Don’t tell the Mitchells the luxury market is challenged.
The Connecticut-based family that operates the country’s largest collection of high-end specialty stores is making a major statement about its belief in the future of luxury retailing in the U.S.
On Wednesday, the Mitchells officially opened the doors to a new Wilkes Bashford store in Palo Alto, Calif., that is nearly three times the size of its predecessor and chock-full of the finest luxury brands from Europe and the U.S.
The store in the Stanford Shopping Center is 25,000 square feet — the old store was 9,000 square feet — and is believed to be the largest new multibrand specialty store in the country, according to Bob Mitchell, co-chief executive officer.
“This is our newest generation store and is the first one we’ve built from the ground up since we opened Richards in Greenwich in 2000,” he said. The Mitchell family operates eight stores under four nameplates on the East and West Coasts: Mitchells in Westport, Conn.; Richards in Greenwich, Conn.; Wilkes Bashford in San Francisco, and Marios in Portland, Ore. Combined sales now exceed $200 million.
Mitchell said Palo Alto, which he described as “Wall Street West,” is San Francisco’s wealthiest bedroom community and is home to not only some of the world’s largest tech companies but also financial, consulting and legal businesses, as well as Stanford University.
“We have always had a healthy customer base in Silicon Valley, and it has grown tremendously over the last 20-plus years,” he added. “As most retailers are closing their doors and doing business exclusively online, we are thriving and growing as a multibrand luxury player in the brick-and-mortar space as a result of our unparalleled selection of merchandise and commitment and loyalty to our customers.”
He added, “We believe having a new-age, modern retail environment is critical today and we also believe in the multibrand environment.” He said luxury customers nearly always choose to shop in one location filled with top brands, supported by top-notch sales associates, rather than a number of monobrand stores.
“We had the best team in Palo Alto before, but they didn’t have the space to do the volume we believe they can,” Mitchell said. In addition, he said the store has “added six or seven powerhouse sellers to the team to help us achieve our goals. That’s the key to our success.”
Although he declined to provide a current sales figure for the Palo Alto store, he said the family is hoping to grow sales between 60 and 100 percent in the first year and more than double the existing volume in three years. “It should be like both Connecticut stores in volume,” he said, “and we should be able to grab market share.”
Mitchell also said that his cousin Scott Mitchell, son of Bill Mitchell, is being tasked with overseeing all of the West Coast stores, which account for 40 percent of the company’s overall sales. This includes the Wilkes Bashford store in downtown San Francisco and the Marios stores in Portland and Seattle.
“Scott ran Greenwich for us and moved to the West Coast right after Labor Day,” he said. “He’s going to be based in Seattle, but he’ll spend half of his time in Palo Alto to have a family presence on the floor.” He said Scott Mitchell started his career with the company at Richards in 2000 when the store was expanded and added womenswear.
The Palo Alto store was designed by San Francisco architect firm Gensler and is inspired by the Italian term “costiera,” meaning coastal. The interior is bright and airy and uses natural materials and elements as a nod to California’s coastlines.
The store will carry more than 41 new and expanded designer collections across men’s and womenswear.
“For us, this is about the best of the best,” Mitchell said. “We sell a higher percentage of luxury in Palo Alto than in any of our stores so we felt we needed to invest in it.”
Men’s and women’s each account for 40 percent of the mix with jewelry generating the remainder. “That’s our sweet spot,” Mitchell said. “The mix of merchandise is very similar to what we have in Connecticut and we brought in a bunch of new brands. We think all our existing brands can be bigger.”
The four key vendors in men’s are Zegna, Brunello Cucinelli, Brioni and Kiton, all of which have all gotten their own shops in the new store. Also getting expanded presentations are Fedeli, Pescarolo and Baldassari. New to the men’s mix are Canali, Thom Browne, Parajumpers, Zero Gravity by Tombolini, Valextra, Santoni, Alessandro Gherardi, Officine Creative, Wahts, Sease, Moorer and Enrico Mandelli, with a few others in the hopper for spring.
In women’s, it’s Brunello Cucinelli, Kiton and Akris, who are the biggest volume producers, but The Row, Khaite, Bottega Veneta, Missoni, Carolina Herrera, Gianvito Rossi, Amina Muaddi and Jimmy Choo have all been expanded. New to the assortment are Valentino, Pucci, Lanvin, La Double J, Libertine, Akris Punto, Zero + Maria Cornejo, Toteme, Odeeh, Johanna Ortiz, Savette and Aquazzura.
The new location includes 21 jewelry cases beneath a large skylight and features brands such as Pomellato, Sidney Garber, Nam Cho, Sylva & Cie and Aaron Henry, among others. A separate room will be offered to those who want to examine and try on pieces in private.
Mitchell said that also new to the Palo Alto store is a 2,500-square-foot private shopping area on the second floor. It features a dining room and fireplace and the walls are all equipped with fixturing to allow VIP customers to have personalized private styling and shopping sessions.
“We’re also going to use the space for lunches, events, holiday parties, things like that,” Mitchell said. “We have an appetite for this in all our stores but since we’re building this one from scratch, we were able to include it.”
The top vendors carried in the store weighed in on the store and the ongoing success of the Mitchell family. According to Brunello Cucinelli, “The Mitchells’ integrity and passion toward their clients sets an example for our entire industry.” Gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the Zegna Group, which includes Thom Browne, added: “I am excited for this new adventure with the Mitchells family in Palo Alto. I am proud to call them dear friends and business partners for over 30 years. They exude excellence and embody the best that a luxury experience can offer.”
Melissa Beste, global CEO of Akris, weighed in: “Akris, as a family-owned company, shares these values and we treasure our long-standing collaboration. It’s rare to see a business that values its customers with such genuine care, and that dedication shines through in everything you do.”
And the Paone family, owners of Kiton, said the company was honored to “share in this important milestone. Our two families are united by the same passion, vision and goals, and we deeply value the bond that has connected us over the years. Here’s to continued success and a bright future together.”
Wilkes Bashford was founded in 1966 by the fashion retailer of the same name who is credited with bringing some of the top designers from Europe to Northern California. The Mitchell family acquired the business in 2009 and Bashford died in 2016.
While the Palo Alto store is top of mind for the family this week, it is actually the third major renovation it has completed on the West Coast in the past two years. All told, the company invested more than $10 million to build the Palo Alto store, renovate the Wilkes flagship in San Francisco and the Marios flagship in Portland.
That included a complete overhaul of the Marios store with a 3,500-square-foot expansion of the women’s department, increased women’s designer ready-to-wear and an expanded shoe, bag and jewelry assortment as well as a larger men’s luxury sportswear area.
In San Francisco, four of the store’s seven floors of the Wilkes Bashford store have been renovated with a revamped women’s designer floor and expanded luxury sportswear as well as larger Cucinelli and Zegna shops in men’s.
The Mitchells family got its start in 1958 when Ed and Norma Mitchell opened a men’s haberdashery in Westport. They added Richards in Greenwich in 1995, Marsh’s in Huntington, N.Y., in 2005, Wilkes Bashford in 2009 and Marios in 2015.
