Quiksilver Tries Out Youth Concept-Again
When Quiksilver, Inc. licensed the Tony Hawk skateboarding brand to moderately priced department store Kohl’s Corp. in 2005, the Huntington Beach, Calif.–based surfwear company was faced with the question of what to do with its three Tony Hawk stores.
In the case of the Tony Hawk boutique at high-profile The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, the surfwear manufacturer and retailer transformed the former Hawk space into a Quiksilver Youth boutique. The 1,200- square-foot store opened on March 5 and will specialize in Quiksilver apparel for children from infancy to age 14.
A Quiksilver concept store designed for kids isn’t new. In August 2001, two Quiksilver Youth stores were opened by licensees. One store is based in the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, Calif. The other does business in Waikiki, Hawaii.
No other Quiksilver Youth stores have opened since then, but Gregg Solomon, Quiksilver’s senior vice president of retail, said that the company was pleased with the performance of the other Quiksilver Youth stores.
He declined to state store earnings but said that same-store sales ranked above the average same-store sales earned at malls. He didn’t know if more Quiksilver Youth stores will be built, but the company will continue to observe the performance of the boutiques.
As for the remaining Tony Hawk stores, he said the company has not decided whether to change the boutiques’ retail nameplates to Quiksilver, Quiksilver Youth or DC Shoes.
Quiksilver Youth carries a mix of apparel, footwear and accessories from the Quiksilver Boys, Quiksilver Youth, Roxy Girl and Teenie Wahine lines. It also sells skateboards and skate accessories.
The addition of a kids’ store might be a good strategic move because there was a spike in the birthrate in 2001, according to Board Trac, a market research company specializing in surf and skatewear companies. The category of kids’ clothing also has been growing upscale in the past year. Premium-denim companies such as Joe’s Jeans and Antik Denim produce designer jeans for children. Robertson Boulevard retailer Kitson opened a store called Kitson Kids to sell designer clothes for kids. But solid information on whether the children’s market is growing is inconclusive. According to New York–based Simmons Market Research Bureau, sales for children’s clothes have not changed much over the past two years.
According to Simmons’ 2005 market survey, 38 percent of respondents who bought baby clothes spent more than $400 compared to a 2003 survey where 40 percent said they spent $400 on baby clothes. —Andrew Asch
