The Homa Files

Excerpted from WSJ “Belly Up to the Bar and Buy Some Jeans” By Ray A. Smith, Apr 2, 2009

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On a recent afternoon, customers at Lost Boys in Washington, D.C., sipped cold beers and watched “Casino Royale” on a giant flat-screen TV.

Lost Boys isn’t a bar. It’s a men’s clothing boutique catering to young professionals. The store’s staff offers shoppers free beer in hopes they’ll enjoy hanging out in the store and shopping a little longer, increasing the odds they’ll buy more.

By offering in-store drinks, a growing number of retailers are trying to get men to shop more like women, who often linger and browse, buy items on impulse, and return time and again to a favorite store. The recession is driving stores to search for anything that gives them even a small edge over rivals. And generally slower traffic gives sales staff more time to offer drinks and talk with shoppers …

When Rick Matthews walked into Lost Boys recently, a sales clerk offered him water or beer. His beer “certainly made me more relaxed,” says Mr. Matthews … He says he doesn’t like shopping … The beer “kept me in the store longer, at least long enough to finish my drink,” he says. Mr. Matthews ended up special-ordering a pair of $200 Earnest Sewn jeans, something he says he would have done without a drink.

Offering alcohol puts men at ease, says Lost Boys owner Kelly Muccio. “I wanted it to be like you’re going to your best guy friend’s house, a guy friend who has great style” …

“Men are more purpose-driven as opposed to window shoppers, so the addition of lounges and/or bars provides a club setting that can give sales associates a natural entrée to engage with this guy,” says Tom Julian, president of brand consultancy Tom Julian Group. “The biggest downside is the investment in these services for a retailer. This can eat up square footage and revenue stream. And once something like a bar or pool table is in, it needs to be maintained.”

While store managers say they don’t measure the sales that serving drinks generates, they think it helps. “It’s that type of innovation in these trying times that sets [retailers] apart and creates buzz” … For stores, the cost of purchasing alcohol is minimal, especially compared to other brand-building efforts like advertising.

Store managers say they are careful when they break the liquor out: usually later in the day. Sometimes, if it’s near the end of the day, store employees will have a drink with customers, the retailers say … Men “love to sit down on the couch, have a drink, try a couple of things on and hang out with some of the staff,” says Matthew Simon, a co-owner of Kesner. “They have that kind of experience and they’ll want to come back.”

His co-owner, Philip Silverman, says that being able to fix customers drinks at the downstairs bar “fit with the whole aesthetic of trying to create a loungey, comfortable atmosphere” and helps differentiate the store …

Stores say they have rarely had a problem with customers drinking too much or spills. “No one’s coming in and doing tequila shots,” says designer Billy Reid. “We’re a clothing store not a saloon.”

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862311574879951.html?mod=article-outset-box

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