Those cute, little designer pumps you’ve discovered in a small downtown shop seem like a must-have, even if they are a little pricey.
There’s a simple solution: Whip out your BlackBerry or any other pocket Internet device and see if you can find the shoes someplace cheaper, maybe the nearby megamall. Unfortunately, for many small mom and pops, that’s what more and more people are doing, according to retail analysts.
Small, retail shops nationwide, including in Rhode Island, are trying everything to keep their sales up as social media, digital communication and megamalls continue to pilfer the smaller store’s sales.
“We’re also seeing consumers use social media to communicate with their friends to articulate their discovery of a particular product or deal in areas like high-fashion apparel or electronics,” said Burt Feinberg, president, CIT Commercial & Industrial at CIT Group Inc., managing director & industry group head, retail.
But retailers do have a course of action, they can optimize their marketing by understanding and researching data on how their customers use digital communication to get their goods, he said.
CIT provides cash-flow term financings to retailers and restaurants in the United States. It also provides acquisition financing for equity sponsors, refinancing and growth financing, as well as exit facilities to retailers in turnaround situations.
“I have seen people do it right in front of me or say to me, ‘Oh, I found them online cheaper,’ ” said Karen Beebe, owner of Queen of Hearts and its sister store Modern Love at 220 and 222 Westminster St. in Providence. “They usually want to take a picture of them and the name of them.”
If she doesn’t have their size and there’s no way to order them she will write the information down for the customer, because in the end it’s about making the customer happy, she said.
Downtown, the Providence Place mall has more than 170 stores, many upscale, at least 15 places to eat, an IMAX Theatre and many of the flagship stores found in all malls.
Such malls are often accused of siphoning business from local retailers. But Dan Feiner, senior vice president with MG Commercial Real Estate Services in Providence, thinks the mall has drawn more people to the downtown area.
If there’s turnover among smaller, surrounding shops, it’s most likely due to the economy and not the mall or high-tech gadgets, he said.
“The flip side is that if you didn’t have the mall downtown then what’s there to do?” asked Feiner, who is in charge of all retail marketing, including investment sales, property leasing, site selection and retail real estate consulting throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts for MG Commercial.
Beebe believes the mall has impacted her sales, but not necessarily in a bad way. She says she knows of stores on Thayer Street that closed because of the competition, including one that she worked at.
“However, people are really starting to believe in supporting their local businesses and communities and want shopping to be about an experience,” Beebe said. “I am not one of those business owners that think having another business right near you that may sell something similar hurts a business.”
Christopher Ise, principal planner for the city’s Department of Planning and Development’s design and review committee, agrees with Beebe.
“The stores downtown are unique and I think you get all people who come walk downtown to see what’s here then they go to the mall to get a taste of what’s there,” he said.
The developers downtown have been instrumental in helping small businesses, Ise said.
When stores would move out, some landlords would divide the store in half, providing two storefronts and cheaper rents.
As far as shoppers doing digital comparisons, Ise says he too does that.
“If I see a pair of shoes that I want in Nordstrom, I’ll look to see if I can get them cheaper somewhere,” he said. “That’s just going to happen.”
Feinberg says the trend goes further than that.
“We’re also seeing consumers use social media to communicate with their friends to articulate their discovery of a particular product or deal in areas like high-fashion apparel or electronics,” he said. “This has magnified and accelerated ‘word-of-mouth’ buzz. What may have taken months to spread by physical ‘word-of-mouth’ in the past can now occur instantaneously.”
“We never order over six of something and sometimes our pieces are one of a kind and handmade by local artists,” she said.
Then there’s the experience of going to a crowded mall, where kids are running around and some employees are grumpy and unhappy with their jobs.
“Or come downtown, park for two hours for free and walk into Queen of Hearts and our sister store Modern Love, where you will be greeted with a smile and a, ‘Hello, how are you?’ ” she said.
And if you have to wait a few minutes for a dressing room, customers are offered a glass of champagne. They also have layaway and provide free gift-wrapping.
As far as online shopping, Beebe says that’s the caveat that’s really hard to compete with. The stores recently launched their site QueenofHeartsandModernLove.com.
“It’s been very challenging to see it pay back,” she said “People really need to understand the importance of supporting your local businesses in store or online and what it means to give back to your community.
Oct. 13 marked Beebe’s fifth year in business. She started her clothing line, Lucille, in 2001 and worked on that for quite some time before opening Queen of Hearts with Devon King. They opened a store at 186 Union St. It was rough, Beebe had to work other jobs and King had small kids. After a little more than a year King decided it was too difficult. But Beebe kept running the shop, working elsewhere and hiring an intern.
After a few years, a space opened on Westminster Street. She wrote a business plan, got a loan and went for it.
“Let me tell you, location is everything,” she said. “Let’s just say in one month I did close to what I did in an entire year just being around the corner. That was the life-changing moment for me.”
Six months later the neighboring store closed and she opened Modern Love, a shoe store.
“We felt that there was a need for a shoe store downtown and a shoe store that understood the customer,” she said. “A place that would carry a unique line that no one else in the area has and also carry your staple line.” •
