Start-Up Denim Retailer Forecasts 200-Store Rollout
Jeanomix sees gold in denim bars.
The start-up retailer will open an Emeryville, Calif., denim-bar store on Aug. 23. It will be the third location for Jeanomix, which started business in late 2007. The retailer’s chief executive, Bill Parker, forecasted Jeanomix will roll out 200 stores nationally in the next 10 years. Parker promised a different sort of denim store.
“We’re looking for grownups to come to the Jeanomix store. Not the Abercrombie and PacSun folks,” Parker said of Jeanomix’s intended demographic of well-off men and women aged 20 to 50.
The focus on adults is reflected on the design of the Jeanomix stores. The 1,800- to 2,400-square-foot stores are styled like a saloon-style bar. Salespeople—called bartenders—specialize in a personalized service, such as recommending what brand of premium denim would fit best for a customer’s body type. To add ambiance to the design of the bar, the salespeople will serve tap root beer on request. The store was designed by San Francisco–based architecture firm Holt Hinshaw.
More than 80 percent of Jeanomix’s denim offerings will be premium denim’s most popular brands, including True Religion, Joe’s Jeans and Citizens of Humanity. The remainder will be denim brands new to the market or existing under the market’s radar. Core retail price points will range from $100 to $250 for denim. Parker forecasted 50 percent of Jeanomix’s sales will be in denim. The remaining 50 percent will be in woven tops, T-shirts and non-denim bottoms. In 2009, Jeanomix is scheduled to debut a private-label line for tops.
Jeanomix is financed by Carlsbad, Calif.–based Avalon Capital Group. Avalon is helmed by Ted Waitt, the co-founder of pioneering personal-computer company Gateway Inc. Jeanomix’s Parker was the former president of retail for Gateway. He had also worked as an executive for Banana Republic and Old Navy.
Avalon purchased the denim-bar concept from entrepreneur Laura Fairchild in November 2007. Waitt was reportedly a customer at the L.A. Fairchild Denim Bar, which had been doing business in the wealthy town of Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Calif., since 2004. After the 2007 purchase, Avalon renamed the denim bar Jeanomix. Avalon Capital also has business interests in promoting alternative energy, commercial real estate, motion pictures and other financial investments.
Fairchild worked briefly as a merchandising officer for Jeanomix but left the company May 2 to start a retail consultancy. She continues to be a board member for Jeanomix.
Jeanomix will debut in relatively rough times for denim. Unit sales for jeans declined 4.3 percent between May 2007 and May 2008, according to Port Washington, N.Y.–based market-research company the NPD Group.
However, the jeans market continues to favor luxury. Sales of premium denim—those priced at $150 or more—saw a boost in the past year. Sales within the premium-denim category increased 36 percent between May 2007 and May 2008, according to NPD. —Andrew Asch
