The new HeidiSays at 2426 Fillmore. Photograph by Justin Schuck.
HEIDISAYS: CONSOLIDATE
Heidi Sabelhaus, the name behind three HeidiSays boutiques on Fillmore Street, says she’d been looking for the perfect spot to consolidate her two clothing shops, Collections and Casual, into a single HeidiSays San Francisco. Then she realized she had it all along in her original store at 2426 Fillmore. The new HeidiSays now presents the casual collection as a “store within a store” in its reconfigured home.
“It was time to give it a facelift,” Sabelhaus says. She divines her customers will be happy to find everything under one roof, and wanted the facelift to result in an elegantly beautiful shop, heavy on warm wood and marble. “There’s such a trend of sterile contemporary environments, but I know my customers want a more feminine feeling,” she says. The grand opening is not until March 5, but raffle gifts will be given away all during the month of February.
Rebecca Minkoff at 2124 Fillmore. Photograph by Daniel Bahmani.
HANDBAGS AND HOT BEVS AT REBECCA MINKOFF
There are two short racks of clothes and some shoes and wallets at the Rebecca Minkoff store just opened at 2124 Fillmore, but it stocks mostly handbags — befitting the store’s namesake and owner, who broke into the fashion business a decade ago with her iconic Morning After Bag. While the handbags help fill somewhat of a retail gap on the street, the real draw so far is the high-tech shopping experience.
A graphic screen lining one wall beckons shoppers to touch it for more information. They can then access a Lookbook and press prompts to “Send favorites to a fitting room” or “Order a complimentary beverage.” Shoppers get a text when their items have been gathered in a fitting room and once inside, they can beckon sales associates to bring in additional colors and sizes and even adjust the lighting from daylight to twilight — again, with the swipe of a screen. While the brand is distributed in more than 900 stores worldwide, the Fillmore location is the third freestanding store in the U.S.
The pop-up Ministry of Supply at 1903 Fillmore. Photograph by Daniel Bahmani.
AT MINISTRY OF SUPPLY, FASHION MEETS TECHNOLOGY
Now open at 1903 Fillmore, in what was once the other half of Zinc Details, is a pop-up called Ministry of Supply that offers men’s clothing “integrated with performance technology.” Case in point: Its Apollo dress shirts, which look much like regular shirts but are crafted from a knit synthetic blend said to control heat, moisture and odor. And they’re designed to flex with the wearer, based on Strain Analysis Technology — the same technology NASA uses in its spacesuits. Hence the name Apollo.
The store also stocks pants, T-shirts, socks, vests and jackets — all for men, and all backed by some sort of technological research. The pop-up will be open through June. Ministry of Supply sells mostly online. It currently has one brick and mortar store in Boston and is casting about for additional locations.
Ex-Peruvian Connection at 2326 Fillmore. Photograph by Dickie Spritzer.
PERUVIAN DISCONNECTION
The storefront at 2326 Fillmore was transformed with vintage wallpaper, artisan weavings and antique fixtures as the home of clothing company Peruvian Connection for nearly four years. Then, on January 1, it suddenly stood stripped and empty. “It broke my heart to leave,” says company founder Annie Hurlbut. “The store there just ended up being unmanageably small. We couldn’t get much of our collection in the spot and ended up disappointing customers.”
Filed under: Retail Report