Apparel April 2019 Apparel May 2019 issue | Page 52

GIVE THEM AN OPTION!
“If you build it, they will come,” goes an
established phrase, and testimony to this is
Options, a lovely multi-designer stand-alone store
in Ahmedabad. Options was started in 2002 as a
home décor store by interior designer Janki Patel,
and seeing that Ahmedabad did not have retail
outlets of designer garments at that time, she
invited Anokhi, the well-known Jaipur label (that
specialises in hand-block printed garments) to
retail their garments on the ground floor of
the building. And with the arrival of Anokhi,
people arrived out of curiosity and then became
loyal customers.
As demand for designer garments picked
up, Janki built another floor above the original
ground-level store, and invited several garment
designers whose work focuses on sustainability
to retail their collections. With her design
background, she designed an open, flowing,
L-shaped space and then informally divided it
with floor racks and suspended racks to create
distinct areas for different designers. She also
designed multiple trial rooms so that customers
could try out garments at leisure, and placed the
trial rooms towards the end of the spaces so
that customers would need to walk through the
store and thus get a sense of the garments of the
different designers.
A long, low table was placed at one end of
the first floor for yardage that customers could
touch and feel for having garments stitched. She
also brought in a small loom, and made a display
of resist-dyed yarns indicating the technique
of ikat weaving! So, while Anokhi continues to
retail on the ground level, the upper level has
the collections of different designers; presently,
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May 2019
FEATURE
there are garments from Soham Dave, Padmaja
Krishnan, Almirah, Shades of India, Crow,
Translate, and Tulsi by Neeru Kumar. Janki also
carved out a gallery-like space on the ground
floor for pop-ups and special shows of designers.
The result of all her efforts is that the store is very
popular with residents and is also on the must-
visit list of many visitors to Ahmedabad!
And the final trump card of bricks-and-mortar
stores is the personalised assistance—of helpful
and knowledgeable yet unobtrusive staff—
that makes all the difference to the shopping
experience. One example is the interaction at
Bombay Shirt Company where the customer
conveys his/her requirements/preferences, sees
and touches a range of fabrics, interacts with a
team member to know the different elements of
a shirt that can be customised from button to
monogram, and gets measurements taken by a
professional for a totally customised shirt. And so
it is that even in a time of booming e-commerce,
bricks-and-mortar stores know they have their
place and are building on what all they can offer
to draw customers and drive sales!