“We started with just a few pairs of women’s jeans and a focus on customer service,” recalls Carmen, of the tiny shop’s launch on Bloor Street. “If they didn’t fit, we’d alter them to make them fit. We became famous for being able to alter jeans, and doing anything necessary for our customers to make a pair of jeans work.”
Thirty-six years, and 4,800-square-feet later, little has changed at Over the Rainbow, where fit and shopping experience remain the retailer’s top priority. Although Jackman, the original tailor, has long since moved on, Carmen lets nothing come between his customers and their blue jeans, providing extensive alteration services on every item he sells.
Over the Rainbow is known around Toronto for its customization: Taking in and letting out waists, tapering, adding maternity panels, shortening legs and reconstructing original hems and even replacing a tough button fly with an easy-to-manipulate zipper.
Alterations, though, are just part of the equation. Over the Rainbow carries around 150 fits and styles from a wide variety of brands, ensuring that every body type can shimmy into the perfect pair of baby blues. “We don’t buy what’s hot; we buy what fits,” says Carmen. “We don’t want to buy the sizzle, we want to buy the steak itself.”
The store’s merchandising strategy is equally about customer servicing, with a focus on categories rather than collection. Over the Rainbow’s mix of denim labels, from classic to cutting-edge, is less important than making sure the selection hits every fit profile – the curvy woman, the boyish figure, the 36-inch inseam – without duplication.
Carmen insists on the “best skinnies, the best trousers, the best flares” and so on, whether they’re from Joe’s Jeans, Citizens of Humanity, Fidelity, Levi’s, or any of the other dozens of brands carried throughout the shop. “It’s not about the brand, but what you buy within the brand.”
Buying categorically has also enabled Over the Rainbow to remain nimble in an environment where a specialty retailer can’t afford to buy more than they can sell. “We’re much more precise with
buying, which pushes our gross margins up,” Carmen explains – (cont.)
“We don’t buy what’s hot; we buy what fits. We don’t want to buy the sizzle, we want to buy the steak itself.”
March/April 2011 23
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