Online-Only Retailers Get Physical At Roosevelt Field Mall

GARDEN CITY, NY — With more malls across America closing or repurposing to remain relevant in the age of Amazon, Roosevelt Field is recruiting online-based companies as part of a broader strategy to compete as a top-tier shopping destination.

Blue Nile was the first e-commerce-only retailer to open a store at Roosevelt Field in 2015, when the Simon Property Group-owned mall entered the initial phase of a renovation project. The jeweler was so successful that it has since opened stores at 17 other locations in 14 states, including at three other Simon malls.

Makers of custom-fitted men's shirts, UNTUCKit launched in 2010 as an online-native business that opened its first store in Manhattan five years later and at Roosevelt Field in 2017, two of its 87 physical locations in the United States and Canada. Other companies at the mall that originated online include Bonobos, a men's clothing line, which opened a shop in 2020, and Madison Reed, a hair dye brand that established a mini-color bar earlier this year.

"We are always looking to change up our merchandise mix," Nancy Gilbert, Simon's marketing director at Roosevelt Field, said about the mall's initiative to attract brands with e-commerce roots. "We want to keep the stores and brands that are here exciting and different to continue to drive traffic to the centers."

When renovations that included a Neiman Marcus-anchored west wing began in 2015, Simon launched a Roosevelt Field-exclusive program that works with online-only businesses to open their first physical stores at the mall. Called The Edit, the platform provides a retail unit with all the fixtures, a point-of-sales system and an experienced management team that a budding brand needs to transition to a brick-and-mortar.

Each online retailer in the program pilots its merchandise in the unit for about three months, after which a new brand is rotated into the same space near the JCPenney department store. When deciding on whether to negotiate a long-term lease with a company, Simon considers whether the brand can sustain sales, the availability of space at the mall, and the finances involved in building a new store.

"This program gives us the opportunity to take something that customers can't find anywhere else and be able to cultivate it and help it grow," Gilbert said about the strategy behind The Edit. "It gives our customers a new product and something that's different and that's a first."

There are currently two online-only brands that opened in the mall after debuting in The Edit. Clientele, an athletic shoes and apparel brand, opened in 2019, and Hope & Henry showcased its classic clothing line made with organic cotton in The Edit for three months before signing a long-term lease in 2018.

Hope & Henry now operates four stores at Simon malls and one more in Hawaii. Founder and CEO Matt McCauley began by selling his clothes for all ages on Amazon in 2017 and launched the company's website the following year. The Edit provided McCauley with marketing, connections to local influencers, and architects to help design the store, all of which made his transition to brick-and-mortar much easier. And while his company's digital channels, which includes Target Plus, account for an estimated 90 percent of total revenue, the move to Simon malls has exposed the brand to many new customers.

"I think a lot of people think it's either digital or it's the mall, but I believe these channels compliment each other," McCauley said. "I really like the omni-channel experience for the customer, where they can buy online and return in the store. Giving that whole in-person experience and introducing the brand to new customers is really beneficial."

Meanwhile, Simon is currently working with another company to sign a lease, Gilbert said, while also assisting GOAT USA, an e-commerce brand that will remain in The Edit throughout the holiday shopping season. Launched online in 2016, GOAT USA is a self-described "lifestyle and apparel company" whose products "promote a positive message."

"We are looking at those kinds of brands and asking how we can expand them," Gilbert said. "And I think a lot of those online brands have figured out that they have to be multi-channelled in order to survive. They can't just rely on one channel in order to grow their business."

* This story is the first in a four-part series about Roosevelt Field and Simon Property Group.

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