retail | Bennat Berger

The Rise of “Apartment” Stores: How Retailers are Downsizing to Survive

The Rise of “Apartment” Stores: How Retailers are Downsizing to Survive

Confronted with the rise of online shopping, experiential retail has gone in multiple directions, each one suited to their product. Think of the Apple store, which performs the dual task of selling the company’s products and constructing a brand around them through conscious design choices. For sellers whose wares aren’t so high-tech, there’s been a conspicuous rise in what are called “apartment stores,” the term a play on the department stores they’ve largely replaced in urban centers and upscale retail zones.

What Is an Apartment Store?

An apartment store is generally much smaller than their department store forebears: set up as a warm, inviting space not unlike a well-designed living room. Their simple design belies a sophistication perfectly and unobtrusively designed for displaying high-end clothing and housewares, minus the fluorescent lighting and cold tile floors. Patrons can come in, sit down, even have an espresso or other gourmet treats while they peruse the wares on hand.

The result is an intimacy that has the potential to generate real, loyalty-based consumer relationships. A store that feels like home has long been a goal for many retailers, so it’s almost a surprise that it’s taken so long for this concept to catch on. Some sources place the origin of the trend at around 2015, and it’s since taken root in major cities like New York and Berlin.

Retailers who can take the time and effort to construct such a space aim to achieve the ultimate goal in the age of Amazon: provide a great reason for shoppers to get off the couch and into their doors. It’s no secret that offering something more than a simple transaction is one of the most reliable weapons in the modern retail arsenal, and apartment stores have become one of NYC’s most popular experiential spaces.

Why New York City is Embracing Apartment Stores?

A city such as New York is home to millions and millions of potential buyers, so standing out from the fray is paramount. This rule is especially reliable for high-end customers: they can afford the best, and will expect it when they’re spending their retail dollar. For luxury retailers, this has traditionally meant providing personal consulting, private shopping sessions, and early access to exclusive wares. As luxury has gone mainstream, apartment stores give that personal touch in a place whose doors are open to all (even if the most expensive products on the shelf are still out of reach).

At the same time, the skyrocketing price of real estate means that even established retailers have needed to downsize. An apartment store makes the most of limited space, giving luxury without extravagance. By bringing the high-end shopping experience into a place that feels more like home, buyers have a whole new reason to make their way to the store.

Everything Old is New Again

While a mostly recent trend, apartment stores are in a way a bit of a throwback. Before department stores took off in the early-mid 20th century, most storefronts were small and intimate spaces where sellers knew their customers by name. Shopping was mainly confined to the neighborhood, and destination-style megastores had not yet come into existence. When bigger retailers came along, offering selection and prices that could rarely be beat by mom and pop shops, something reassuring and familiar was lost in the process. Apartment stores bring a bit of that familiarity back to shopping, while still maintaining the high standards today’s customer expects.

In a retail environment where size is not always an asset, apartment stores offer luxury brands and middle-market ones alike space for their customers to call home. Thanks to a market where customer loyalty is as valuable as ever and the cost of entry is often forbiddingly high, expect more of these stores to take up (limited) space at a shopping district near you.

How Do New York City’s Bookstores Stay in Business in the 21st Century?

With Amazon eating up a growing share of book sales, and the worlds of music and movies going digital, it seemed like it was only a matter of time until local booksellers went the way of the Automat. The convenience and unmatchable selection of online shopping, at Bezos’ store, in particular, was thought to be a death knell for the traditional bookselling model. While it’s true that many bookstores, both corporate chains, and local favorites, have fallen by the wayside, the independent bookseller is far from disappeared.

For devotees of brick-and-mortar bookshops, the current scene is highly encouraging. There’s reason to be optimistic for the next generation of readers in the five boroughs. For a variety of reasons, new and old independent bookstores have been surviving and thriving in this new economy. These are three of them, each with their own qualities to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Know Your Audience – Printed Matter

Funded by a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting contemporary art, Printed Matter has existed in New York since 1977, moving from TriBeCa to SoHo to their current home on 11th Avenue in Chelsea. Managed by an artist’s foundation, Printed Matter is credited with popularizing art books as a whole, making the printed page a viable medium for unique artistic expression and not just pictures of paintings.

A new planned location in the East Village is just one of several art bookstores planned for the neighborhood, proof that this niche is one that inspires visits from devotees in enough numbers to support multiple locations. A retail outlet that knows its audience and even shapes it through thoughtful curation of their offerings can see long life, no matter how much the market churns. Printed Matter proves that customer identity matters.

Community Roots – Lit Bar

While this one has yet to open, the story of its origin is emblematic of the new bookstore trend. Barnes and Noble, the nation’s sole remaining major bookstore chain, announced in 2014 that their final Bronx outpost would be closing, leaving the borough of 1.4 million people without one solitary bookstore. Petitions were filed, protests held, but by the end of 2016, the Bronx was bookless.

Enter Noelle Santos. One of the passionate protesters went entrepreneurial to fight the tides, and her store, Lit Bar, a combination wine bar and family-friendly bookstore is slated to open this fall. Modeled on Denver, Colorado’s BookBar with a uniquely NYC twist, Santos’ bookstore will hopefully serve as proof that the Bronx is ready for a new resurgence of bookshops in this century.

More than material – Books Are Magic

Author Emma Straub’s Cobble Hill, Brooklyn store has been the toast of the area in the year since it’s opened, serving as the spiritual replacement for long-beloved neighborhood institution Book Court, which closed in 2016 when its owners decided to call it a career.

Straub’s new store wasted no time in making their name known, thanks in large part to a robust social media presence featuring the store’s highly Instagrammable outer mural and a pristinely manicured interior. But it’s not all style and no substance: frequent in-store author appearances and signings as well as sponsorship of larger events (a recent reading featuring Stephen King at St. Ann’s Church downtown drew a capacity crowd) combine with an ever-updated selection allowing Books are Magic to comprehensively serve “New York’s book borough” thoughtfully, pleasing both eyes and minds.

These stories may not necessarily be a detailed blueprint for booksellers to navigate today’s market, but they illustrate the fact that unique, independent retailers still have a place in New York City. For any retail outlet, offering the same experience as the place next door isn’t going to cut it in a world where nearly anything can be bought from the comforts of home, and the bookstore scene has adjusted accordingly.

Interestingly, even Amazon runs two brick-and-mortar bookstores in the city, proof that the physical space still has viability for corporate retailers, even if they exist partially to promote online offerings. It seems now that the death of the bookstore was greatly exaggerated. For book lovers of the five boroughs, these and other locations are providing a good reason to get off the couch and head out to get their fix.