New York Store Would Like to Grow from Mom-and-Pop to National Presence
Jul 21, 2011 12:29 PM, By Elaine Misonzhnik, Retail Traffic Associate Editor
Some retailers like to shout about their growth from the rooftops. Others work more stealthily.
Make Meaning, an up-and-coming chain that specializes in arts and crafts, belongs to the second group. Today, the company operates a single location on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, but it has been quietly meeting with retail property owners throughout the country in an effort to eventually grow its presence to up to 100 stores nationwide.
The chain has an interesting concept—rather than concentrate on one craft, as most of its peers in the segment do—it allows customers to work in several mediums, including paper, ceramics, jewelry, soap, candles and glass. And rather than target a specific demographic—say kids, or young women looking for something to do during bridal and baby showers—it offers classes, parties and events for a number of different consumers, ranging from tykes to hobbyists.
In fact, the chain’s founder, Dan Nissanoff, a successful tech entrepreneur, came up with the idea for Make Meaning while looking for things to do with his small children, according to Amy Kotulski, vice president of marketing with the retailer.
Often, parents have to endure mind-numbing boredom as their kindergarteners and preschoolers partake in child-friendly entertainment, as anyone familiar with Barney can attest. Nissanoff wanted to create a venue that would allow both his children and him to be engaged “because creativity naturally provides a meaningful exchange between people,” Kotulski says.
Unlike many retail novices, however, Nissanoff had enough business experience to know he needed serious help getting his concept off the ground. As such, he nixed building a new chain from scratch—often a perilous undertaking. Instead, he started by purchasing an existing mom-and-pop pottery business with an existing customer base, and then gradually brought in experts on new crafts, including candle making, soap making and jewelry design, to expand the store’s offerings.
One of Make Meaning’s strengths is that it caters to a wide range of interests, from candle-making to jewelry design.
Nissanoff’s next move was to bring in Steen Kanter, a retail consultant who has served as president of IKEA U.S. East and as president and CEO of the Body Shop. Kanter helped build IKEA’s empire in several European countries as well as in Canada and the United States and today runs consulting firm Kanter Interational. What he offered Nissanoff and Make Meaning was an in-depth understanding of the retail industry and experience in successful store growth.
For his part, Kanter was attracted by the fact that Make Meaning is not one of those dime-a-dozen retail concepts that U.S. retail consultants and analysts often complain about.
“Make Meaning is very consumer focused and offers a niche where there is nothing else, you can’t really find anything like it,” he notes. Plus, “it’s family-oriented”—an important distinction because Make Meaning executives believe family activities are recession-proof and popular everywhere.
Make Meaning opened its first store in a three-level space on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in September 2010. Today, it’s building its second location, on the Upper East Side, and looking for appropriate sites throughout the country.
Guarded Ambition
Kanter prefers to remain tight-lipped about Make Meaning’s site selection strategy, but Site Optimizer was able to learn some details about the chain’s real estate plans. For example, Make Meaning has been using a professional brokerage firm to help it look for new locations—when the chain reaches sufficient critical mess it will likely create an in-house real estate department, Kanter notes.
The two must-haves for the company in choosing new sites are high concentration of families with kids in the trade area and spaces that are large enough to accommodate all of its offerings. Make Meaning features a café on the premises and organizes private parties, so it needs at least 6,000 square feet, according to Kotulski. Plus, there has to be plenty of space for all those strollers and little kids.
When it comes to other specifications—income levels, urban versus suburban locations and the layout of its stores—the chain prefers to stay as flexible as possible.
“This is a business that would be, theoretically, flexible,” Kotulski says. “Of course there is a focus on a general mass of population, but I don’t think there is anything tremendously unique about what would work. We are keeping all of our options open.”
That’s not to say Make Meaning’s growth will be completely opportunistic. As Kanter describes it, the chain will definitely consider rental rates and other expenses when deciding where next to open stores, but the sites will have to fit in with its long-term plans.
“We know exactly where we want to be. If you look at our locations, it’s very clear,” he notes. “The Upper East Side store is going to be awesome.”
For the time being, Make Meaning managed to create enough buzz with one operating location that retail property owners have definitely taken notice. For example, Michael P. Glimcher, chairman of the board with Glimcher Realty Trust, a regional mall REIT based in Columbus, Ohio, thinks the retailer has what it takes to go national (to date, Glimcher hasn’t signed any leases with Make Meaning).
“There are five or six different categories of things you can do,” Glimcher points out. “They actually have a little café and they have a liquor license.”
The chain needs enough space to accommodate its café, retail store and private party functions, so it’s looking at venues averaging at least 6,000 square feet.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
