Coach to Roll Out New ‘Play’ Retail Concept Globally
Coach is upping the ante in terms of experience in its retail stores.
On Friday, the New York-based brand opened Coach Play Chicago, the first in a series of concept stores designed to encourage customers to engage more. The concept is the first of several that Coach will roll out globally over the next year.
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The 3,000-square-foot Chicago store at 444 North Michigan Avenue in the city’s River North neighborhood incorporates architectural features inspired by Coach’s home in New York City, alongside local touches such as street signs, a baseball glove art installation and marquee signs that will display community-related messages.
Sandeep Seth, North American president and chief marketing officer of Coach, said the new concept is intended to be a physical representation of the brand’s “expressive luxury” positioning. It is the latest iteration of that strategy, following the successful relationship the company established last fall with Lil Nas X, which has helped “bring the brand to life.” Coach Play Chicago is intended to bring that same messaging into a retail space.
“Our premise is to put the consumer at the center of everything we do and give them the control to interact with the product in whatever way they want,” he said. “Consumers today don’t want to be dictated to.”
The store features vintage and custom furniture made with sustainable materials, mirrors by design studio Skilset and accent chairs upholstered in repurposed leather waste created by artist Elise McMahon. It also features the latest expression of Coach Create, the company’s customization program, where local artists will host workshops where customers can create one-of-a-kind pieces by personalizing bags with monograms, special patches and pins and other embellishments distinct to the location.
The store carries ready-to-wear, bags and accessories merchandised as all-gender rather than men’s and women’s.
Seth stressed that the store was designed to allow for easy access to the assortment. “People often feel intimidated when they walk into a luxury store,” he said, but this concept is intended to encourage them to touch, feel and play with the merchandise.
He said the idea was influenced by Apple’s Genius Bar, which “changed the way people shopped” by encouraging them to visit the store and “play with things.”
Although Coach has been targeting a younger customer in recent years, Seth stressed that this store is not intended to serve just one consumer segment. “We’ve always been an inclusive brand,” he said. “All generations want to have the same experience.”
Seth said Chicago was chosen as the first city for the concept because it is a “very important market for us and is a place with a creativity of its own.” The company had operated a similarly sized unit down the block on Michigan Avenue but that unit closed two weeks ago in anticipation of the opening of the Play store. “It was a great opportunity for us to do something new,” he said.
The store will serve as a test for future units that will open around the world. “As we learn, we will continue to modify,” Seth said.
Next up will be stores in Singapore and Tokyo, he said, followed by a second unit at City Creek Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is expected to open this fall.
Seth summed it up this way: “The physical experience is as, or more, important than the digital today in the U.S. and globally, and we’re bringing the best physical expression we can to [these new concept stores.]”
Coach operates nearly 1,000 stores around the world.
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