Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Friday 23 June 2017
A25

Retailers want to work out your wallet _ and your body

By KELLI KENNEDY Several stores have opened
Associated Press stand-alone locations with
NEW YORK (AP) — Stores vast areas carved out for
like Saks and Urban Outfit- exercise classes and semi-
ters are looking to work out nars.
more than your wallet. Urban Outfitters’ five-story
As retailers struggle to draw Space Ninety 8 in Brooklyn
in shoppers who have mi- scheduled a chakra medi-
grated online, stores are tation and sound bath this
seizing on one of the few month.
bright spots in the industry None of the chains are talk-
— fitness and wellness — in ing about how much the
hopes of engaging con- wellness business has in-
sumers. That means medi- creased sales — or if it has.
tation lectures with Deepak It may be soon to tell. But
Chopra at ABC Carpet & while clothing stores strug-
Home in New York, a yoga gle, U.S. activewear sales
class at Bloomingdale’s or have increased. In 2016,
a wellness getaway with they rose 11 percent over
Free People. the previous year to nearly
One recent Wednesday, $46 billion, according to
a dozen women walked The NPD Group, a consum-
into Saks on Fifth Avenue, er tracking service, and are This Tuesday, May 30, 2017, photo, shows The Wellery on the second floor of the Saks Fifth Avenue
tucked their purses into up from $36.9 billion in 2014. flagship store in New York.
lockers and got to work So it’s no surprise retailers Associated Press
performing squat thrusts want to offer those custom-
and jumping jack intervals ers more and keep them in our stores ... it doesn’t al- “No one comes to the store Fitness retailers have also
during an hourlong boot the stores longer. ways have to be because anymore to buy something. capitalized on this trend.
camp. After class, they Saks’ New York flagship you bought a killer pair of They can do that on the Adidas opened its Runbase
could browse through a has devoted an entire shoes.” phone, in the cab, at home store in Berlin last year,
rack of $85 Phat Buddha floor to the 16,000 square- The Wellery is full circle for at night ... our stores have which includes training fa-
leggings and try Glow Rec- foot wellness sanctuary the upscale chain that to become much more ex- cilities and a healthy res-
ipe’s $58 oil essence with that opened in May and constructed an indoor ski periential,” Metrick agreed. taurant. q
cactus extract. offers fitness classes, a salt slope at its flagship store
Mila Petrova, who wasn’t chamber and meditation in 1935, and offered skiing
part of the class that day alongside other merchan- lessons for a time as a nov-
but has attended other ses- dise. Celebrity fitness guru elty activity to bring cus-
sions at Saks, says it’s the lo- Tracy Anderson was the tomers in.
cation more than the shop- marquee name on open- Before the wellness trend,
ping that has drawn her ing night. department stores like
— it’s closer to her office. “I After a sweat session, fit- Sears and J.C. Penney
probably would have gone ness aficionados can positioned themselves as
(to the workout) wherever test the latest home gym destinations through photo
they put it,” she said. equipment like a Peloton studios and beauty salons.
The 27-year-old browsed bike, get custom-fitted for Penney has also had suc-
the store only on the first golf clubs or get their nails cess with small Sephora lo-
night and hasn’t made done — a day’s worth of cations inside stores.
any purchases — she’s self-care in one spot. The wellness trend taps into
usually rushing to the class “We need to be their sanc- what analysts and retailers
from work and anxious to tuary, whether they need say is people’s desire for
get home afterward. Still, retail therapy or want to experiences. Magdalena
though she’s not a big feel good about them- Kondej, head of apparel
shopper in general, she selves,” says Saks Presi- and footwear at Euromoni-
can see herself buying holi- dent Marc Metrick. “After tor, characterized it as “the
days gifts at Saks’ Wellery a good workout it’s a big prioritization of doing, see-
section because she’s al- rush, so it’s great. We want ing and feeling over hav-
ready in the store. people to feel good in ing more stuff.”