From LA to the Surrey Hills
How YT Industry Nails the Retail Experience
Everyone's expectation of how "new" retail serves their needs is different, and that's perhaps the challenge for brands today.
My wife still craves the visceral experience of brick and mortar: the touch and feel, interaction with the staff, and the sense of focus she can only find on the high street, away from our kids.
I'm the opposite. Retail is now almost exclusively online. I know my brands, I understand how their products fit, and trust in their style direction. These brands (or online retailers) provide everything I need without the stress of dealing with people, parking, and panic buying unnecessary items.
The sports retail industry is facing challenges. Some of our best independent retailers with decades of experience, selling products that require technical advice for optimal use, are disappearing from the high street. The reasons for this are complicated but I wonder, is ‘the high street’ the problem, not the solution?
With all the doom and gloom around retail, I thought I would check out a DTC brand that I'd heard has a new approach to a retail store. I'm fortunate to live just a stone's throw from the YT Industries retail experience, the YT Mill in the Surrey Hills (SW of London near Guildford). This retail experience stands out. It's a demo centre, a retail store, a coffee shop, a community hub, an event space, and, as I discovered this weekend, a screening hub showcasing the Redbull Rampage.
What's interesting is it's not Regent Street, Covent Garden or Shoreditch. It's rural. It's located outside Guildford city centre, with plenty of parking and electric charging stations. One of the most impressive aspects of the YT Mill concept is its consistency across locations. I've visited their LA Mill several times while working in San Clemente with Stance. The space, the community, the atmosphere, and the people are perfectly aligned and clearly connected. The LA staff shared stories about the UK staff while pouring me a beer and taking time to listen and engage.
On every high street, new brands are claiming to offer an ‘experience’. It's a retail buzzword that attempts to ensure you maintain 'own retail' in your strategy. They might set up a yoga studio in a small room, install a coffee machine, throw in a couple of beanbags, put up a chalkboard outside, and call it a community. However, for me, a true retail experience should extend far beyond this. It should deeply integrate into the customer's lifestyle.
The YT Mill gave me a reason to visit on a Friday night with my kids and connect with like-minded people, surrounded by products. That's my kind of offline retail experience.
If you’re a DTC brand looking to expand into retail, go check them out – UK (Guildford), US ( San Clamente), Germany (Forchheim).
