use spaces well. For instance, Draper James’s Nashville store offers a deeper immersion into the Southern hospitality image at the brand’s core. And the Saturdays surf store in New York City’s Soho neighborhood is known to have some of the best coffee in the area. (Although, it’s difficult to see the overall concept as cohesive since the coffee bar isn’t highly integrated with the space.) 

Some of the most compelling specialty retail concepts incorporate both lifestyle merchandising and some kind of service, coffee or otherwise. Historically, it’s been a bonus if they also built community. That was likely to approach requirement status in the future anyway. Given current circumstances, once retail and hospitality open again, a sense of community will be even more valued. Common examples of brands succeeding in the community space are Rapha and Freeman’s Barber Shop, both also located in Manhattan.

At its storefront, Rapha is laser-focused on the biking enthusiast, with gear, repairs and even a television for race-watching near its coffee shop seating. Freeman’s dedication to its customer is just as clear, with a Lower East Side alleyway location that boasts a tightly assorted, cross-category merchandise presentation complemented by an integrated barber shop with stylists who dress as though they’ve shopped right there. Again, in a post-pandemic world, these places to gather for goods and services will be more appreciated than ever.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Upstate Stock features a coffee shop and communal table that couldn’t be better integrated into the retail space. The entire environment feels seamless - almost like walking into someone’s home - because of the consistency of materials, aesthetic and the physical placement of the table. It’s clear they have a strong point of view.

Making the integration even more natural are the shelves of food, both for immediate consumption and packaged for the pantry, that not only line the coffee shop point-of-sale but surround the communal table on all sides. A customer walking front-to-back through the store doesn’t have to think hard because there’s a logical pull as the merchandising delicately shifts into home, books, and fashion. The edit of brands and items in the back is as consistent as the pastry case at the front and truly connotes the sense that it could all be part of the same customer’s home. When the pandemic has passed and people can go out again, an environment like this is likely to be a welcome destination.

Less than a mile away, local business Edamama Cuts & More approaches its real estate more divisively, and for good reason: Half of the space is a toy and children’s book store and half is a children’s hair salon. Focus on the customer is just as clear and consistent here as it is at any of the concepts above, which means that even toys and books for sale can be enjoyed in the play zone that consumes the center area. 

The floor plan was designed to capture kids’ attention and parents’ wallets not just during the typical waiting time before a haircut, but afterwards. And it works: Families rarely exit immediately upon paying for a haircut. While distractions such as playful chairs, TVs and fish tanks aren’t uncommon at children service providers, Edamama sometimes has a bowl of healthy snacks and small toys to which kids can help themselves. What a treat this will be for families who’ve had nowhere to go for months (and not just because professional hair cuts will be in demand). 

The toy offering here is so strong that it could be a store on its own. And the stylists are such experts that the salon perhaps could just be that. But, as at Upstate Stock, its delightfully hard to discern whether more traffic is entering for the services or the goods because they appear to be consuming both.

That’s mixed-use retail done right.

This article was originally published by Forbes on 4/15/20.