Yahoo Movies EXCLUSIVE: Anine Bing Opens L.A. Flagship, Invests in Retail as Brand Expands
Anine Bing unveils her Los Angeles flagship on Wednesday, when doors officially open at 8211 Melrose Avenue.
The L.A.-based Danish designer has been investing in retail. There will be eight new shops by the end of 2022, with additional storefronts in the Chelsea section of London; Austin and Dallas in Texas; Madison Avenue (a relocation) and Brooklyn in New York; Bethesda, Maryland, and at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California.
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With an existing presence in the Pacific Palisades in L.A., the 2,400-square-foot store on Melrose is Bing’s second shop in the city and fourth in California, with a footprint in San Francisco as well.
“Melrose is just this perfect little epicenter of L.A., where our customer, you know, she roams that street daily,” said Annika Meller, cofounder and chief strategy officer at Anine Bing.
“The location of our flagship store had to be just right to fully embody the brand’s ethos and Los Angeles roots,” Bing, founder and chief creative officer, told WWD in an exclusive statement. “The new Melrose store does that. It’s a reflection of how much Anine Bing has grown over the past decade and I couldn’t be more proud of what we have accomplished.”
Adapting a hybrid model, Bing also created two separate spaces for virtual experiences this year at the brand’s headquarters in downtown L.A. — where customers are able to shop with a stylist remotely via video. While also acting as showrooms and utilized for bi-weekly live shopping events, “the primary function” of the stores are for the virtual client appointments, according to the brand.
“We’ve seen the value of the omni customer,” said Olivia Gentin, chief operating officer of Anine Bing. “The customer shops both digital and in our physical stores. The value of that customer far exceeds the customer that only shops in one channel. So, her LTV, her AOV, her UPT is much higher when she shops on both channels.”
Anine Bing has seen “tremendous growth” this year, according to the executives.
“We’ve been growing with 45 percent,” said Meller of year-to-year revenue. “We’re profitable. So we’re continuing on that trajectory for next year. We put a lot of focus on brand marketing this year, and we’ll continue to do so next year.”
The brand’s $600 oversize “Quinn” blazer has been a hot item for consumers — who are largely between 25 and 45 years old.
“I would say the average age is around 30,” Meller said of shoppers. “She is well educated, has a high income, lives in the bigger cities.”
The brand is focused on providing tailored, well-crafted basics.
“We always talk about like timeless pieces, uniform dressing, having her style go from day to night,” Meller added.
Anine Bing, who rose on the scene as a content creator, launched the business in 2012. It was in 2015 that the company opened its first store, landing in New York on Bleecker Street. The brand then opened on Third Street in L.A., a location that closed at the end of 2020. The lease had expired, and Bing decided to relocate.
“We’re focused on opening stores where we have an existing community of either customers or followers that we know can support the door and really propelled the door,” Gentin said. “We’re very proud that all of our retail stores are profitable in year one.”
The U.S. accounts for 50 percent of the business, with strong sales also coming from continental Europe and the U.K., according to the executives.
“It’s interesting, Scandinavia is still a very, very small market for us,” Meller said. “Where we see still really big opportunities for us is in the U.S. and continental Europe but also China.”
Direct-to-consumer has been core to the business, with Anine Bing shipping to more than 60 countries on its site. The brand will have 18 global brick-and-mortar stores across five countries by the end of the year, with partners in close to 50.
“It’s the majority of our business,” Gentin said of d-to-c. “And that’s because we really believe in and owning and delivering that customer experience. It helps us to build customer loyalty and drive LTV. But that said, our wholesale partners, we have some of the best-in-class wholesale partners around the world. They are extremely important to us. They help to expand the brand reach and get real brand awareness.”
Four more stores are set to open in 2023, both in and outside the U.S. The brand’s shops vary in size, between 1,500 and 2,500 square feet.
“We focus on downtown city centers as well as suburban locations as well as a couple of select, tier-A malls,” Gentin continued. “That is the strategy.”
There’s a collaboration with an artist coming in the first quarter of 2023 and for the third and fourth quarters, “we’re looking to do a really big marketing push with a very famous person,” Meller teased. “I can’t mention her name, but it’s going to be very exciting.”
