Concept Store «Story» in New York: Die Retail-Therapeutin

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Rachel Shechtman from the New York concept store “Story” makes a lot of things different and new – and recommends other retailers in a valuable “tutorial” on how to prepare for the digital future.

For retailers it is a question that worries them every day: What will happen to my business model and shop if even more people do their shopping online and have things sent home instead of going shopping? Then why do I still have a business premises?

The industry portal “Business of Fashion” is also dedicated to one current guest post this question. The answers come from Rachel Shechtman, initiator and creative director of the New York concept store «Story». She opened her shop five years ago and has since been widely regarded as a prophet of the “new trade”, in which the focus is no longer on procurement and transactions, but on the experience and the community. “Rethinking retail” is the concept of Story – rethinking retail.

The concept of the approximately 185 m2 store is summarized in three crisp mottos: It approaches the topics like a magazine (“editorial approach”), it changes its program like a gallery and sells things like a shop. The store is located at number 144 on 10th Avenue in Manhattan, on 19th Street. It is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Rachel Shechtman operates “Story” as a hub for ideas. Of course she buys sub-ranges herself, but a large part of what the store has to offer also consists of so-called “sponsored content”, as one would say in the media world, i.e. items that come from temporarily established partners. The model is interesting for both sides: brands can test new ideas on the public relatively cheaply through such partnerships, and “Story” constantly has new stories without taking any capital risk. The partners pay up to $ 400,000 to “Story” for these performances, which last up to a maximum of two months, and twice as much in the run-up to Christmas.

“More experience per square meter” is the motto of Rachel Shechtman, who before “Story” ran an agency that advises brands on retail concepts. “Before we start a new story, we check how the story can best be told”, Shechtman explains her editorial way of thinking to “Business of Fashion”. In the past five years, there have been discussions with almost 4,000 brands about possible collaborations. The model could also set an example elsewhere and revitalize paralyzing inner cities. However, the prerequisites for this are a sufficiently large retail area and high customer frequency.

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Here are Rachel Shechtman’s seven tips for the future of retail.

1. Experience is the most important

Offering customers an experience will be the key to future success for the retail trade. “If time is the greatest luxury today, then we have to give something back to people for the time they invest in shopping,” says Rachel Shechtman. Shops would have to check whether they can generate revenue not only with transactions but also with experiences. As an example, she cites a campaign called “His Story” that revolved around men – the partner was the beauty multi-agency Procter & Gamble. The focus was on a temporary barbershop in which, of course, the partner’s products were used.

2. Create a community

Brands need to create a community to share the experience with. Story continues to surprise its fans and followers with new food for thought. Under the motto “The F-Word”, a series of events took place that made the “new feminism” a topic. This included joint workouts, book readings, and panel discussions. Hundreds of people were able to take part, another 400 hoped to move up on the waiting list and take part in the event.

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3. Take risks

Rachel Shechtman’s concept of a retail space with the character of a media format was new when she launched it in 2011. Dozens of times, established retailers wished her “good luck” with a grin, in the silent expectation that the idea would fail. For the thought leader, the risk paid off, even though there was no corresponding, tried-and-tested business model before the launch of “Story”. Schechtman followed her intuition and relied on what she understands. “In these times it is riskier not to take any risks,” the entrepreneur sums up.

4. Failure to learn

Retail trade is an ongoing “try and error” (trying out and improving). A product can sell very well in one context while remaining a slow-moving in another. Story constantly learns from the constant change in the shop image and range. “To fail with an idea also means learning something,” Rachel Schechtman told BoF. Failures do not have to be avoided, they have to be used to get better.

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5. New incentives for employees

Traditionally, buyers and sellers are measured by sales – and if they are successful, they are involved. This quantitative compensation is an antiquated model. In times of social media and community building, there must be other factors that are rewarded, such as creating good relationships and initiating new partnerships. “That means that the creative team must also be involved in the success, and not just the buyers,” says Shechtman. Marketing people have to become merchandisers – and vice versa.

6. Invest in training

“The sales force needs to be trained much better than has been the norm for the past twenty years,” says Rachel Shechtman. Shops today are already confronted with customers who often know more about brands and products than the staff does. The service quality and the willingness to convey something, says Shechtman provocatively, are so bad in many shops today that customers prefer to stay outside. In larger organizations, employees should consciously be able to work temporarily in other areas in order to broaden their horizons and reduce “silo thinking”.

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7. Be open to the unexpected

Rachel Shechtman suggests that brands should reduce their inhibitions about working with “non-linear” partners. Her most successful collaborations were the most unexpected, according to the retail therapist. She initiated yoga lessons with a health insurer, which were very successful. “What I enjoy most is bringing two things together that you would never have thought would work together,” says Shechtman.