a wider audience. As such, they will be opening more brick-and-mortar locations worldwide. Koss said, “We envision a day where we are in every primary and secondary city, in the most special neighborhoods and weaving crafts into the local fabric.” One achievement that the BRIKA team is most proud of was opening their first stand-alone location. “We had always envisioned an offline presence, and when we finally found the perfect space, we executed on it quickly and cheaply. Seeing our footprint grow allows our artisans and designers to become bigger and more successful. That is very gratifying to us,” Koss said. BRIKA shares some similarities with Etsy; including
some of their makers utilize both online platforms. BRIKA claims they are more highly selective than Etsy. Interestingly,
both companies have ventured into having real storefront exposure. Esty is now a public company based in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 2005 and today has over 1.7 million active sellers and has international offices too.
Curated fashion Another Canadian retailer, Smoke + Ash is curating its offerings to bring design-centered contemporary fashion to Toronto at attainable price points. Smoke + Ash, has brought together a carefully chosen collection of goods and lifestyle products and displays them in a way that tells a story. Their labels are underrepresented in Toronto. Scented candles, body oil and a cozy sweater are merchandised together to tell a story about comfort and relaxation. “At Smoke + Ash, every item is carefully considered and chosen for a reason. We have our own aesthetic and point-of-view and we communicate that through every item in the store, as well as through the store design and visual displays,” says Jaya Kahlon, owner and curator. Kahlon knows exactly who her customer is and understands what she likes as a fashion forward, on-trend type of consumer. “We know what will resonate with our core customer and we also know when we can push the envelope and show her something unexpected,” Kahlon said. Smoke + Ash is a brick-and-mortar store that began as
a six-month pop-up shop and morphed into a permanent location after four years. Their online sales represent less that 10% of their business, but they are growing. Kahlon believes their physical location helps drive brand awareness and online sales. Today they are expanding their presence online as well. Kahlon says the physical store makes it easy to be in constant communication with their desired customer. Additionally they will be debuting digital styling tools that
68 Specialty Retail Report n Winter 2017
SpecialtyRetail.com
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