Why are fashion companies selling clothes competing to sell you coffee to eat and drink?

Nowadays, fashion brands want to have something to do with restaurant brands.

Last November, Urban Outfitters, a popular fast fashion in the United States, bought several restaurants from Philadelphia's Vetri Family Italian group, including pizza chain Pizzeria Vetri.

This is not the first time Urban Outfitters has dabbled in restaurants. Last June, its latest flagship store in Herald Square, Manhattan, New York, was even more varied. The 5300-square-meter store has an Intelligentsia Coffee store from Chicago, and besides coffee, there are Instagram photo printing stations in the photography area, 1000 vinyl records selected by California record store Amoeba Music, and Hairroin Salon in Los Angeles offering a full range of hairdressing services.

Unlike the retail industry, restaurant business, especially fast food chain brands, is getting better and better. "now people prefer to spend some money on casual eating and drinking, which is why we think we can extend the concept of Pizzeria Vetri." Richard A. Hayne, CEO of Urban Outfitters, said.

Urban Outfitters also began to integrate Pizzeria Vetri's business into existing stores. Richard A. Hayne says this operation builds a "lifestyle center."

Urban Outfitters at Intelligentsia Coffee at the new flagship store in Manhattan

Urban Outfitters's vinyl record at the new flagship store in Manhattan.

Here, we are not talking about large department stores want to build more cinemas or attract more brands to retain customers, but fashion brands also want to open some cafes, juice shops and restaurants in their own stores to attract customers.

In the past few years, it has become fashionable to integrate catering into the shopping experience.

"especially now that many people are reluctant to go to large shopping malls, many fashion brands and retailers find ways to attract people." Anne Ziegler, a retail consultant, said, "they also realize that this is a shopping experience that brands that only do e-commerce channels cannot provide, and they have to find a way to get consumers to walk away from their computers and go to the store."

In fact, Urban Outfitters is not the first fashion brand that wants to improve its competitiveness through catering. Retailers around the world have found that it is not enough to sell clothes and jewelry, and some coffee workers and even chefs must be added to attract customers.

Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of MasterCard, said: "now people want to spend more time with family and friends. What they want is not just to buy a pair of boots, but to have meaningful memories. "

From Saks Fifth Avenue boutiques in the United States to even watch brand Shinola, they want to join the industry. The department store wants to renovate its flagship store for $250 million and open a Parisian restaurant, L'Avenue, which sells beer.

Watch brand Shinola's flagship store on the west coast of the United States is opening a Pressed Juicery juice shop. The company already sells Commonwealth coffee in its Detroit boutiques and Smile Newsstand cakes in its New York stores. "it's not just retail itself." "the point is to connect with the community and be one of them," said Daniel Caudill, creative director of Shinola.

Now, Muji's new store on Fifth Avenue in New York wants to try to sell small cups of coffee. Next year, the Muji store wants to introduce a coffee pop-up shop. In New York and London, footwear brand Toms will also sell coffee in stores and offer free WIFI.

The new project to be done in New York by Chrome Hearts, a luxury brand from Los Angeles, incorporates some of the new concepts of cooking. "any building we do now will take into account the kitchen." Laurie Lynn Stark, a partner at Chrome Hearts, "it's a way of life."

Even some fashion brands without physical stores are trying to attract customers with food and beverage. In the past few months, Everlane has hosted its customers at Showroom in SoHo, New York, and brought in famous local chefs and bartenders to serve food. At its San Francisco headquarters, Everlane also found local organic food online shopping platform Good Eggs to cooperate with consumers who came to visit.

Commonwealth Cafe on the premises of Shinola

Pressed Juicery Cafe on the premises of Shinola

It is nothing new to say that fashion brands want to impress consumers with restaurants.

The earliest was Ralph Lauren in 1999, the first fashion brand to enter the food industry, and its RL Restaurant in Chicago opened next to its store. Ralph Lauren then applied the concept to stores in Paris and Manhattan, which led to Ralph Lauren's coffee shop. Since then, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Giorgio Armani and Tommy Bahama have all learned from this set of experience.

Of course, for large shopping malls, catering is still very important, but some changes have taken place.

"when you used to attract investment, you just had to think of putting six large food chains together. But not now, you are looking for a very fashionable coffee shop, next to a healthy food bar, an artistic restaurant, a restaurant with star chefs, and good bread and desserts. " Said Linda Berman, senior vice president of DJM Capital Partners Inc, a real estate consulting and investment firm.

Source: curiosity Daily