What West Elm’s New Hotel Signals For Retailers

This is the second instance within the month of September that a retail brand has moved into the hospitality business, and there are rumors of other brands following suit in the coming year, including retailer Restoration Hardware. Detroit’s cool leather, bikes, and watches brand Shinola announced that it would also be opening a branded hotel in Detroit in 2018, and would partner with the design firm Gachot Studios. In Europe, its become common for luxury brands to also have luxury hotels: There is the most recent Villa René Lalique, developed by the French crystal brand, in Alsace; Palazzo Versace in Dubai; Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. But perhaps, in America, it’s mid-tier retailers, not luxury houses, that will expand their businesses into new territories. “Clearly, there’s this lifestyle brand connection, and I think you’re going to see more of it,” says Garrick Brown, VP of retail research for the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw another huge brand like Anthropologie looking into it as well.” Read more at Forbes.