Recently when interviewing retail and trend guru Yasmin Sewell, who made her name at Browns and Liberty, I asked her what the most important aspect of being a successful fashion retailer was. Without missing a beat she replied: "service".
She then went on to say that while the boutiques and department stores in London were more inspirational than anywhere else, in terms of product and interiors, the service was often lacking (she made an exception for London super-indie Matches, whose service was excellent she said). In New York, however, the opposite was the case. The stores may not be as beautiful but the service was spot on: "I'd love to bring all the store staff over from New York to work in London as an experiment," she said. Turnover, she believed, would go through the roof.
On a visit to New York last week, I got to experience New York service first hand and it was obvious what Sewell meant. In no store, be it a department store, chain or boutique, was I ignored and no sooner had I started to drape products across my arm than someone offered to whisk them away and "start a room". Assistants always told me their name, offered to find me additional sizes and styles and - a personal bugbear - at no point was I told that I could only try on 4 items at a time.
In general, when it came to the store environments and windows, Sewell was right, the stores aren't as exciting as, say Liberty or Selfridges. Many stores buy the same collections in the same way too, which can be a bit dull. But one stood out for me as ticking all the boxes in that holy trinity of product, environment and service and that was multi-brand store Intermix.
On a very wet Manhatten day I stumbled into the Soho store on Prince Street and, staring at the packed rails of colourful clothes, I was equally excited and tempted to leave all at once.
All I wanted was some quality long-length Ts and tops and one of the joys of Intermix is the mix. It merchandises uber luxe brands with affordable labels, formal with casual and mixes up the moods and colours, which, when you're in the mood, can make for a fun and exciting browsing experience. Trouble was, I wasn't in the mood. I knew what I wanted and I didn't want the distraction of anything else.
Spotting me looking slightly wet and weary an assistant came and asked me what I was looking for, upon hearing my direction she whisked me round the store picking up everything she thought fit the bill and rejected things on my behalf if she didn't "love it" enough. "It can be overwhelming if you don't know the store and stock," she empathised, "but we do and that's what we're here for".
Mere minutes later I was in a spacious changing room with about 15 pieces, including a nude tank as a try-on base - her suggestion. After the first four products didn't work I felt a wave of guilt wash over me and felt the need to justify why I'd rejected them, but she stopped me in my tracks "no need to explain, just keep trying on and I'll take these away". There was no hard sell. Just help.
Fortunately further down the try-on rail I had more success with two Ts from ALC, a peasant blouse from Joie (someone please bring this brand to the UK!) and the nude base layer (Splendid) was so great, I decided to keep that too. It wasn't a bad haul and in the past week I've worn them all.
I don't know about bringing over the staff of Intermix to work in London for an experiment, I'd want to see them here permanently - along with the store.
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