Pop-ups with long-term leases and bricks-and-mortar stores are starting to merge into a singular retail entity. That’s perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the evolution of Rhone, a men’s premium performance lifestyle brand whose founders have launched an ecommerce website, three long-term pop-ups and one recently opened bricks-and-mortar store, Rhone at Hudson Yards in New York City.
Co-founder and CEO Nate Checketts, who formerly ran new business development strategy for the National Football League, says the primary distribution channels for Rhone products were originally its own website and a select number of retail outlets such as Nordstrom and Equinox. The first pop-ups opened in 2014.
Store locations as well as its ever-evolving product mix are driven by data, scrupulously collected via its website and by a deep-rooted commitment to what Checketts describes as “our philosophy that with our customers, we are long-term relationship people.”
Rhone at Hudson Yards has four easy-to-shop sections in its 1,000 square feet — training, recovery, recreation and commute — each highlighted by graphics that lead shoppers to the type of clothing they’re looking for. The categories are meant to reflect the way a typical man organizes his closet; Checketts thinks Rhone’s product mix covers 80 percent of a typical man’s closet.
“We think every interaction should be a deposit in the relationship bank of each person,” Checketts says. “To the extent that a customer is willing to engage with us, we want to make sure that we are ready to help them in whatever they are pursuing.”