Monday, August 10th, 2009
New York and Region
SHOPPING; A Cappuccino With That $5,000 Suit?
By MARCELLE S. FISCHLER; ABBY GRUEN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING. Published: November 19, 2006
Jack Mitchell, the chief executive of Mitchells/Richards/Marshs, literally wrote the book on passionate customer service, ”Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results” (Hyperion, 2003). His wife, Linda, the stores’ head buyer for women’s attire, is equally customer-centric.
For example, when she attends fashion week in Milan or in Paris, she takes along a list of her customers’ preferences, ”the kinds of things they like and the sizes they wear,” she said. Then she buys the clothes she thinks they will like, but she has to be careful with the ball gowns. ”You don’t want more than one person in the same dress,” she said.
Mr. Mitchell, 67, still works the floor at Mitchells on Saturdays, tape measure draped around his neck. He said that being successful was about relationships, not transactions.
”We are all about treating each and every customer as if you were a friend,” Mr. Mitchell said. ”I call it hugging. That’s how we can compete with the great stores in New York City. They are great stores. But why schlep to the city when you can find world-class people, world-class service and products in the suburbs?”
Like Marshs and Richards, Mitchells provides free alterations; the three stores employ 54 tailors. Patricia Burrows, a psychotherapist from Weston, Conn., said the free tailoring made shopping there stress-free.
”If I gain or lose a few pounds — and inches — I know that I can go back and have my clothes altered,” Ms. Burrows said. ”It makes the high prices a little more palatable.”
But, she said, she tries to restrain herself. ”It is impossible to find a sweater there for under $100, and if I shop there too much, my sense of economy and proportion will become totally distorted,” Ms. Burrows said. ”But the clothes are often beautiful, and the espresso is always delicious.”
There is similar cosseting at the CoCo Parì store in Red Bank, which doubles as an entertainment center on weekends. Cocktails and cappuccino are served, and club music plays until 11 p.m. Boyfriends and husbands wait out the shopping on a sofa, watching the flat-screen television above the display of Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo shoes.
Kimberly Landau, 30, opened the first CoCo Parì, in Deal, N.J., 10 years ago, inspired by her shopping excursions while on vacation in Miami’s South Beach. She carries diffusion lines, like Dolce & Gabbana’s D&G and M Missoni, a step below Missoni couture, for her customers.
”I dress them for the real world, not a red carpet,” she said. Her clothing racks are arranged by color, not label, and possible pairings — a Catherine Malandrino tweed jacket with Paige jeans, or a Robert Rodriguez leather jacket with Alvin Valley leather-trimmed pants — make coordinating easy.
At Mary Jane Denzer, in White Plains, outfits are less suggested than prescribed. Designed by the architect who built the Dior boutique on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, the store’s hushed central rotunda is lined with carefully selected clothes from a stable of designers — including Akris, Valentino, Nina Ricci and Ungaro — who have worked with Ms. Denzer for years. Her customers are wealthy women who buy the latest designer clothes each season and want complete ensembles.
An outfit at Mary Jane Denzer costs at least $1,800, and nothing is sold without matching shoes, which can add another $1,000 to the bill. Gowns cost $2,500 to $10,000. Ms. Denzer herself is usually on the sales floor, often with her tiny dog Bodhi, a floppy-eared Papillon, in tow. ”Our customer is not looking for what they need,” Ms. Denzer said. ”Our customer buys what they want.”
At Garmany, in Red Bank, Larry Garmany and his son, Johnell, also serve the well-to-do. ”We have dresses here that are $8,000 to $9,000,” Larry Garmany said. ”That’s not for everybody.” Neither are the $4,000 Kiton blazers or the $21,000 custom suits, which can be ordered from swatches of gold-threaded fabrics. The store has sold only one of those, but, Mr. Garmany said, ”Our sales staff is trained to handle people if a customer is going to spend $50,000 or just buy a tie.”
