Traditional retailers need to reinvent their business to survive in an increasingly competitive multichannel world. That’s the thinking behind Bloomingdale’s latest project. For spring, the store will open pop-up shops at its 59th Street flagship, its Beverly Center store in Los Angeles and online for PHM Saints Pères, the buzzy Paris-based multibrand men’s concept shop from designer Pierre Henri Mattout.
“The retail climate is changing and customers want more of a sense of discovery and new things in stores,” said Kevin Harter, vice president of fashion direction for men’s and home for Bloomingdale’s. “So we thought it would be fun to do more pop-ups and collaborations.”
Harter said Mattout approached him with the idea and “we love his store in Paris, so we jumped at the opportunity.”
The PHM Saints Pères shops will be the first in the States and will offer an assortment of high-end apparel, performance gear and exclusive sneakers selected by the designer. Several of the brands will be new to Bloomingdale’s, Harter said.
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The shops will offer influential streetwear brands such as Y-3, Spalwart and Hender Scheme along with pieces from Junya Watanabe, Pierre Hardy, Norse Project, Comme des Garçons Play and Sunspel. Classic shirts from Mattout’s namesake line will also be carried in the shop.
The shops will be around 500 square feet and located at the entrance to the store’s Lab designer department. “It will be a tiny, well-edited space,” Harter said, “and we’re trying to emulate his shop in Paris.”
Harter said that with the exception of some “sneakerheads,” PMS Saints Pères is not well-known in the States. But that wasn’t a deterrent. “It’s one of the best places to buy high-end sneakers in Paris,” he said. ” And it’s up to us to talk about it online and in social media to get the word out.”
The shops will open on March 1 and remain through June.
After that, Harter said, “the goal is to do more concepts with other partners. We’re trying to think outside the box.”
Mattout, former creative director and senior vice president of apparel at Swiss-based Victorinox, also consulted for brands as different as Calvin Klein’s Platinum Label for Europe and Joe Fresh. He opened PHM Saint Pères in the Saint-Germain area of Paris in fall 2014.