Women’s fashion brand Margaux is joining a range of direct-to-consumer footwear brands discovering the power of doing business the old-fashioned way — with a brick-and-mortar store.
Today, co-founders Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson, are opening the company’s first flagship, a New York store on Bleecker Street in the city’s trendy West Village neighborhood.
The location follows a string of pop-up shops in cities including Palm Beach, Fla., Nantucket, R.I., and San Francisco. “We’ve gone around the country with these pop-ups to understand the power of the off-line experience for the brand and perfect the model,” said Buckley, about traditional in-store shopping.
According to the founders, the location will function as a guide shop where customers can try samples in the brand’s full range of sizes and widths that includes narrow, medium and wide widths, then place an order on site or at home. “The purpose of the store is to bring the product to life,” said Pierson. “It’s a Cinderella moment where [customers] can find their perfect fit.”
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Shoes purchased at the store are then are shipped to shoppers free of charge. In addition, the company offers a made-to-measure service, with foot measurements taken by on-site fit specialists. A personal fitting kit can also be ordered online.
The brand, launched in 2015, is best known for its Classic ballet flat available in a wide range of colors. Rounding out the collection are the Heel, a block heel pump, and the Sandal, a crisscross slide. And, Margaux will be offering a style shoppers can buy on the spot at the tore, a navy satin version of The Sandal, exclusive to the New York flagship.
The store was designed by Paul Bennett Architects and features a custom oak and brass arced fixture highlighting the brand’s iconic color wheel of shoes. Other collections will be displayed throughout the store on floating shelves and oak cabinetry.
Analog Modern, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based woodworking studio, created an oak bench that anchors with plush cushions. Here, guests can enjoy a collection of books hand-selected by one of the Margaux’s New York customers.
While Buckley and Pierson are planting roots in New York, by no means are they abandoning their pop-up shop model and will open locations around the country. The two say it’s a way to introduce consumers to the brand and gauge demand, opening the door to future locations. “It can prime a market, [so] we can then go back in in a more permanent way.”
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