Retail Perfection

On Friday I arranged to meet a long time New Yorker friend (let’s call him the Cynical New Yorker) for a walk around the recently opened retail / business / residential development at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, he tells me it’s the largest privately funded development project in North America, and he knows a thing or two about real estate.

We passed up on the opportunity to ascend The Vessel, Thomas Heatherwick’s latest creation which, I will concede, captured my imagination more than I expected, in favour of a glass of wine. We found the wine at Bar Stanley on the 6th floor gentleman’s department of Neiman Marcus. A review of the bar is not the purpose of this article but it’s a very acceptable spot for a drink, snack and catch-up - the only niggle was our otherwise excellent server ending every point of the service with the question “Are you satisfied ?”. We were but it seemed an odd phrase - maybe its a Transatlantic thing !

But on to the substantive. 

Following our drink we wandered around the floor. I’m no stranger to Neiman Marcus having made many emergency purchases over the years in places like Dallas and Houston but this is the first presence in Manhattan.

For European readers Neiman’s is a slightly less contemporary Selfridges but still has that hyper curated vibe of a store that absolutely understands its customers.  For the New Yorker this is SAKs on steroids.

And it’s that customer  understanding I want to dwell on today.  

We had wandered over to the aftershave and toiletries section, laid out in apothecary style with a traditional barber’s chair (more about that later) in the front. We were just casually browsing, although ultimately the Cynical New Yorker did make a purchase when the retail assistant looking after the section asked if she could help.

What followed, and I wish the 15 minutes of interaction had been recorded, was a masterclass in retail which organisations the world over should watch and learn from. 

The highlights; 

- quickly established who we were, where we were from and what our motivations were,

- answered every question about Neiman Marcus and Hudson Yards with deep knowledge and passion,

- knew every single brand she was responsible for including the ones she knew would have more saliency with a British consumer,

- cross referenced products and made introductions to brands which we didn’t know about,

- was able to explain the provenance of every product and also knew the price of every item without lifting it,

- a natural story teller, who made things relevant,

- invited us back to the store on Thursday because the Murdock barber would be doing shaves in the chair.

In an age where physical retail is fighting for relevancy she was the perfect example of how it should be done. 

She made a sale (of course she did !) and ensured the Cynical New Yorker would return.

This was retail perfection and I wish I had remembered her name (It was Friday 17th at around 730pm) because not only should her skill be acknowledged but she should be the benchmark for excellence. 

About the Author

The author is a brand consultant and founder of Mission Critical, a highly focused and curated weekly briefing for time poor and information hungry decision makers