OKC/Penn Sq. may have another opportunity to land an upscale retailer

[metro]

Got an email sent to me this morning. LUSH is an upscale, handmade, organic type cosmetics brand for men and women. They usually have stores in high-end shopping centers like Mandalay Place in Vegas, Galleria in Dallas, etc. Looks like they are experimenting with the OKC market with a temporary kiosk in Penn Square as a test; this would be a good chance to support them to get a store in OKC. Guys, I can attest that their shaving products are the best ever, way better than Art of Shaving.


Oklahoma City Looks Oh So Pretty!

WHEN: Saturday, October 16, 2010

WHERE: sponsored by LUSH Oak Park | Oak Park Mall, 11461 W 95th St, Lenexa KS 66214 | 913.888.5874

We love when our customers brighten our day, so we wanted to brighten yours. For one weekend only, we will have a kiosk in Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. We'll be coming down with many favorites (including our fabulous and fresh face masks!) for you to take home without having to make a long trip. If you would like to make sure we have all of the goodies you want, we will be taking pre-orders. To preorder, email us at oakpark@lushusa.com with everything you want and we will send you your total. We will not take credit card information until we come down. Penn Square Mall is located at 1901 NW Expressway, Suite 1889, Oklahoma City, OK 73118. We can't wait to see all of you!

RSVP: oakpark@lush.com

[Kerry]

I bought some LUSH items for the wife - they were great. The Atlanta store I went to was inside a Macy's.

[kevinpate]

I'm confused on the whole male shaving product process.
Hot water, a wee bit of whatever soap is handy, a clean razor that hasn't been around too terribly long and yer done.
Then again, I don't tend to shave near as much of my skin surface as some folk do, so maybe that's the difference.

[Kerry]

I'm confused on the whole male shaving product process.
Hot water, a wee bit of whatever soap is handy, a clean razor that hasn't been around too terribly long and yer done.
Then again, I don't tend to shave near as much of my skin surface as some folk do, so maybe that's the difference.

$5 bottle of wine or $4,000 bottle of wine. What's the difference? For me, I can tell the difference between 99 cent shaving cream and $1.99 shaving cream.

[foodiefan]

Hope they advertise at lot, because I usually avoid those kiosks like the plague. . .esp the cosmetic ones that approach you EVERY time you walk by.

[metro]

They normally aren't a kiosk, they usually have a NICE store in upscale malls. I'm guessing this is a test for the OKC market and I hope we support it.

[Joe Kimball]

It sounds nice, and I can appreciate that type of thing, but isn't the Don Johnson beard making its inroads on the hems of flared jeans these days? They might be leaning on the women's end of things, hmm?

[foodiefan]

They normally aren't a kiosk, they usually have a NICE store in upscale malls. I'm guessing this is a test for the OKC market and I hope we support it.

. . . hope so too, but imo "kiosk" doesn't usually equate to upscale. It's "can't afford/don't want to do a store front" or "in/out" for the holidays.

[progressiveboy]

Hmmmm..........Well, with Sephora and Bare Essentials it seems a bit saturated for PSM. Although I visit OKC frequently, would rather see stores like Kenneth Cole, Mark Shale, wish JC Penney would open a free standing store and would be nice for OKC to get a Nordstrom. My understanding was that PSM had a waiting list for stores however, I assume due to the economy and/or no occupancy. It would be nice if they could expand, however I do not know how as I understood that they could not develop/add a third story due to structural restraints.

[HOT ROD]

http://www.lush.ca/

Lush is more than just men's shaving. .. In fact, they have an entire line of products including shampoos, bath, shower, lotions, etc. Their line is organic and most items are hand-made; think Whole Foods/Trader Joes for your body. .....

I visit the Lush Flagship Store in Vancouver BC, often getting bath bombs and enjoying with the Mrs.. ...

You guys should go try them out, bath bombs are usually around $5 and are the best I've found (long lasting/good to the body/nice fragrance). Great to set the mood. .......

[bombermwc]

I'll agree with Progressiveboy - I'm obviously not in the market for cosmetics, but when Sephora has a full store and then a mini-store in an anchor, it sort of feels like the starbucks across from the starbucks. My toiletries come from Crest, so I'm not exactlly the market for these guys, but there already seems to be a huge number of options at Penn and that it would be difficult to make a buck off of another line there. Not to mention the fact that the men's lines are usually pretty weak on the purchasing front. Not that they would be that great of a comparison really, but Bath and Body Works' mens line consists of what, 1 rack of shelving compared to the whole rest of the store. I'm just saying, men's cosmetics isn't a booming industry.

[metro]

LUSH is completely different from the competitors, it's the top of the line if you will. HOTROD, I agree and that's why I stated in my original post of what it is. BTW you linked to their Canadian website not their US website. bombermwc, their main consumer is females of course, but they do carry a mens line, that's all. I just happen to really enjoy their mens stuff. It's not primarily a men's store, don't confuse yourself. This would be a good land for OKC, almost comparable to getting Apple or Coach in Penn.

[HOT ROD]

metro, they're originally from Canada. ..

but the us website is lushusa.com, iirc

[metro]

correct, but for our purposes in OKC, it might be better to direct them to the US site.

[okyeah]

I'm gonna agree with metro, Lush is top of the line. I don't understand the comparison with Sephora--Sephora is somewhat upscale cosmetics. Lush is primarily bath and body, although they have a natural cosmetics line, most people associate it with bath and body. Competitiors of Lush would be more like Bath & Body Works or The Body Shop at Penn Square....Personally, I think both Bath & Body Works and The Body Shop are horrible so I'm excited to hear about this kiosk.

[metro]

good clarification okyeah, it's mainly organic handmade bath and body and not so much cosmetics, even though the word cosmetics is in their name. remember it's a temporary one day kiosk so support it well in hopes OKC will soon get a location.

For those who say Penn Sq. has a waiting list of high end tenants. I no longer buy that when you see some of the cheesy local tenants they allow in the mall. I can't remember the names of some of the places, but nonetheless there is some cheese in Penn Sq. Thankfully it's getting better all the time.

[Architect2010]

My understanding was that PSM had a waiting list for stores however, I assume due to the economy and/or no occupancy.

Due to PSM being very successful and there being no vacancies for stores to take advantage of. In short: The mall is highly desirable and full.

[shriekingviolet]

metro, they're originally from Canada. ..

but the us website is lushusa.com, iirc

They're originally from the UK actually, though LUSH corporate is set up in such a way that the stores outside of the UK are (usually) owned by their business partners in the countries they operate in. Their Canadian partners do own and supply all of the US locations though. A friend of mine worked for one of their stores in the DC area for a few years, and had some interesting stories to tell about the company's management. They're a much bigger chain than they were when I first became a customer, but they still operate in a lot of ways like a small business.

I've been a LUSH fan since 2000 when I first ran across one of their shops in London. I've been having my fingers crossed that they'd open a location here in Oklahoma (or even Tulsa) ever since they first broke into the US market in '02 so this is really exciting for me. Some of my favorite items of theirs don't ship well for much of the year because of the heat and some they don't sell through mail order at all, and I don't make it down to Dallas too often. I hate mall kiosks, their sales folk are often obnoxiously aggressive, but I'll definitely be showing up to shop there. I really hope this kiosk is successful! Maybe it'll inspire them to sell their stuff through Macy's as they do in other cities while they wait for retail space to open up at PSM. They are, in my opinion, a completely different animal than Sephora or Bath & Body Works. The Body Shop is a fair comparison (Lush's founder worked for The Body Shop prior to starting his own business, and the company still sells some of his creations), but I think Lush's product offering is different enough for both to co-exist.

[progressiveboy]

I was in OKC on Saturday, I meet a friend for lunch there, while killing some time I did notice 2 new stores opening up one being Anne Taylor "Loft" and another being Pandora a very popular jewelry store where the closest stores are in Tulsa and Dallas. The only thing I saw as being distracting is all the kiosks that are in the mall, "way to many" in my opinion. It gave me the perception that the mall "was cluttered".

[metro]

It's cluttered to you, because it is a small mall compared to the ones in Dallas. It doesn't have the room to spread them out.

[okclee]

Any chance Penn Square could do another new construction expansion?

[brianinok]

Here's an article to go with what progressiveboy mentioned:

link

[ljbab728]

I was in OKC on Saturday, I meet a friend for lunch there, while killing some time I did notice 2 new stores opening up one being Anne Taylor "Loft" and another being Pandora a very popular jewelry store where the closest stores are in Tulsa and Dallas. The only thing I saw as being distracting is all the kiosks that are in the mall, "way to many" in my opinion. It gave me the perception that the mall "was cluttered".

You can try Crossroads if you prefer a mall that doesn't look cluttered. LOL

[shriekingviolet]

Looks like last year's pop up kiosk must have done well, as I heard from a friend who used to work for LUSH in another city that they'll be opening their first store in Oklahoma City soon. Nothing's mentioned about it on their website yet and I haven't found any information about where or when it'll open up, but there is a job listing up for a store manager in Oklahoma City up on careerbuilder.com and they mentioned the position on their LUSH careers twitter feed so the information is legit. I'm quite excited as my favorite LUSH products are ones that don't ship well.

[metro]

Awesome!