Being small pretty much demands being different if you want to stand out, and independent clothing retailers are finding ways to do just that.
First comes a story from The Kansas City Star introducing the T-Shirt Deli. The owner, Ninel Pompushko, liked the deli theme because similar to sandwich shops, all of her products are made to order.
From the Star: "Customers pick out their shirts, and then they head to deli cases to select type fonts from T-shirts rolled up in foil meat trays. The orders are wrapped in butcher paper, sealed with colorful stickers and put in doggie bags (with a drawing of a poodle, bib in place, excitedly wagging its tail). "Guest check" ticket forms are stapled on the outside with a "To" and "From" for gift giving.
The Kansas City location is the third for Ms. Pompushko, who opened the first T-Shirt Deli in Chicago in 2003.
In other news, The Associated Press ran a piece on the number of entrepreneurs who are opening clothing stores inside of trucks. One of the prime advantages is the ability to open, relatively speaking, on the cheap. Leasing prime retail locations can be a killer for new stores. Getting a truck up and running can be done at the fraction of the cost.
In a RetailWire discussion on the topic back in May, Amy Chase, owner of Haberdash Vintage in Boston, said, "My mobile shop makes enough money in eight hours to pay the rent of a retail space for a month. Also, it attracts press and media that a standalone shop would never get. It may be a fad ... but my shop is in its fourth year."