Thread now counts about 1,200 square feet of retail space to test and sell product in after the Monday grand opening of the accessories brand’s first-ever store.

The opening at City Creek Center, located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, comes after a few years of dabbling in direct-to-consumer physical retail with kiosks.

“We had a soft opening on Saturday, with no marketing, and our sales beat every kiosk that we’ve had,” Thread Chief Brand Officer Trevor Reese told SES Monday from the trade show floor of Outdoor Retailer.

The brand currently counts nine kiosks in the Western U.S., in states such as Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and California. Reese said all kiosks continue to do well, with Utah being particularly strong given the brand being headquartered there.

“I think our model of kiosks was about how can we do (physical retail) in the most cost-efficient manner, but also mirror our product with how small it is,” Reese said of the 2020 foray into kiosks. “We also realized that lease terms are way nicer on the business, on cash flow, because they’re shorter terms with smaller square footage. With kiosks, people are walking by your space and if you have a compelling story and compelling product, you’re going to get someone’s attention.”

The timing of the City Creek opening resulted from the availability of the real estate. Reese said the space turned out to be larger than what the company originally intended to lease, but the store is close to the company’s hometown market where demand is strong.

“It’s always been the idea that if we can validate the kiosk, then it makes it much more manageable to start to streamline brick-and-mortar growth because our processes are already in place,” Reese said.

Test and Learn

The store, designed with the help of construction services firm JMCS and retail and brand strategy agency West of 5, makes Thread a neighbor to Stance inside the mall and is aimed to be a test kitchen for the brand.

“We know there’s going to be months of learning and understanding and exploring how a consumer reacts with our product in a larger space and to our brand story, but that’s the goal,” Reese said.

Thread’s full online assortment can now also be found at the City Creek location, in addition to a few totes and bags not sold at any other retailers.

Future plans call for color and product exclusives to be tested inside the door, where Thread is able to control the marketing and branding within the selling environment, Reese said.

“It becomes a breeding ground for innovation, which we’re excited to tap into with that square footage because, with a kiosk, you only have about 120 square feet, so to tell one product story or one exclusive colorway story is really difficult,” Reese said. “With 1,200 square feet, you have so much room to play with.”

It’s wait and see when it comes to more store openings and whether they would replace the kiosk model moving forward.

“Looking to the future, we always like to slow roll a strategy out just to make sure we’re optimized so that when it’s locked and loaded, we can scale it faster,” Reese said. “We’re still in a phase of not going too crazy with opening stores because we’re still trying to figure out how to maximize the dollar in our out-of-state stores versus our in-state stores. That’s been a really good challenge and I think anyone with brick-and-mortar would probably say the same thing.”

Trade Show Circuit

The store’s grand opening alignment with Day One of the Outdoor Retailer Summer show made sense with Thread’s OR floor space just across the street from the mall, as it sought to meet with new and existing accounts and also get the brand story out.

Reese said about 65% of Thread consumers heard about the brand through word of mouth, making his job – like most marketers’ – a constant chase to continue that momentum around awareness.

Thread, which opened to wholesale in 2020, continues to expand in the channel. The brand launched at REI in March and has seen “great” sales so far with them, according to Reese.

Thread is expected to launch a collaboration in August, which Reese said was born out of a trade show and further justifies having a mix of marketing and sales staff on hand at places such as OR.

Said Reese: “There’s business to be had at trade shows as far as accounts and opening doors, getting product in stores, but I’ve also learned – and that’s why I’m here (at OR) – you can also facilitate the partnerships, what marketing we’re going to do in stores, and what collaboration opportunities there are.”

Kari Hamanaka can be reached at [email protected].