EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire Boys Club Opens Miami Flagship
Billionaire Boys Club is expanding its retail footprint with the opening of its newest flagship.
The luxury streetwear brand founded by Pharrell Williams and Nigo is this week opening its second U.S. flagship location in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami at 2545 NW Third Avenue. The opening comes after the brand previously hosted pop-up stores in Miami.
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“It was important for us to have a space where people who love and support Billionaire Boys Club could come in and experience everything at a real brick-and-mortar space. A space for the community to come together and be immersed in the Billionaire Boys Club world,” Williams said. “We want to create an experience. Not just a store where you come in, buy clothes and leave. It’s about being part of the Billionaire Boys Club world and creating a space where art, culture, fashion and streetwear can exist together and complement each other.”
Billionaire Boys Club is using the Miami flagship as a way to lean into its artistic roots, as well as the art-centric vibe of the Wynwood neighborhood. Starting with Miami Beach Art Basel in December, the store will be partnering with local artists to design art installations on its exterior walls. The artists will also work with the brand to create products to drop in conjunction with their artwork.
This partnership stems from the brand’s emphasis on tapping into the local community, something that’s become a priority through Billionaire Boys Club’s experience hosting pop-up stores across the world since the brand launched in 2003.
“One of the lessons we’ve learned [from the pop-ups] is to really tap into the community and support local artists that have a meaning to the local community and provide [customers] a real experience,” said Matt Kaden, chief strategy officer at Billionaire Boys Club. “We feel the new flagship is a really inviting store that touches on the art aspect of our brand, in addition to tapping into the culture. One of the things we’ve learned [in retail] is you can’t just show up and say, ‘Hey we’re here now.’ It’s how you really engrain yourself with the community.”
The 5,000-square-foot store is designed in an art gallery format by Snarkitecture, the New York-based design studio cofounded by Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham. The brand also teamed with Sarah Andelman, the founder and creative director of the former Colette, to assist with merchandising.
The Billionaire Boys Club Miami flagship offers many of the brand’s products found at its international stores, as well as exclusive collaborations with brands like Baggu, Bunny Shapiro, Bamford and others. The store will also carry brands related to Williams and Nigo, including Adidas, Humanrace, Comme des Garçons and many others.
Billionaire Boys Club operates three other flagships, in New York City, London and Tokyo. The brand has experimented with pop-ups in locations like Miami, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taiwan and is looking to expand to other parts of Europe and Asia for its retail strategy.
“Retail is important for the brand to give the customer a full experience,” Kaden said. “We have a lot of versions of ourselves — we’ve got the European run of production, which is slightly more elevated; our U.S. run of production, which is also quite elevated, and Tokyo does some local-inspired product — so the idea of having this one place to house all of that and to be able to offer that to the customer, we’re really tapping into our founders and their evolution as designers, artists and real cultural leaders.”
Kaden explained that the retail strategy fits in with the brand’s overall strategy as it heads into Billionaire Boys Club’s 20th anniversary next year.
“Overall, our brand strategy is to put our customer into the center of our universe and make that commitment to customer centricity,” he said. “We want to understand what they’re looking for and help them to curate some of our offerings. As we go forward, that communication and building those relationships with our customers — placing the higher value on them will be critical for our success and our strategy.”
