Xavier’s Nest

The Importance of Image:

People percieve a store in a certain light; that light is the store’s image. Image is the total sum of impressions the store leaves in the minds of the customers who enter it’s doors, look at it’s ads, or hear about it from friends. Everything the store does contributes something to it’s image: sales help, service, décor, layout, advertising, packaging, and of course the merchandise it sells. Every store reflects a point of view, be it luxury and extravagance, or thrift and comfort.

Image can be either good or bad, and can be affected most, by things not always thought of first. While store front, advertisements, and the sales floor may give the customer their first impression of the store, it is the restrooms and fitting rooms, that often leave the most lasting impression. A store with a dirty restroom, a messy fitting room, or cluttered shelves, gives a poor image. It tells the customer that the store is unkept and not well cared for. The customer next concludes that the products well be of an equaly poor quality, and the store well lose sales. A store that is not kept clean and neat, gives off a poor image, and well not last.

Each store has a uniquie image. Retailing like any other business, reflects the personality of the owners, managers, and sales associates. Each person, on all levels, contributes to the store’s image. Cheerful, helpful workers well have customers telling their friends of the stores friendly atmosphere and great customer service. While, an irritable worker well cause customers to tell their friends to streer clear of “that place”.

To determin our image goals, I shall answer the following questions. By answering these questions, I well be able to break down various points that help determ a store’s image.

Afterwards, I well reviw what I have determed to be The Rabbit Hole’s projected image.

#1. Should we depend on assortment? (Tops, bottoms, sweaters, etc. The department store approach of providing everything for a complete wardrobe.)

Yes and no. It depends upon your view of what an assortment is. Yes, we should have an assortment of various items, tops, bottoms, accessories, etc., however not in the general sence. We are not a department store and our items would not be the same as those you would find in the general department store (i.e. Wal-Mart, Macy’s, J.C.Penny’s, GAP, Fashion Bug, etc.). Nor are they items that would be found in the average specialty shop.

As a general rule, our clothes are not worn by the “average” person. Only a limited sub-culture, most often aged 15 – 35 wear our styles. These people fall into various groups and sug-groups. The most common of which are known as Gothics. Other groups that would buy our clothing include: Lolitas, Gothic Lolitas, Fruits, Punk, GlamRockers, Glitter Punk, Manga Girls, CosPlayers, and a few other such groups. Our items are more of a one-of-a-kind/few-of-a-kind botuiquie style rather than a department or specialty shop style. As such our assortment would be varied and constantly changing.

#2. Should we offer customers the newest fashions and latest styles or the basics and updated classics?

Yes and no to both. Basic black classics are always in style for the Gothic customer, as are shades od red and purple. The newest and latest fashions are not always the best for Goths, who often prefere to wear reproductions of 17th, 18th, and 19th century clothes. For GlitterPunks, futuristic fashions in neon sequined colors are worn, while Fruits are mad for hot colored plaid in “kiddie” styles. For Lolitas it’s Alice and Bo-Peep dresses, with yards of ruffles on their petticoats. The newest and latest fashions, sometimes suit the tastes of these customers and sometimes do not.

A large majority of our items, well be exclusive or uniquie to the store, and there may be only one or two of this particular item in the entire world. With this in mind it is the customer’s responsibility to buy it when they see it, because it may be sold by the time they come back tomorrow and we can’t just go out and “order” a second one for them. We belive in the theory “What you ee is what you get” and “Buy it now or not at all”.

#3. Should we offer clothes in the highest price ranges? Top designer names? How high a price tag are we willing to sell?

For our exclusive handmade creations, price is determined by the cost of materials and the amount of handwork that must go into the garment. For the mass produced wholesale goods, price is determined by how much we paid for it, and how hard it wasto locate the manufacturer.

With the extravagant Lolita, the sky is the limit. Sixty yards of lace is not an uncommon trim for the Lolita skirt. Lace that sells at $7 to $30 per yard at sixty yards or more and must be handsewn to the dress, can bring the price tag quickly into the thousands. However, the average Lolita expects to pay $200 to $500 for her dress. Yes, we should offer a few of the high price tag items, but not expect them to sell as our main items.

#4. Should we offer a mix of high priced items, mid-priced items, and low priced items? If so, how much of each? Which well dominate?

Yes…yes…yes. High priced items are great for those who can afford them, and should be available. Low priced items should also be readily available for those who want the look, but can’t afford the price. Mid-priced items should be dominate though, and these well sell the most and the easiest. Items that well appel to all income levels, these well be the store’s main source of income.

#5. Should we offer clothes at the “lowest prices“?

Yes. Of course. Especially in a store that sells high-end stuff. Having a few cheap priced items mixed in, makes the customer feel that they have found a bargin… a sort of needle in the haystack. It encourages them to tell their friends what a “great buy” they found. It also encourages them to return to the store to hunt for more bargins.This promotes browsing, and browsing is a good thing. The more they browse, the more they well buy.

#6. Which group are we trying to appeal too: Children? Teens? Young Adults? Students? Men? Women? Young Adults? Mature Adults? Boomers? Seniors? Low Income? Average Income? High Income?

I suppose that some of each from each group would find something to buy, but as a general rule we cater to the younger group: teens, young adults, and students from varying income levels, who live in alternative lifestyles.

#7. Are we trying to apeal to too many customer groups? Not enough?

No and no. The mix seems about right. We have limited ourselves to one general group: Gothic; but it is a large and diverse group that spans many ages, all income levels, and has several smaller sub-groups.

#8. Should we emphasize our own private label brands?

It is a possibility down the road, and deffinatly something I would consider, in fact, it is the long term goal. My brother and I are both fashion designers. The long term goal is to eventualy expand the store to include in-house seamstress/tailors to recreate the fashions we design. For the time being, we well carry clothing from various fashion designers and manufactures, that cater to the Gothic culture.

#9. Are we offering any exclusives? Is there anything in our store that is not available anywhere else?

Yes. One of the designers we plan to work with offers the option of one-of-a-kind creations, and we are seeking out other fashion designers who are willing to do the same. Aditionaly, I plan to have a workroom/studio to the back of the store, where an in house seamstress well bring to life the designs created by myself and my brother.

#10.What do we offer that is realy special and different from the other stores in the area?

I think most of the questions asked already, have resulted in answers that sufficiently answer this question, so I well focus the answer on who it is that we must compete with and why we are different from them.

There is only one store in the area that caters solely to the Gothic sub-culture and they are Hot Topics in the Maine Mall. Their line however, caters to the dark sub-cultures of the Gothic movement: Dark Goths, Death Goths, Techno Goths, and Techno Punks. Their focus is on the darker, gloomier, scarier, and at times bloodier side of the Gothic culture. Because of this, their line is often viewed as for a more “mature” or “adult” audience. They cater only to this very small and very limited dark sub-culture within the Gothic culture.

Our focus is on Gothic by it’s original sence of the term: the revival of the Victoran and Edwardian fashions. Gothic originaly was used to describe anyone who wore top-hats and frock coats, capes and Josephine gowns, Belle Epoch dresses, Erte` sheaths, Medival huparlres and surcoats, beaded and fringed flapper evening wear, and other retro styles from the era of the 1750’s through the 1930’s, worn as everyday fashions for today. The most common of this type of Gothic, is Lolita, which is typified by the wearing of knee leangth dressess over ruffled petticoats, with aprons and pinafores, over striped tights. The idea was to look like Alice in Wonderland.

There are no stores in the area that carry either the Gothic Revival or the Lolita styles, ours well be the first.

#11.Can we really call ourselves a full-service store? why or why not?

Yes, because in addition to clothing and accessories, we well also carry the hard to find Gothic make-up, as well as special care items such as blueing, which are required to keep your cloths looking their best. We plan to add a line of Gothic music and DVDs as well.

#12. How many check-outs do we provide for our customers? Is this enough? Do customers have to wait in long lines? Do we need more check-outs? Are some of our check-outs not being used? Do we have more than we really need?

This is as yet undecided. Most likely there well be one in use, with a second one to act as a “spare” for use on busy days.

#13. Should we offer special services? (Gift wrapping, alterations, free make-overs, etc.)

Not yet decided.

Gift wrapping, is a possibility, which most likely we well do. The look would carry our store’s overall image of course: black gift boxes with red tissue paper, tied with a red organda bow, or something to that effect.

Alterations, is possible, but unlikely. If we do offer this service, I wouldn’t do them myself. If there was a demand for this, I would consider hiring someone.

Free make-overs and product demonstrations are a real possiblilty. Not something I would do myself, but as I plan to carry the Ben Nye line in our store, I may consider hiring a cosmetic consultant to give our customers demonstrations.

#14. Do we have a recognizable logo? Do we use it in our advertising? Is it on our sign, shopping bags, etc.?

Working on it as we speak. Planning on the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as our main logo, with the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat as sub-logos.

Yes, well use it on our advertising.

Plan to have a wooden sign made by a local sign maker who carves and paints business signs. Planning on the White Rabbit and the store name “The Rabbit Hole”.

Planning to have stickers made up with the store name and logo on them, and than use them on generic/blank boxes and shopping bags, allowing us to buy packing in bulk, but still have our name and logo one them. Gift boxes and paper (not plastic) shopping bags well be black. Tissue paper well be red. Red organda ribbons and bows well be used to decorate boxes and bags.

Planning to have business cards printed up with name and logo, which well do double duty as both business cards and hangtags. Ilike the idea of attaching them to garment by use of metal ball-chains or red satin ribbons.

#15. Can we live up to our fashion claims? Are our ads better than the actual merchandise? Are customers disappointed when they see the real thing?

Ads which have pictures of the items are VERY expensive and often not worth the expense. I do not plan on doing a lot of advertising in newspapers or magazines, if I do any at all. Word of mouth, and direct mailing of postcards printed with name and logo will work better for us. As customers won’t see the clothes in the ad, they can not be disappointed when they see the real thing, now can they? I plan to keep advertising plan and simple… the minimalist style, let the cloths in the storefront windows do the talking.

#16. Are we changing with the times? Well our merchandise remain basicly the same over the years or well it change with the current trends?

A tricky question. Yes and no. Yes, we well be changing with the times, of course. The Gothic culture has been around for more than 30 years now and it is always changing and evolving, and our store well of course reflect those continued changes as time goes on. We well also remain basicly the same over the years, in that we well focus on he Gothic culture and it’s sub-cultures, and strive to carry garments that are exclusive or near exclusive to our store.

#17. Is our merchandise turnover in tune with our customers’ buying habits? Do we change stock too often or not often enough?

This question does not yet apply, as we have not yet opened our store to the public. Hypthetical, I’d say yes, though, because by having exclusive, near exclusive, and specialty hard to find items, we would replace our stock as needed. For example, when a one of a kind creation is sold, we would replace it with a new one of a kind creation. We also place to change the display in the store window on a weekly basis, and rotating the store’s stock at the same time, thus moving everything to a new place with in the store, giving the illusion that new items have come in, wither or not they have. This promotes customers to buy more items, because an item that they didn’t see last week, is now in the front where they can see it. They would have bought it had they seen it last week, but they hadn’t gone to the back of the store so they missed seeing it. Now that it’s in the front window, they come in and buy it. This method of stre rotation allows all of our items to be put on display and gives each a chance in the spotlight. It also helps us to better determin what our customers want so that in the futie we can have other similar items in stock.

This method well require that we have several manikins; four or five in the store windoe and four or five more scattered throughout the store.

#18. Are we in/choosing a location that reflects our store’s image? How do people feel about the general location? How do they view other shops/stores on the same street?

We have not yet choosen a definite location, but have looked at several areas so far. Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Biddeford, Scarbourgh, Wells, Kennebunk, KennebunkPort, South Portland, and Portland, Maine are the ares in which we have searched. My conclusions:

Old Orchard Beach:
My home town, founded by my family 300 years ago, the image it brings up for most people is: it is Maine‘s biggest tourist attraction, drawing crowds of 2million people each summer, honky-tonks, bar rooms, cheap sovinears, family vacation, amusment park, 7 miles of white fine sand beach, T-shirt shops, heavy foot traffic, a ghost town 9 months of the year, Quebec’s playground, the home of super-rich millionaires, seniors and retiries, second highest taxes in the state of Maine, leases prices that the average shop owner can not afford.

Saco:
The image it brings up for most people is: Old Orchard’s closet neighbor and almost as expensive to live in, Historic District, beautiful old Victorian mansions, lots of history, home of York Hill and the Saco River Curse, laced with huge farms and rolling hills on it’s outskirts, farmers markets, downtown shopping in old time shops, average to mid-high income families with children.

Biddeford:
The image it brings up for most people is: Pigeons, abandoned mills, old brick factories, colleges, home of the nation’s highest rated medical college and a five-star hospital, medical communities, pigeons, tall brick buildings, low-income, slum-distric, homeless people, shelters, pigeons, lots of history, very low priced leases, lots of section eight apartment houses.

Scarbourgh:
The image it brings up for most people is: Old Orchard Beach’s other neighbor and bitter rival, lobster wars, clam flats, Pine Point, fishing shacks, the Clam Bake, the rought to the Maine Mall, nature preserve, salt marsh, wild life, expensive homes for high income families who can’t afford to live in Old Orchard, growing as a medical community, growing as a business district, no small shops, no downtown district.

Wells:
The image it brings up for most people is: Lowest taxes in the state of Maine, the antiquies capital of the world, most antique shops in one place than any where else in the world, the neighbor of Kennebunk and Kennebunk Port, lots of woods and fields being clear cut for rabid population growth due to people wishing to live near Kennebunk but not being able to afford to

Kennebunk:
The image it brings up for most people is: In the top five for highest taxes in the state of Maine, the home of the super-rich super-wealthy super-millionaires, a historic distric, lots of old Victorian mansions, high society, very expensive, vacation home for actors and celbraties

Kennebunk Port:
The image it brings up for most people is: Part of Kennebunk, the home of Presidant George Bush, beautiful rocky coastline, beaches galore, in the top five for highest taxes in the state of Maine, high consentration of tiny art galleries and specialty shops that cater to millionaires, an older more mature and sophisticated population, the home of the super-rich super-wealthy super-millionaires, a historic district, lots of old Victorian mansions, high society, very expensive, vacation home for actors and celbraties

South Portland:
The image it brings up for most people is: Home of the Maine Mall. Nobody really cares about anything else or knows anything else about South Portland. For most people South Portland = Maine Mall, acreas and acres of departments stores piled one on top of the other including: Sears, J.C.Penny, Macy*s, Gap, Talbots, TJMax, Target, Walmart, Hot Topics, Spencers, Best Buy, Disney Store, 3 Game Stops, and over 200 other stores that come and go. South Portland is the shopper’s ultimate paradise, and has more stores than anyplace else in Maine. Very competitive, highly sought after by retailers, amoung the highest lease prices in the state of Maine. Many small shops open up each year, most are quickly slaughtered by the highly competitive super giant department stores in the area.Great proving ground, if you can survive in the Mall area, you can survive almost anywhere, but it’s very risky to even make an attempt.

Portland:
The image it brings up for most people is: The arts, art museum, art school, theaters, dance studios, art galleries, small shops, fancy boutiques, designer clothes for alternative lifestyles (including Wiccans, environmentalists, Goths, etc.), a college on evey street corner, college students, heavy foot traffic, busy streets, in-town buses, taxies, one way streets, lots of tall buildings, dozens of tiny shops squeezed into every possible nook and cranny on every street, Maine‘s biggest city.

Overall, I feel that Portland is our best bet, and have focused my search on the Monument Square, Cogress St, Old Port area.

Our Image: How well customers see our store?

If you were to ask our customers for a list of words associated with The Rabbit Hole, that list might include the following:

fun
friendly
playful
creepy
helpful
happy
cheerful
clean
neat
high quality
Alice in Wonderland
Gothic
Victorian
Edwardian
black & red
uniquie
one of a kind
romantic
not found anywhere else

That is out intended image, the image for which we strive. How well we achieve this?

Our physical image:

Gothic. Fun. Alice in Wonderland.

A décor of black and red, built uon the Gothic Alice in Wonderland theme, with black and red “chess board tiled” floors. Store front painted black, with red drapes in the window that set off the store’s latest display.

The White Rabbit as our prime logo, with the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat appearing as minor logo images. The three characters appearing on signage, business cards, hang tags, shopping bags, and letterheads. Over all the layout and décor tells our customers “this is a fun place to shop”.

Our merchandise image:

Clothing, make-up, and accessories with a Gothic, Lolita, CosPlay, Alice, and Retro theme, including one-of-a-kind handmade creations from various Gothic fashion designers. Lots of black, lots of velvet, lots of bright sparkly things. Sometimes creepy, but a sweet, cute, innocent, happy type of creepy that is never gory, bloody, or offensive. We strive to bring a family friendly atmosphere, selling products that apeal to children, as well as teens and adults. Parents well feel safe letting their children shop at The Rabbit Hole, because they know they well never find “adult items” (i.e. porn, fetishism, etc) or graphic items (i.e. blood, gore, violence, etc.) in our store.

Our atmosphere image:

One word: FUN!

Our image well be dark and creepy, but safe and family friendly and promting the fact that dressing up is fun, fun, fun! Wearing capes is fun! Dressing up like your fave comic book hero is fun! Wearing top hats and striped tights and throwing tea parties is fun! Dressing up like pirates and wizards is fun! Going to Renesains Faires, Live Theater Festivals, and Civil War Reenactmints is fun! Wearing ball gowns and tiaras is fun! Putting on a play at the next family reuniun is fun! Dressing up for Halloween is too much fun to do it just once a year, at The Rabbit Hole, we dress this way year ‘round.

Our professional image:

Customer service representatives who are cheerful and friendly and strive to assist the customer. The owner and managers well not be locked away in ivory towers, but working the sales floor and there to answer customer questions and assiste sales associates when needed. An open door policy that means the executives are down to earth humans, there when you need them, not hidden away behind office doors. The owner (myself) well be the buyer and chief sales associate, because picking out items to sell and interacting with the customers is the thing I love doing most and the whole reason I wanted a store of my own.

Our “hidden” image or behind the scenes:

Fitting rooms, restrooms, stock room, and sales floor to be kept clean and neat at all times. We strive to win awards in this area, because, me, myself, personaly, I obsess in this area. When ever I enter a store, the first place I go is to the ladies room. I always check to see, are they clean? Are they neat? Are they decorated? Does the air smell clean? A store that keeps it’s bathroom sparklingly clean, often keeps its merchandise and sales floor clean as well.