Online shoes-and-accessories retailer Sole Society is just now testing its very first store for fit. The Los Angeles–based company opened the 2,250-square-foot store at Santa Monica (Calif.) Place last fall. “Our own brick-and-mortar location gives Sole Society a platform to express our brand and get to know current customers more intimately, while also finding new customers,” said CEO Andy Solomon. “The Santa Monica crowd also garners a good mix of local Los Angeles folks as well as tourists, allowing us the opportunity to gain exposure to people outside of the L.A. area.” Besides shoes, handbags and accessories, the store has an apparel section with merchandise from design partners such as Los Angeles–based StyleSaint.
Sole Society was established in 2011 as an online vendor of stylish but moderately priced footwear typically selling for between $50 and $150 a pair. “At Sole Society, we position ourselves between fast-fashion and traditional contemporary brands, truly carving out that sweet spot for our consumers,” said Solomon. Sole Society made a point of locating the store near its corporate headquarters to make it easier to monitor performance.
The store targets women age 25 to 34, which is a key demographic for Santa Monica Place and so a great fit, according to Shoshana Puccia, senior marketing manager for Santa Monica Place, a Macerich-owned property. Sole Society joins other international fashion retailers at Santa Monica Place, among them Tory Burch, Michael Kors and Uniqlo. Macerich also liked Sole Society’s ability to connect with social media and bloggers, which suits the shopping center’s digital-marketing platform. “Partnerships like these create a growing connectivity for our consumers to shop easily in both realms,” said Puccia.
Sole Society hopes to use its store to drive sales online and off. To that end, the store features a digital kiosk that enables customers to send gifts, or travelers to arrange deliveries back home. The kiosk also enables product searches and processes returns.
The store opening came on the heels of a major capital infusion from Nordstrom and Insight Partners, which announced last September that they would provide $8 million in funding to Sole Society. At the time, Sole Society said it would use the money to help fuel growth that included broadening its distribution model. Sole Society products are sold not just online also in Nordstrom stores and over the QVC home shopping channel.
Sole Society is planning to expand its online side aggressively and its wholesale side selectively, according to Solomon. The company’s store growth over the next few years will focus initially on the West Coast. “Our plan is to learn from this first location as an entry into building future brick-and-mortar stores,” said Solomon. “We are focused on continuing to fine-tune, and we will use our learnings to help determine timing and location for future development.”
