As the economy continues to limp along, retailers are finding creative ways to deliver value to their customers without sacrificing their brand. One of the best recent examples is the Italian luxury knitwear design house, Missoni, where you can easily spend $5,000 plus on a single dress. Missoni recently launched a much more reasonably priced line to be sold in Target stores. When Target unveiled the much-anticipated collaboration last week, the frenzy over the beloved line was so well received that Missoni customers actually crashed Target’s website.
Missoni is not the only retailer to be creative in today’s environment. Men’s Wearhouse, for example, has launched Men’s Wearhouse Big and Tall, where you can buy everything from a size 28-EEEE shoe to a size 60 sport coat. Its first North Texas store opened last weekend in Arlington Highlands and is doing quite well. The company has plans for additional stores in Houston and New York City.
Another example is Dollar Tree. With 70 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and 4,500 across the country, Dollar Tree needed to find a way to continue their growth without cannibalizing their existing stores. So, they recently announced the launch of Dollar Stop. These stores will be about one-half the size of a typical Dollar Tree and will sell most of the same items with the exception of groceries.
Bed Bath and Beyond has also found a creative way to grow with its purchase and expansion of Christmas Tree Shops. These bargain stores sell everything from food, toys, and household furnishings, in addition to Christmas decorations. The chain recently opened its first Texas location on the Dallas North Tollway, just north of the Galleria and is actively seeking more locations. Bed Bath and Beyond has also opened, and is actively expanding, its BuyBuyBaby concept, which offer one-stop shopping for clothing, cribs, car seats, and practically everything else.
Other legendary retailers, such as Nordstrom with Nordstrom’s Rack and Neiman Marcus with Last Call Studio, have listened to the needs of their customers and delivered value-oriented options while maintaining their world-class brand.
In today’s economy, they know that the creative retailer survives.
