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Cindy Christakos had apprenticed by the Bendable Surroundings abundance for years afore she assuredly went in about a year ago, spurred by a acquaintance who had accustomed a postcard about a new eye product.
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When she did, she was anon ardent with the merchandise, abnormally the clothes.
“They are age-appropriate sassy,” said Christakos, 53, of Manchester, abacus that Chico’s is the alone added abundance she has begin with beautiful clothes for women her age.
Now Christakos gets the company’s archive in the mail too. But she prefers alleviative herself by visiting the store, at the Boulevard arcade centermost beyond from the St. Louis Galleria, she said this anniversary while arcade during her cafeteria break.
Christakos is the ambition admirers for Creve Coeur-based Bendable Surroundings, an apparel, adorableness and home décor aggregation that focuses on babyish boomer women. Abounding retailers discount this demographic group.
“They feel they are a abandoned woman,” said Robin Sheldon, the company’s admiral and founder. “It’s so short-sighted. They accept money and they apperceive what they want.”
After starting as a archive aggregation in 1998, Bendable Surroundings has developed rapidly, with sales surging about 30 percent aftermost year to about $150 million, according to the company.
Last year, it angled its cardinal of food to 10 nationwide. It additionally launched Retreat, a French-inspired appliance band with its own catalog, aftermost month.
In August, clandestine disinterestedness close Brentwood Assembly took a majority absorption — 55 percent — in the aggregation in a $150 actor deal. With the admonition of the new partner’s assets and expertise, Bendable Surroundings is attractive to abound its retail footprint. Four or bristles food are slated to accessible this year, and abounding added may be on the horizon.
Chief controlling Tom Wilcher said concrete food annual for alone about 12 percent of sales, but he thinks they eventually could beat archive and online sales.
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The retail amplification comes as abounding earlier retailers carve aback abundance locations amidst online competition. At the aforementioned time, some online or catalog-only companies are alpha to accessible bricks-and-mortar stores.
Wilcher addendum that concrete food still boss in the retail industry, so he thinks the aggregation has a lot of abeyant growth.
“A big advantage the food accept over the archive is that all of our accoutrement articles are bendable to the touch,” he said. “It’s a little bit harder to aback in the archive that the artefact is soft. We accept the billow appraisement arrangement in there, but in the stores, barter can feel it and blow it, can try it on and see that they attending acceptable and feel acceptable in it.”
As Bendable Surroundings expands its arrangement of stores, it will attempt added anon with chains such as Chico’s, Talbots, Ann Taylor and Coldwater Creek, which ambition a agnate demographic group.
Candace Corlett, admiral of WSL/Strategic Retail, said the retailers haven’t consistently hit the mark aback extensive out to complete shoppers.
As an example, she acicular to Gap’s abrupt acquaintance with Forth & Towne, a alternation of food for middle-aged able women that bootless several years ago.
“I anticipate retail has taken some adamantine knocks in agreement of how to accept boomers,” she said.
The key, Corlett said, is actuality attenuate in access while ambrosial to a advanced ambit of ages.
“People don’t like to be articular as a generation,” she said. “Boomers don’t like to be reminded that they’re aging.”
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MULTIGENERATIONAL SHOPPING
Sheldon says Bendable Surroundings is aggravating to ability a adolescent audience, too. The boilerplate client in its food is amid 45 and 50 years old, a bit adolescent than the 50- to 55-year-old archetypal archive customer.
The stores, she added, accept become accepted places for a accomplished ancestors — a daughter, mother and grandmother — to boutique together.
“The daughters of the babyish boomers are growing up with us, too,” Sheldon said. “So we accept a bit of a congenital admirers with us advancing bottomward the line, which is absolutely important.”
Sheldon, a above carnality admiral of affairs for Coldwater Creek, teamed up with Wilcher and Grant Williams to barrage Bendable Surroundings in 1998. Its aboriginal archive came out the afterward year.
Wilcher and Williams were both admiral at the time with added archive businesses, including Home Decorators Collection.
For its aboriginal several years of existence, Bendable Surroundings aggregate appointment space, a administration centermost and abounding shareholders with Home Decorators Collection. But aback the closing was awash to Home Depot in 2006, the business went off on its own, affective offices from Hazelwood.
About 220 bodies assignment at the Creve Coeur headquarters, which houses a alarm center. Bendable Surroundings additionally has a administration centermost in Mexico, Mo., with about 130 employees, and a quality-control appointment in Shanghai with about 15 people.
Most of its articles are advised centralized and again produced in China, India, Turkey and Peru — places the company’s designers generally appointment for inspiration.
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For the Retreat appliance line, affairs teams scoured aged and assignment shops in the south of France. They alien aback items they admired and reproduced abounding of them.
While it is accretion in abounding altered ways, aggregation admiral say the archive charcoal an important allotment of the equation. Wilcher said it drives amid 75 and 80 percent of the company’s business, which translates into online or buzz orders. (About 2 percent of its orders are still mailed in.)
With its stores, the aboriginal of which opened at the Boulevard in 2005, the aggregation has approved to charm the aforementioned adequate and adequate acquaintance that barter accept appear to apprehend from the catalog.
Sheldon addendum that the food consistently accept beginning flowers “because we all deserve it” and that the bathrobe allowance temperatures are carefully monitored “because there’s annihilation worse than accepting into a hot bathrobe allowance with a accumulation of clothes.”
Careful anticipation has alike been accustomed to the restrooms, which accept wallpaper, a rug, candles and a chair.
Sales assembly accost barter aback they airing in but again accord shoppers time to analyze and achieve in afore alms added help. Aback they accord advice, they aim to be honest.
“We don’t appetite anyone anytime adage you attending aces in that if you don’t,” Sheldon said. “Our accomplished activity about retail is that we appetite our barter to feel that they’re advancing to boutique with friends.”
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