FROM OUR AUGUST 2024 ISSUE: NEW STORES ON THE BLOCK
The entire MR team proudly presents our August 2024 issue. If you haven’t received a hard copy, please page through a digital version at Issuu, and we’ll continue to post individual stories here on MR-mag.com. If you haven’t been getting MR in print, be sure that you are on our mailing list for future issues by completing this form.
Jamestown Hudson
548 Warren Street
Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 249-4708
@jamestown_hudson
Industry veterans James Scully and Tom Mendenhall opened this 1900-square-foot retail emporium in a late 1800s building (shown above) in Hudson, N.Y., last May after moving to the area during the pandemic.
The store carries men’s and women’s clothing, home goods, and some apothecary, all artfully arranged in a gallery-like space that is more curated than merchandised. James and Tom have each had formidable careers in the fashion industry. Both worked at Charivari, then Tom at Abercrombie, Gucci, Tom Ford, and more, while James was a high-level casting director. Combining their skills, they know how powerful a good retail experience can be.
The menswear brands in the store include RRL, Sage de Cret, Transnomadica, Monitaly, Drake’s, 11:11, Extreme Cashmere, Hartford, Sunray, Post O’Alls, as well as vintage, which they work on with Erik Bill of Bill’s Vintage in Boise, Idaho. The idea was to work with brands that are small and passionate about their products, that provide optimism and sense of humor to the store through their edit.
Since opening, the store’s best-selling brand has been Transnomadica, with a project of thirty-one vintage Carhartt jackets that Maurizio Donadi created for them. The number one selling item is the signature orange Jamestown Hudson cap.
For the opening, Mendenhall and Scully were very intentional about not starting with e-commerce. Instead, they wanted people to experience Jamestown Hudson in the shop and visit Hudson’s great community.
Stag Nashville
2311 12th Avenue
South Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 420-7845
@stagprovisions
MR readers will recognize the Stag name. Owners Don Weir and Steve Shuck are longtime favorites of the magazine who recently added a third store in Nashville, Tennessee, the first outside of their home state of Texas. I spoke with them about the challenges of opening a new store and staying true to their brand ethos while adjusting to a new market.
Weir and Shuck worked with local Nashville architect Dryden Architecture & Design to create unique design moments in the store, splitting the sales floor into sections to create smaller, intimate shops within the larger store. They used cleaner, more modern lines than their other stores but retained all of the warm materials that make them feel at home while allowing tons of natural light into the space, adding, “The Tennessee sun is a little more forgiving than the one in Texas.”
One novel feature of the new Stag Nashville store is a large wall filled with an eclectic mix of new and vintage art and furniture, which will constantly evolve as it sells through pieces and brings in new finds. The store size comes in at just 2,000 square feet, which is what the pair has learned is their “sweet size” to merchandise and sell the way that they want.
The Stag Nashville store will carry all its men’s casual categories, including shirting, pants, outerwear, sweaters, shorts, swim, accessories, shoes, vintage, home goods, art, and personal care. The only categories not included are tailored suiting and dress shirts.
The Stag brand roster is approximately 70, with some key ones being RRL, Alex Mill, Beams+, Kardo, Portuguese Flannel, Corridor, Kapital, Gitman Vintage, Levi’s Premium, Red Wing Heritage, Universal Works, Wax London, Rogue Territory, and Imogene & Willie, among others.
For the opening of Nashville, Don and Steve tapped some of these brands
to create exclusives—something that I wish more retailers would do—to break
up some of the sameness permeating menswear. These exclusives include
four styles from Gitman Vintage, including a short sleeve novelty cowboy print, which falls perfectly into the burgeoning Western trend as well as a bunch of exclusive graphic T-shirts from their old friends and new Nashville neighbors Imogene+Willie, four exclusive swim trunks from Bather, six exclusive Rogue Territory jackets, several exclusive shirts with Kardo and OAS, a handful of exclusive hats with Ebbets Field Flannels, and some custom chain-stitched pieces from Austin legend Ft. Lonesome. There are several other exclusives currently in the hopper.
Of The Lion
3554 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(518) 249-4708
@ofthelion_shop
Erick deLeon was the buyer and brand manager for the retailer MartinPatrick3 and then worked with designer brand Bogner. When he found he needed a change, he decided that opening a new retail store was his true calling and dream. That dream came true on July 1 when he opened his namesake store, Of the Lion.
Of the Lion is an active, performance, and lifestyle store that sells both sport-specific and multi-sport brands as well as elevated everyday basics and hair and skin regimes, which DeLeon collectively refers to as “goods to attack your every day.” DeLeon believes that if you are living, you’re participating in this sport called life, and he wants to cheer you on, both personally and through his store and merchandise.
He’s carefully curated a brand roster that is not all the usual suspects and is selected specifically to last for years and never lose its style; these timeless and versatile pieces will be in your wardrobe for as long as you’ll have them. Brands include Norda, Reigning Champ, Rapha, District Vision, BTFL, Outclass, Harris Wharf London, Massimo Alba, and Merz b. Schwanen, Asher Golf, Hermanos Koumori, Arvin Goods, Margin, 19-69, Blind Barber, REYAL Performance, Orris, Ayond, and Ralph Lauren.
Erick also lucked out on finding his dream location. He wanted to be in a neighborhood that intersects an active lifestyle and found that with an intersection of the biggest bike lane in the city and a proximity to the runners going around the lake. DeLeon also wants the store, whose name is a literal translation of his last name, to act as a local gathering place and community, which he likens to a “pride” or pack of lions, which sounds like a fierce retail concept for these wild times.
Nice work Michael, so great to see cool stores emerge… Best of luck to all!
Thank you Chris!